REVIEW: Demon in White by Christopher Ruocchio
Shining as bright as brilliant stars and as deep as the blackness between them, Christopher Ruocchio’s Demon in White is one of—if not the—best sci-fi I’ve ever read. Part political scheming, part military sci-fi, all electrifying work, Demon in White subverts expectations, asks challenging questions, and leaves jaws dropped.
“One has rank because one deserves it, and if one does not deserve it, he will lose his rank. Or his life. A man would do well to become worthy of his honors, else he will be deposed as a tyrant.”
Following Howling Dark, Hadrian’s reputation has begun to expand into something neither he nor the emperor can control. Soldiers call him Halfmortal and worship his exploits; rivals scheme to eliminate the growing threat of a lesser noble rising further and further as his prestige and legend cast a shadow that threatens to blot out their glory. Demon in White is a title in more ways than one.
We start off with Hadrian with more power and less control than he has ever had. While he’s seated next to the emperor, both men are handcuffed by the chains of protocol and status. The more they learn, the lesson they understand. Worse, still, is the changing threat of the Cielcin. Before they were savage and brutal combatants, but they operated on instinct and took what they saw; now they employ strategy and tactics that confound the human armies. Time is running out and gambits must be made. Hadrian must take to the front of space to prove his value and do the impossible.
Demon in White is the most action-packed of The Sun Eater books so far, and Ruocchio deserves credit for stepping up his game once more. The combat in the previous books was by no means bad or un-intense, but the increase in skill in Demon in White is mystifying. Lasers feel scintillating and scorching, swords and machines claustrophobically violent. Towards the end of the book shows military sci-fi heights that feel directly out of Mass Effect, which is a high compliment.
Perhaps what seals Demon in White as having all time great action is the desperation and intensity that jumps off the page. Characters fight and die running red hot in cold metal hallways; noble sacrifices are made in the muck and shit of a bloodstained battlefield. It’s almost like you can imagine yourself standing next to sweating soldiers, while contemplating with them what’s more likely to keep people alive.
The prose, as ever, is razor sharp. Hadrian’s monologues and vision cut like a knife but also provide an insightful yet smooth journey throughout this tome of a novel. At this point I think I’d read a cookbook if Ruocchio made a narrative of it.
Demon in White has the same dialogue and world-building we’ve grown accustomed too, but we see different sides of it. As we creep closer and closer to the seats of power, we see the world from a high tower instead of boots on the ground, we hear the dialogue with a fine timbre of practiced accents instead of the rough talk of soldiers.
While the leap in the action is impressive, I think the plot might be the most impressive feat of this novel. The politicking is wonderfully done, especially in the middle, and the twists in this book are fantastic. Demon in White gets weird in the best possible way. Finally, the ending… such a ballsy ending that a lesser talented author simply could not have pulled off. There’s a moment in the middle and a moment in the end that have not left my mind since reading it. There’s a large pantheon of legendary scenes across the fantasy and sci-fi world, but I’ll be damned if Ruocchio didn’t add two in this novel alone.
“I am not certain what I did to deserve those years. I had been given an island in time, a haven and refuge from all that had passed before and what must follow.”
My only critique of Demon in White is that the philosophical discussions slow down between characters after the first third. Hadrian instead asks himself the questions, but I did miss the back and forth debates where no one is truly wrong or truly right.
Ultimately, Demon in White may be the finest sci-fi novel I’ve ever read. I’m rather upset at Ruocchio right now as I had Hyperion as my book of the year, but I believe he’s carved a way through it and secured that throne. He’s presented a book that will go down with the likes of Storm of Swords and Memories of Ice as an all-time great book three and secured himself in the sci-fi hall of fame.
Read Demon in White by Christopher RuocchioThe post REVIEW: Demon in White by Christopher Ruocchio appeared first on Grimdark Magazine.
