Howling Dark (The Sun Eater #2)

by Christopher Ruocchio

The actor knows he is on stage. The character knows there is no stage.

An amusing aphorism.

But the abyss stood lifeless, silent, and so screamed.

Your past is broken. There is a hole in it through which I cannot see.

“Saturn Devouring His Son,” the Emperor said, gesturing with one beringed hand. It was an ugly painting, but unforgettable.

Hm, yes. I know the painting well. It is an amusing piece of artwork.

We like to imagine that we are ourselves a unity: one mind, one spirit. Not so. In truth we are each a little legion, a pack of little personae—each one-eyed in its attentions and single-minded in its aim.

Yes. This.

the image of human authority ordering the chaos of Creation.

An amusing line here.

When we cut into your flesh and stretch out your sinews where where where will we find your soul? Which atoms of you are you, child? Or do you emerge, ghostlike, from the machine of nerve and tissue?

This.

Lucifer and Prometheus are the same.

"Lightbearers". I recall a mention that suggested "Lucifer" being the euphoria of religious experience, that the bliss individuals often speak of is capable of not only creating the semblance of religious experience, but leading individuals to seek that pleasure above all. Isn't the heaven humans cling onto the perception of a locale of true bliss? The growth of character is oft forgone for the promise of cosmic bliss. An alternative term would be "divine light" as perceived by the human undergoing the experience. Prometheus had also given humanity "light" in the physical sense via flame. The line "Lucifer and Prometheus are the same" is interesting given the context of the two concepts.