Demon in White by Christopher Ruocchio

At a Glance: A Master Class in Pacing

Christopher Ruocchio has done something I’ve rarely experienced with Demon in White, taking an over 700 page book and never making me feel like a page was wasted. We rejoin Hadrian Marlowe on his journey to blowing up a sun, finally getting more understanding of The Quiet and Hadrians visions of the future in a book filled with fast paced action, high stakes political maneuvers, spectacular character moments, and so many antagonist it’s a wonder the Halfmortal has only died once.

Set around 100 years after Howling Dark, we rejoin Hadrian and the Red Company as he takes his place as a Victorian Knight serving at the pleasure of the Emperor William and his many titles, as he sets out to figure out just what The Quiet was trying to show him in the last book. We are also introduced to the stories main antagonist, Syriani Dorayaica, the Cielcin prince of princes, known to the humans as the scourge of the earth.

Hadrian’s reputation as the Halfmortal has spread through the galaxy, which causes him to make even more political enemies within the empire, which are quickly becoming just as big of a threat as the Cielcin and Extrssolarians. This book has everything from action, intimate moments, and politicking galore all put together and weaved so seamlessly that I felt like I flew through this book, even with the “Battle of the Beast” chapter being something like 70 pages (which was awesome).

The Sollan Empire: A Universe Expanded

Demon in White gives us such an incredibly broad view at the vastness of the world Ruocchio has created, but still manages to hone in on enough places and situations to let us know how well thought out and developed the world-building Ruocchio has done for this universe really is. This book gives us a much deeper look into the quasi magic system of The Quiet and throws everything we think we knew out the window as Hadrian and Valka discover even more ruins with intricate connections to the infinite realities that exist.

We also learn more about the political inner workings of the Empire and the Chantry as Hadrian spends a good section of the book embroiled in court politics on Forum, home of the Emperor and the Imperial Government. As expected, the Palatine are at the top of the social chain and act exactly as we’d expect royalty to behave, using cruelty as a way to show exactly how “above” other they are, and as a way to entertain themselves.

The Chantry is just as we have seen before, the other powerful arm, almost, if not equal to the Imperial Government, using their “religion” as a means for control and power. Through their inquisitions attempting to also interfere with the perceived threat of the rising popularity of Hadrian from the true believers in the stories of the Halfmortal who can’t be killed.

What I appreciate most about the universe created in the world of The Sun Eater is the gravity of time and the true vastness of space is felt through the pages every time the crew travels to another system on another mission, they go into a deep freeze, suspending their aging, while the rest of the universe continue to progress around them.

Character Legends: From Victorian Knight to Symbol of Hope

Hadrian’s conquests throughout the known universe and beyond has started to create a cult like group of people that he refers to as “the believers”, those who take the stories of him not being able to die as him being the God Emperor reborn. This un-shockingly leads to several of the palatines on the Imperial council to believe him a political threat to not only their positions, but to the Emperor himself. He continues to grow reluctantly into the leader, the Knight Victorian, and slowly is starting to accept his bigger purpose in whatever is at play cosmically as he learns more about the Quiet and their plans for him in this world, but Hadrian still struggles with the decisions he must make, and has moments where his pride gets in the way of these choices.

Valka gets a lot more spotlight in Demon in White which I was thrilled about, Hadrian’s paramore, and the ever witty and sometimes cold Tavrosi doctor is every bit the equal to Hadrian when it comes to the investigation into The Quiet. She is strong willed, incredibly smart, independent, and refuses Hadrian’s attempts to “protect” her at every turn, but she also has some of the absolute best character moments during both intimate character scenes and epic scale battles. If one thing sums up Dr. Onderra’s guarded nature best, it’s how she responds “You’re not wrong” when Hadrian tells her “I love you”.

The cast of supporting characters as always is great, where we have familiar people like Pallino, who received the palatine treatment due to his station with Hadrian, but hasn’t lost that crude solider mentality or humor. One of the times I literally laughed out loud in this book was early on when Pallino was on Gododdin telling Hadrian and Valka about the security checkpoint and said ““I slapped the rifle on the belt—still holding my eye, which is no good anymore, by the way—and I tell the man to scan it. ‘Wouldn’t want to be smuggling a gun in my gun, now would I?’”

Last quick note on characters was the introduction of Prince Alexander as Hadrian’s squire, who in equal parts feels like a threat and a younger version of Hadrian at the same time.

Looming Threats: Tension in Every Moment

Demon in White opens with all of the politics I’d been expecting after Hadrian was summoned to Forum to become a Knight Victorian, not wasting even a single page on rehashing or plot setting, Ruocchio is clearly at the point in this series where he trusts the reader to remember at least the broad strokes of previous books which leads to a pacing that felt perfect throughout.

No sections of this book felt like you needed to “get through them” to find better pacing, it has what feels like five-ish distinct parts throughout the overarching story. It starts strong with court politics, then we get “Battle of the Beast” which is a 70 page, edge of your seat battle full of action and suspense. We get scenes of deep lore research in the scholiast library where Hadrian makes some incredible revelations for our plot in a way that feels natural and not just convenient to the story. We get a mind bending journey with The Quiet, and then wrap up with something close to (or maybe exactly, i didn’t count) 125 or so pages of one of the best battle scenes, full of emotion, suspense, and dread I’ve ever read.

Ruocchio puts on a master class of plot weaving and perfect pacing throughout this entire story, with incredible highs, and heart wrenching lows to create a perfect story, so much so that I was struggling to stop and allow myself to sleep or focus on anything else because every chapter left me wanting to know what happens next.

Between the Sheets: Deeply Emotional Connections

Demon in White somehow through all the incredible action and political maneuvers manages to also give the right amount of focus to the incredibly deep, complicated bond of Hadrian and Valka, but the focus is always on the emotion and not the physicality of their relationship earning this a 🌶️ (1.0) on the spice scale.

We get a much deeper look into the incredibly complicated relationship between Valka and Hadrian, and Ruocchio doesn’t paint anything with rose colored glasses, letting us see what a true relationship is, full of complications, different wants, and how two people work through those things because the love they have for each other is so deep.

A few times Hadrian will tell Valka “I love you” and she will respond with “You’re not wrong” and you can just feel that real connection between the two, such different people and personalities but somehow their love for each other outweighs all of it. There is one scene in particular toward the end of the book where those words are spoken and I felt a little choked up, if you’ve ever truly loved someone and feared for them, you’ll instantly recognize the scene when you read it.

Bro Reading Comfort: The Only Thing Not Stressful

While this book does have some viscerally emotional moments, Demon in White is not something I would be stressing about reading in the airport or the coffee shop earning this a 😳 (1.0) on our comfort scale.

The cover is pretty sick in my honest opinion, I feel like encapsulates the overall theme of the heavy political aspects of this book in a great way.

There are some dark scenes, deep trauma, and emotionally stressful parts that certainly would probably have people tilt their heads towards me since I did audibly gasp a few times or sat there slack jawed in shock, but that is about the only types of things that would draw any kind of attention reading this one in public.

Darkness Factor: Stressful Cosmic Realizations

Demon in White is equal parts space opera, political thriller, and cosmic horror with several scenes that depict some torture, large scale epicly brutal combat, and truly scary scenes that build incredible tension earning this one a 💀💀 (2.5) on the darkness scale.

While these themes of morality of what Hadrian has to do at the conclusion of the series are always looming, this book is incredible intriguing since we know the choice he makes and the aftermath of the Cielcin genocide along with the collateral damage of millions of human lives, but getting to see how we get to that point is fascinating. The exploration of these themes and morally complex choices always feel like they serve a purpose, and nothing we read seems like it’s placed for sensationalism.

Book Battlefield: A Future Classic

Demon in White is everything I’d want out of a space opera, with politics, stakes that are palpable, a looming existential threat, and surprisingly a bit of epic fantasy elements sprinkled in. It really does feel like it’s in a league of it’s own in a lot of ways, because it manages to weave cosmic horror into the established genre, while also having a bit of a magic system introduced in this entry to the series.

I don’t even think it’s fair at this point to make any comparisons to existing work, while it has elements you’d expect from sci-fi and space opera in particular, if Howling Dark was set apart by the introduction of the cosmic horror element, then Demon in White builds on that element in spades, while also introducing some epic fantasy elements through what I’d consider a magic system, and telling a story that spans centuries of time with the bits of reflection as Hadrian tells us his story to create something truly special, unique, and quite frankly breathtaking.

The first book may have had it’s criticisms and comparison contraversy, I think it is safe to say that Ruocchio has proven that he can stand on his own, using inspirations from great works, but creating something new and I believe Demon in White will be in all the conversations when people are talking about the greats in the genre, and will be one of the genre standards other works are compared to.

Should You Bother?

I usually don’t write anything here, but yes, so much yes, if you haven’t started this series and consider yourself a fan of space operas or sci-fi in general you’re dropping the ball, go start this series right now.

For Sci-Fi fans: Duh, duh, duh, that is the only thing I have to say here, it’s not even a question, go read this.

For Cosmic Horror fans: Ruocchio’s ability to build tension and suspense is incredible, I was on the edge of my seat stress reading through some of the parts where Hadrian was on Cielcin ships.

For Fantasy Readers: I think this would fit the niche for you if you’re a fan of epic fantasy but unsure if you’d enjoy sci-fi. The technological elements and “future” feel natural and probable with some added “magic”

For Deep Character Fans: The characters and relationships in this moment feel equally as important in this as the plot it’s self. They’re deep, complicated, and the romance feels real, not just “I love you no matter what” so there is a romance element in the book.

Final BroMantasy Verdict

I spent a good amount of time sitting with this part of the review if I’m being transparent with you. I was combing through my notes, thinking about everything Demon in White made me feel, trying to decide how to rate this because I gave Howling Dark 5 stars, and I don’t like to give everything 5 stars, but frankly this book was a master piece, it combined everything I loved in Howling Dark and just built on it so much more than I thought was possible earning Demon in White an incredibly deserved 5/5 stars.

This book was in two words “pacing perfection”, not a page wasted, not a moment felt out of place, nothing felt slow, but also never felt rushed, it was truly perfect. It has a bit of everything in just the right amounts, I loved the quiet moments in the library with Hadrian and Valka, I was on the edge of my seat—equal parts dreading and dying to turn to the next page—as Hadrian encountered the Cielcin in the silent halls of their ship, and I was even choked up during an interaction between Hadrian and Valka because I could feel Hadrian’s love and fear in that moment.

Demon in White has some of the best action scenes I’ve read, I’m someone who enjoys shorter chapters just because I frequently have to stop reading because life and kids, but 2 separate battle scenes both around 70 and 140 pages or so respectively and I never once found myself looking for the chapter to end. I was engrossed in this book, I couldn’t put it down, I literally was losing sleep because I kept saying “just one more chapter” to myself.

“There are endings, Reader, and this is one” is one of my favorite things about this series, getting this framed narrative, where Hadrian feels like he understands our feelings at the end of what we’ve read adds such an interesting element to the experience of this series, and Demon in White really amplifies that with the reflection of what victory and defeat mean. The complexity of Hadrian Marlowe is some of the best character work I’ve ever encountered and I will leave it on this note, if you are even remotely thinking about starting this series, just do it. Sun Eater is cinema, there is nothing else like it, and I can’t wait to see where we go from here.