Alright folks, buckle up, because I just finished Christopher Ruocchio’s Ashes of Man, the fifth installment in The Sun Eater series, and WOW. 🤯 Just… wow. If you’ve been following Hadrian Marlowe’s journey, you know things are never simple, but this book takes it to a whole new level of epic, gut-wrenching, and mind-bending. I’ve got my synth-coffee brewing, my comfy chair engaged, and I’m ready to dive deep into this behemoth. Grab your own beverage of choice, because we’ve got a LOT to unpack.

This is your SPOILER WARNING. Seriously, I’m going deep. If you haven’t read it, bookmark this, go read it, and come back. You’ve been warned!

Plot Synopsis: Hadrian’s Never-Ending Cosmic Misery Tour ☀️➡️💀

Okay, so where do we even begin with this absolute unit of a story? “Ashes of Man” picks up with Hadrian and Valka finding a sliver of peace on Thessa, one of Colchis’s islands. But peace is a four-letter word in Hadrian’s vocabulary. The book kicks off with the passing of their old mentor, Gibson, which is a gut punch right from the start. Gibson’s death also unearths a massive revelation: he was Philippe Bourbon, a disgraced prince from an ancient Imperial house, and the father of Augustin Bourbon, the very man Hadrian had ordered killed. Talk about awkward family reunions you never wanted.

• Gibson’s Legacy: Hadrian learns Gibson’s true identity from Tor Arrian at the Nov Belgaer athenaeum on Colchis. This reveal adds layers of tragedy, especially considering Gibson had been a father figure to Hadrian, and Hadrian had, unknowingly, avenged Gibson’s betrayal by his own son, Augustin. Gibson also leaves Hadrian a poignant letter and a replacement copy of “The King with Ten Thousand Eyes,” containing another letter of introduction for the scholiasts – a path not taken, a life unlived.

With Gibson’s passing, Hadrian and Valka know they can’t hide forever. They make a very public re-entry into the Imperium on Colchis. Governor-General Velan Dorr is, understandably, shocked to see the legendary (and presumed dead) Hadrian Marlowe. This is where Valka gets her moment to shine, recounting her harrowing eleven-year survival after the chaos on Padmurak. She details how she, Pallino, Corvo, and Crim commandeered a Lothrian freighter (discovering it was a slave ship carrying thousands of humans to the Cielcin), stowed away on the Cielcin worldship carrying the captured Tamerlane, and eventually made it to Eue. Her tale is one of desperation, loss (one of their men died in cryo), and sheer willpower, culminating in her dramatic rescue of Hadrian from Akterumu.

The news they bring is dire: the Lothrian Commonwealth has allied with the Cielcin, and the Cielcin themselves are now unified under the Shiomu Elusha, Syriani Dorayaica. The Empire is essentially caught in a pincer.

From Colchis, they’re transported to Nessus. En route, they meet Commander Hector Oliva, a cocky, talented SpecSec agent who’s a fascinating foil to Hadrian – almost a reflection of a younger, perhaps more reckless, Marlowe. On Nessus, Hadrian is once again a “guest” (prisoner) in Maddalo House under the watchful eye of Magnarch Venantian. More interrogations follow, but the big reveal here is that Lorian Aristedes, Hadrian’s former tactical officer, survived. He was ejected in a fugue pod by Dorayaica (as a messenger) and has been on ice at Fort Horn for twenty years. Their reunion is fraught, with Lorian initially blaming Hadrian for the Red Company’s destruction before reaffirming his loyalty.

During his time on Nessus, Hadrian undergoes extensive medical treatment to repair his ravaged body, including the regeneration of fingers bitten off by Dorayaica and major shoulder reconstruction. It’s a slow, painful process, but he’s determined to be whole again, even as he grapples with the mental and emotional scars.

The Emperor eventually summons Hadrian. The fleet is on Carteia, a world recently devastated by the Cielcin. The public audience with Emperor William XXIII is pure political theater. Hadrian is publicly “forgiven” for the loss of the Tamerlane and the Red Company, and the Emperor uses the opportunity to rally support by highlighting the Lothrian betrayal and the unified Cielcin threat. However, a private encounter with Prince Alexander reveals the young prince’s undiminished animosity and fear of Hadrian. Alexander still sees him as a threat to the throne and his family.

Things take a very clandestine turn when Lord Nicephorus, the Emperor’s enigmatic chamberlain, spirits Hadrian away to the ruins of Rothsmoor on Carteia for a secret meeting with the Emperor. This is where the cosmic horror elements really ramp up.

• Cosmic Revelations: The Emperor confesses his knowledge of the Quiet (whom they call the Firstborn), the Watchers (Monumentals), and the Enar (Vaiartu). He reveals that the God Emperor William the First also had visions, guided by a “Hidden One” (the Quiet), and that Imperial HAPSIS has been aware of these ancient entities for millennia. The ruins on worlds like Emesh and Eue are part of a much larger, older, and terrifying cosmic game. Dorayaica, it’s revealed, isn’t just a Cielcin prince; he’s undergoing a transformation, becoming something akin to a Watcher himself, potentially by consuming their “blood” or essence.

This meeting is cut short when an assassin, disguised as an Imperial legionnaire, attempts to kill Hadrian aboard the Ascalon in the Imperial camp. Hadrian fights him off, but the killer escapes. Hadrian suspects Prince Alexander.

The Emperor, now understanding the true scale of the threat (and Hadrian’s unique connection to these cosmic forces), assigns Hadrian a new mission: to investigate a suspected MINOS weapons manufactory on the uncharted planet DB-639D (later nicknamed Ganelon by the Jaddians). He’s to accompany Tribune Bassander Lin and the 409th Legion. This mission is a way to utilize Hadrian’s unique knowledge of MINOS and the Cielcin while also removing him from the volatile political situation at court.

The voyage to Ganelon takes years in fugue. The strike team, led by Hadrian and Valka, with Centurion Quentin Sharp and his “Dragonslayers,” makes a hard drop onto the planet. They infiltrate the MINOS facility, discovering not a weapons plant, but a horrific biological research station.

• LTH-81 - The Cancer Plague: MINOS is developing LTH-81, a retrovirus designed to induce catastrophic, uncontrolled cellular growth in humans, essentially turning them into living tumors – a horrifying echo of what the Mericanii once did to ensure their own “immortality” through their human hosts. The captured magus, Abberton, reveals this before killing himself to transmit his consciousness.

The facility is overrun by MINOS golems and soldiers. The battle is brutal. Crucially, Urbaine, the MINOS Elect-Master who previously tormented Valka, reappears. He’s more powerful and chilling than ever. Just as things look utterly hopeless, the Jaddian fleet, led by Prince Kaim du Otranto, arrives unexpectedly. Prince Kaim reveals his true identity to Hadrian: he is Sir Olorin Milta, the Jaddian Maeskolos who befriended Hadrian on Emesh centuries ago! He’d been traveling incognito to assess the Empire’s strength and commitment to fighting the Cielcin.

With Jaddian aid, the MINOS base is largely neutralized, though Urbaine manages to jump his consciousness into a golem before Valka finally, cathartically, destroys it. Several Elect-Masters, however, transmit their consciousnesses offworld. The Jaddians and Imperials capture one of three Cielcin worldships found in orbit (commanded by Vayadan Peledanu). The planet Ganelon itself is sterilized with atomics. The victory is costly, and the LTH-81 virus is likely already in Cielcin hands.

The combined Imperial and Jaddian fleets then set course for Fidchell to refuel before heading to Siraganon, the Emperor’s next stop. En route to Fidchell, Hadrian is awakened from fugue. He’s summoned to a Martian Guard destroyer where Prince Alexander and Archprior Leonora await him. The news is catastrophic: the Emperor’s fleet was ambushed at Perfugium.

• The Siege of Perfugium: The Emperor and a few thousand survivors are trapped in the colonial store catacombs beneath the capital city of Resonno, besieged by seven Cielcin worldships. Dorayaica himself (or his image) has demanded the Emperor’s surrender.

A desperate rescue mission is launched. Hadrian, Valka, Lorian, Prince Kaim, Centurion Sharp, and a mixed force of Dragonslayers and Jaddian mamluks take the Ascalon to Perfugium, planning to slip through the Cielcin blockade. The main fleets will create a diversion.

They make it to the surface, fighting through Cielcin patrols and chimeric demons in the ash-choked ruins of Resonno. They find a secret entrance to the catacombs and link up with the Emperor, Sir Gray Rinehart, Lord Nicephorus, and Duchess Saskia Valavar. The situation is dire. The vayadan Ugin Attavaisa, now a Finger of the White Hand, is in command of the Cielcin forces. Attavaisa taunts them, gruesomely executing the captive Duke-Consort Gaspard Valavar (Saskia’s husband) by birthing a Cielcin spawn from his vivisected body. This horrifying display is meant to break their will.

The Emperor, enraged and refusing to abandon his people, orders a mass evacuation of the civilian sleepers via the remaining transport shuttles, a plan Lorian helps coordinate with Tribune Lin in orbit. The evacuation is a bloodbath. Waves of transports are shot down by Cielcin forces that seem to appear from nowhere. During one of these waves, the transport carrying Valka, E-17, is destroyed.

• Valka’s Death: Valka is killed. Her last transmission cuts off as her ship is obliterated. This is the single most devastating blow to Hadrian in the entire series.

Absolutely broken, Hadrian confronts the Emperor, blaming him for Valka’s death because he refused to leave earlier. In a fit of unimaginable grief and rage, Hadrian strikes the Emperor across the face.

This act, an ultimate taboo, seals Hadrian’s fate. He casts the Emperor’s gifted sword at Caesar’s feet, renouncing his service. He’s arrested. Imprisoned aboard the Tempest, he expects execution or exile to Belusha.

However, Lorian Aristedes, in a final act of loyalty and friendship, orchestrates Hadrian’s escape with the covert help of Prince Kaim and Tribune Lin. Aron, one of Sharp’s decurions, and a handful of Dragonslayers extract Hadrian from his cell in a dead shuttle pod, which is then retrieved by a Jaddian ship.

• Sanctuary in Jadd: Prince Kaim (Olorin) offers Hadrian sanctuary in Jadd, revealing Lorian has likely sacrificed himself to take the blame for the escape. The book ends with Hadrian, utterly shattered by Valka’s death but now a fugitive under Jaddian protection, contemplating an uncertain future, his last words being “Never, never, never, never. Never.” referring to his inability to accept or move on from Valka’s loss.

Phew. That was a RIDE. And we’re not even done with the series!