Empire of Silence

Hadrian Marlowe, a man revered as a hero and despised as a murderer, chronicles his tale in the galaxy-spanning debut of the Sun Eater series, merging the best of space opera and epic fantasy.

It was not his war.

The galaxy remembers him as a hero: the man who burned every last alien Cielcin from the sky. They remember him as a monster: the devil who destroyed a sun, casually annihilating four billion human lives—even the Emperor himself—against Imperial orders.

But Hadrian was not a hero. He was not a monster. He was not even a soldier.

On the wrong planet, at the right time, for the best reasons, Hadrian Marlowe starts down a path that can only end in fire. He flees his father and a future as a torturer only to be left stranded on a strange, backwater world.

Forced to fight as a gladiator and navigate the intrigues of a foreign planetary court, Hadrian must fight a war he did not start, for an Empire he does not love, against an enemy he will never understand.

— Synopsis from Highmatter Books

Early Life of Hadrian Marlowe

Hadrian Marlowe is the firstborn son of Alistair Marlowe, Lord of Devil's Rest and head of House Marlowe, and Lady Liliana Kephalos Marlowe, daughter of Her Grace Elmira Gwendolyn Kephalos, the Duchess of Delos. Born into one of the Sollan Empire's most prestigious bloodlines, his life was marked by both privilege and hardship. Despite his privileged birth, Hadrian’s relationship with his parents who had no love for each other was strained; with a mother who preferred the company of women, rarely spending time with her children Lady Liliana was absent for a majority of Hadrian's upbringing. While Lord Alistair Marlowe did not want a son but an heir, someone stern, ruthless and someone that would do anything to farther perpetuate House Marlowe through the Sollan Empire's hierarchy. His early years were spent on Delos, where he was educated in history and philosophy from Tor Gibson, the only person who has been showing him kindness and someone Hadrian sees more as a father than his biological one. Hadrian also received combat training from Sir Felix Martyn, the castellan and commander of the house guard, preparing him for a future as a noble leader.

On Delos

Being the firstborn son of the Archon does not guarantee Hadrian the position of heir, especially given his more empathetic nature which often clashes with his father's more ruthless disposition. As Hadrian comes of age, he learns that his father may not make him his heir after all and antagonizes Hadrian by stating he may just make his younger brother Crispin heir instead. Despite not wanting the position as Lord of Devil’s Rest and truly desiring to be a Scholiast, Hadrian still saw himself as a more fitting candidate than his crueler brother. Soon after, he is sent to the coliseum to attend the opening of the Colosso season in his father's stead, accompanied by his younger brother Crispin. Witnessing the brutal violence at the coliseum where slaves are dressed as the alien Cielcin race, and crowd's jubilant response, Hadrian leaves the coliseum mid-event. On his way back to their castle, Hadrian deviates from the way home and is attacked by a group of thieves is nearly killed. The thieves see his Marlowe family ring and run.

Hadrian’s father is deeply disappointed by both his stunt to leave the coliseum and the subsequent attack, ridiculing Hadrian for his recklessness and the fact that the lower-class was able to harm a Palatine, putting their family's grip on power at stake. While Hadrian is recovering, his father informs him that he is to be sent to The Chantry in an effort give their family more political power, thus removing Hadrian as heir. While many noble families consider this an honor, Hadrian views it as a betrayal and comes up with a plan with his mentor Tor Gibson to escape Delos and head to the desert planet Teukros, where he would learn to be a Scholiast. The plans go awry however, when Tor Gibson is arrested by Sir Felix Martyn and a dozen of House Marlowe guards. It turns out Hadrian's father had already known of Hadrian's plan to escape, and has arrested Tor Gibson, labelling him as a criminal by cutting his nose and whipping him in front of the entire house and Hadrian as an example of what will happen if Hadrian tries to go against his father again.

Escape from Delos

Having given up on escaping Hadrian along with his brother Crispin are sent to see his mother before he leaving Delos. After bidding a somber farewell to his mother – one of the few acts of kindness his father allowed Hadrian was ushered off Delos to face his unwanted fate. Instead, with covert help from his mother, he slipped away from his Chantry handlers and secured passage on a starship belonging to a Jaddian trade called Demetri in the hopes of escaping to Teukro a journey that would take 13 years and as such Hadrian was to be place under fugue until they reach Teukro.

The Streets of Emesh

Hadrian awakes naked, confused, and fugue-sick on the border planet of Emesh and the city of Borosevo. Despite being taken care of in a hospital and asking questions about how he was found, Hadrian is unable to figure out why his pod had been dumped on the planet, assuming his ship must have crashed or that Demetri had betrayed him. On Borosevo, Hadrian is alone, abandoned, and without anything to his name other than his family ring, which contains details on his genetics and identity. Afraid to reveal his identity for fear his father might find him and send him back to The Chantry, Hadrian learns to survive on the streets, encountering poverty, death, and disease for the first time in his privileged life.

Initially, Hadrian struggles to find food and shelter, resulting to living in a sewer during his initial months on Emesh. Eventually, Hadrian meets Cat, a fellow homeless girl also trying to survive and avoid the plague which is wreaking havoc on the city. Cat befriends Hadrian and helps show him how to live on Borosevo. Hadrian and Cat spends years surviving together by stealing and getting by anyway they can. During this time, Hadrian appears to be a happier version of himself, finding purpose and perspective through a hard lifestyle completely the opposite of his upbringing and forming a relationship with Cat. However, as time goes on, Cat eventually contracts the plague and with no cure available, begins to die. Hadrian, completely immune to this disease due to his superior Palatine genetics, tries to help Cat but is ultimately unable to and she succumbs to the plague.

The Colosso

With no other options, Hadrian eventually joins the Colosso as a contract gladiator and achieves a measure of fame, eventually insinuating himself into the graces of Emesh’s ruler, the Count Balian Mataro.

At Castle Borosevo

It is in serving as tutor to the Count’s children that Hadrian runs afoul of Gilliam Vas, a deformed chantry priest, and meets Dr. Valka Onderra, an archaeologist studying the ruins of Emesh’s southern continent. Ruins left there by an alien race known only as The Quiet. When Gilliam threats Hadrian and insults Valka’s honor, Hadrian reveals his noble heritage and challenges Gilliam to a duel. Meant only to be first blood, Gilliam draws first and presses the duel anyway, in so doing forces Hadrian to kill him. In the ensuing scandal, the Count reveals he has known who Hadrian was the entire time, and that Hadrian’s only father had written and formally disowned him.

What is more, the count reveals his intention to marry Hadrian to his daughter, Anaïs, coveting Hadrian’s advanced genetic bloodline for his own. In order to escape the scandal, he allows Hadrian to accompany Valka on her next expedition to the southern ruins. There Hadrian encounters a strange vision; witnessing a Cielcin horde marching across the stars and burning thousands more worlds before being wiped out in a flash of light. Valka does not believe his story.

The Cielcin

Months into the expedition, Emesh is attacked by the Cielcin and the alien ship crashes on the southern continent near the ruins. Because of his familiarity with the Cielcin language, Hadrian volunteers to help the imperial legions under the command of Lieutenant Bassander Lin. Their forces combined with a Jaddian party prove enough to defeat the Cielcin forces, and Hadrian helps to secure the surrender of the Cielcin captain Uvanari.

Against Hadrian’s council, the empire and the Chantry determine to torture the Cielcin captain for information, and so conscript Hadrian, forcing him to act as their translator. During the interrogations, Hadrian learns the Cielcin have been dealing with the obscure human kingdom of Vorgossos and Uvanari begs for Hadrian to kill it. Along with Valka’s help, Hadrian stages a blackout in the prison and kills Uvanari, securing further information that will lead him to Vorgossos.

The legion conscripts him to aid Bassander Lin in locating the kingdom in hopes of opening negotiations with one of the Cielcin clans by returning the remaining prisoners. In turn, Hadrian recruits several of his gladiator friends for the mission, along with Valka who is curious about the relationship between the Cielcin and the Quiet. Together they set from Emesh for the stars.

Print and Ebooks

Edition	Cover	Publisher	Cover Artist	Interior Artist	Format	Pages	Dimensions (MM)	ISBN-13	Publication Date	Notes
US Edition		DAW Books	Sam Weber	N/A	Ebook	763	N/A	9780756413026	July 3, 2018
					Hardcover	624	157 x 235	9780756413002	July 3, 2018
					Mass Market Paperback	768	106 x 172	9780756413019	June 4, 2019
					Trade Paperback	624	139 x 208	9780756419264	September 19, 2023
					Deluxe Hardcover	640	157 x 235	9780756421168	November 18, 2025
UK Edition		Gollancz	Patrick Knowles	N/A	Ebook	625	N/A	9781473218284	July 5, 2018	The UK edition recieved a small print run, approximately 1,000 to 3,000 in circulation.
					Hardcover	624	160 x 240	9781473224278	July 5, 2018
					Trade Paperback (Large)	624	153 x 232	9781473218260	July 5, 2018
					Trade Paperback (Small)	624	128 x 198	9781473218277	March 21, 2019
Diamond Edition		Steve Diamond	James L. Cook	Map by Daniel Hasenbos. Black-and-white interiors by Taran Fiddler. Frontispiece by James L. Cook.	Signed Numbered Edition	540	165 x 236	9781962871006	September 2024	Includes 'The Guns of Pharos,' a novelette featuring Bassander Lin; orignially limited to approximately 500 numbered copies, the Kickstarter was expanded to 1,000 copies following a highly successful launch.
					Signed Lettered Edition	540	165 x 236	9781962871013	September 2024
The Broken Binding Edition		The Broken Binding	Rene Aigner	Digital edges and illustrated endpapers by Rene Aigner. Reverse dust jackets and PLC boards by Peng Lu.	Hardcover	627	160 x 240	9781399625760	September 8, 2024	The first printing consists of 3,000 Signed Copies.
Anderida Books Special Edition		Planet 9 Press	Kieran Yanner	20 black-and-white vignette headers, 7 full-color plates, and board art by Kieran Yanner. 1 full- color plate by Sam Weber.	Hardcover	715			September 2025

Audiobooks

Print and Ebooks

Language	Title	Cover	Publisher	Translator	Cover Artist	Interior Artist	Format	Pages	Dimensions (MM)	ISBN-13	Publication Date	Notes
Russian	Империя тишины		Азбука (Azbuka)	Sergey Udalin	Sam Weber	N/A	Ebook	871	N/A	9785389179530	February 12, 2020	Hardcover edition features the original Sam Weber art with holographic boards.
							Hardcover	672	145 x 215	9785389162587	February 12, 2020
Polish	Imperium Ciszy		Dom Wydawniczy Rebis	Jerzy Moderski	Igor Morski	N/A	Ebook	724	N/A	9788380626720	September 3, 2019
							Paperback	724	151 x 225	9788380625068	September 3, 2019
Italian	L'impero del Silenzio		Fanucci Editore	Annarita Guarnieri	Sam Weber	N/A	Ebook	891	N/A	9788834746004	June 28, 2024
							Paperback	768	142 x 211	9788834744918	June 28, 2024
German	Das Imperium der Stille		Heyne Verlag	Kirsten Borchardt	Patrick Knowles	N/A	Ebook	1189	N/A	9783641203467	October 8, 2018
							Paperback	989	136 x 206	9783453318281	October 8, 2018
French	L’Empire du silence		Bragelonne	Nenad Savic	Sam Weber	N/A	Ebook	792	N/A	9791028102869	March 11, 2020
							Mass Market Paperback	666	112 x 180	9791028117528	June 2, 2021
							Trade Paperback	792	154 x 238	9791028104252	March 11, 2020
Czech	Císařství ticha		Host Publishing House	Zdenek Polivka	Sam Weber	N/A	Ebook	768	N/A	9788027524587	January 2024
							Hardcover	768	151 x 215	9788027521531	January 2024
Arabic	إمبراطورية الصمت ('iimbiraturiat alsamt)		Al-Kotb Publishing	ساره طراح	Sam Weber	N/A	Hardcover	608		9786222194222	2025