America's Millennial Tolkien
Deep Dives
Explore related topics with these Wikipedia articles, rewritten for enjoyable reading:
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Gene Wolfe
11 min read
The article explicitly mentions Gene Wolfe as essential context for appreciating Ruocchio's accomplishment. Wolfe is a legendary science fiction author known for The Book of the New Sun series, which clearly influenced Ruocchio's work. Understanding Wolfe's literary techniques and philosophical depth is crucial for understanding what makes the Sun Eater series significant.
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Technological singularity
12 min read
The article describes how in the Sun Eater universe, 'the singularity and its horrifying conclusion is ancient history' and shaped humanity's decision to create a stagnant empire. The article also calls this 'one of the first fully realized narrative considerations of moral philosophy in the age of artificial intelligence.' Understanding the singularity concept is essential context.
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Roman Empire
10 min read
The Sollan Empire in the Sun Eater is explicitly described as 'something like the Roman Empire among the stars' with ruling Palatines (a Roman title). The article mentions Hadrian (a Roman emperor's name) and Archons (Greek/Roman governance). Understanding Roman imperial structure, longevity, and political dynamics provides essential context for the series' worldbuilding.
I’m writing this piece to tell you about one of the greatest literary accomplishments of the present generation. We shall start this journey together with the explicit absence of a joke. It was going to be quite a long joke having to do with Space Romans and a made up language called Old High Italian. I can’t bring myself to write it.
I am a naturally crooked and profane man, from a naturally crooked and profane culture. My favorite uncle is Italian. I have developed such a powerful Italian joke-making reflex over the years that suppressing it feels like forcing my leg to stay still after a doctor strikes my patellar tendon. My only explanation is that certain rules are transcendent. One does not belch in the company of a lady, or utter obscenities in front of a child, or produce flatulence at a funeral. The work I am about to describe makes the mere thought of indulging in some kind of cheap joke something akin to standing before a council of devil-worshippers and spitting on a picture of Jesus.
With solemn dignity, I now arrive on your screen to tell you about the Sun Eater series by Christopher Ruocchio. These books are not only a masterwork of science-fiction but what can only be described as good. Good as in reading them will not only entertain you and demonstrate mastery of craft, or provide you with meaningful moral instruction and scaffolding, but also that they will reignite in you the belief that our present generation is capable of creating greatness. In the seven volume series, Ruocchio has crafted a story that in hindsight will be understood as one of the first fully realized and worthy narrative considerations of moral philosophy in the age of artificial intelligence.
Christopher Ruocchio, the Italian American Author of the Sun Eater, is a young man. At the time of this writing, I believe him to be thirty two. In other words, he is a Millennial. He began writing the Sun Eater when he was only twenty-one. This is apparent in the series. The first book of the series, Empire of Silence, is merely serviceable. It’s not a terrible book by any means and many much older authors would view it as their finest work, but it’s only great if you remind yourself that it was written by a young college
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