Published: November 18, 2025
Publisher: DAW
Series: The Sun Eater #7
Genre: Science Fiction
Pages: 928 (Hardcover)
My Rating: 3.5 Stars
Synopsis:
The seventh and final novel of the galaxy-spanning series merges the best of space opera and epic fantasy, as Hadrian Marlowe at last lights the greatest fire humanity has ever seen
Ambitious universe-building combines with intimate character portraits for storytelling on a truly epic scale—for fans of Orson Scott Card, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Patrick Rothfuss, and Jack Campbell
The trumpet sounds.
The end has come at last. After his victory at Vorgossos, Hadrian Marlowe finds himself a fugitive, on the run not only from the Extrasolarians, but from his own people, the Sollan Empire he betrayed—and who betrayed him. Hidden safely beyond the borders of human space, Hadrian awaits the arrival of the one ally he has left: the Jaddian Prince Kaim-Olorin du Otranto.
What’s more, the inhuman Cielcin have vanished, unseen for more than one hundred years. The armies of men have grown complacent, but Hadrian knows the truth: the Cielcin are gathering their strength, preparing for their final assault against the heart of all mankind.
Only Hadrian possesses the power to stem the tide: an ancient war machine, forged by the daimon machines at the dawn of time. The mighty Demiurge. With it, Hadrian must face not just the Cielcin horde, but their Prophet-King, and the dark gods it serves—the very gods who shaped the universe itself.
Shadows Upon Time may hold the record for the longest time I’ve taken to finish an audiobook. I mean, it’s a 900+ page book, but Jesus Christ! I thought it was never going to end! And quite frankly, that’s not a great feeling because it means the book just wasn’t quite hooking me the way I wish it would and this had been one of my favorite series up until this installment.
Shadows Upon Time begins with Hadrian meeting with Prince Kaim-Olorin and rehashing so many details. I had to rewind because I thought I had accidentally skipped something important (which I did) because I didn’t realize Hadrian was doing a play-by-play of the battle at Vorgossos. This proceeded for what felt like hours even though seeing some of these events from other points of view was a nice change of pace. Then Hadrian goes to Gododdin, where he has explicitly told readers since the beginning that he destroyed the planet and a sun. All six books prior to Shadows Upon Time have been setting up for the foretold events, it’s really just a matter of how things get to that point and then what unfolds afterward. Of course there are so many other events filling this monster of a book, but this was a slow descent towards the end. There weren’t a ton of big events that left me reeling, but rather a number of small events that left me dreading the inevitable.
Shadows Upon Time is, in a way, the most refreshing book in the series because Hadrian cannot showboat his way out of situations any longer. He’s running out of allies, the Red Company was destroyed by the Cielcin three books ago, and he’s resigned himself almost gleefully to the idea that he must die to destroy the Watchers. This man is broken, despite having his daughter there who so desperately wants him to live, if only for her sake. The Emperor is dying, Alexander and the Chantry are trying to wrest the last vestiges of control from William and its so easy to paint Hadrian as a villain even before the events he’s so well known for. They throw around xenophobia and crass implications about Princess Selene, both of which undermine Hadrian almost too easily.
While in many ways Shadows Upon Time is a good book I simply did not find the reading experience all that enjoyable. This book didn’t grab me the way previous installments have and I attribute some of this to a lack of time to dedicate to the audiobook and the length of the book itself. A nearly 1000 page book really needs to be something special, but this just felt like it needed some additional editing. I would love to re-read the whole series in a few years and see how I feel about this installment at that point. I appreciated how this book ended, though it was more a whimper than a bang and I think that’s actually appropriate for Hadrian. This book could never have ended happily because we see from the very beginning that Hadrian’s story has left him a lonely, broken man. Despite some misgivings about this final installment, The Sun Eater remains one of my favorite science fiction series and I look forward to Christopher Ruocchio’s next work.
Powder & Page 
I’m about to start Disquiet Gods, and these reviews of Shadows Upon Time worry me a bit. Still, I won’t quit the series this close towards the end.
LikeLike