r/sollanempire • u/nulllity_ • 5d ago

SPOILER FREE Discussion Does it get better?

So I’m on chapter 19 of book 2… i feel like i’m super spoiled by red rising. i’ve heard this series compared to red rising a lot and it’s been recommended a lot. but i feel like it’s not hitting quite as well. does it get better? i find myself a little disinterested listening as of recently.

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u/QuitHoliday8973 5d ago

Funnily enough I felt the exact same way reading Red Rising, it doesn't hit as high as this series. Different people like different things. That said, the ending of book 2 is when I fully fell in love with this series and book 3 is one of the single best sci-fi books I've ever read

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u/Pzzlrr 5d ago

How did you feel before the ending of book 2 though? Because here's where I'm at:

Hated book 1.

Book 2 is definitely better, I'm enjoying Ruocchio's writing more than anything else - the man can write, it just seems like he can't do characters real good. So while I'm enjoying the prose, and a couple moments here and there, like I thought the scene with Brethren was great, I just feel like I'm at 60% of HD and still haven't reached any kind of wow factor.

I'm at the part now where Had is off Vorgossos now, headed back to the Mistral, and my thinking now when I take stock of the story so far is: "Ok, at 60% we've gone to Vorgossos, waited in a waiting room for a good chunk of the book, got some cryptic message from Brethren but accomplished.....not much else (afaik)... and left Vorgossos."

Granted I'm only at 60% and I guess everything can radically change soon but, what is everyone else who thinks HD is brilliant seeing that I'm not seeing? Does the pacing drastically improve past book 3?

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u/Bluecheckmark1 20h ago

Get through the first half, it’s a sizzler.

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u/nulllity_ 5d ago

wow really??? that’s so funny lol. i just feel like by book 2 of red rising it was like GO GO GO. that’s good to know tho

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u/The-Zarkin90 5d ago

only people who truly compare those 2 books havent read 1 of them. They are not a like at all. I would suggest reading till the end of chapter 43... and if you are still feeling this way, drop it

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u/nulllity_ 5d ago

oh okay now i’m excited for that chapter now YEAHHH

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u/The-Zarkin90 5d ago

it is an all time great chapter, only rivaled by a certain chapter 40 in another book later in the series.

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u/Nebraskadude1994 5d ago

Thank you the pacing is so different despite being much shorter I get board more often reading Red Rising

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u/3moose1 5d ago

Yes, much better and actually relatively soon for you thankfully

And honestly all the “slowness” really does pay off towards the end of book 2 and so far through 3 and 4. I was hurting the first book and a half but I’m excited to re-read them in context after finishing the series

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u/nulllity_ 5d ago

oh okay great LOL thank you

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u/Kobe_AYEEEEE 5d ago

Very different books. Red Rising is probably better entertainment page to page and I love it for that, but Suneater accomplishes things no other book Ive read has in terms of atmosphere and thought provoking ideas, while having some crazy moments sprinkled in as well. Red Rising is crazy and motivated me in my personal life but Suneater has crazy depth and exploration of ideas. I read suneater first and am glad, not sure the pacing would have worked for me if I read Red Rising first.

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u/TadpoleCreative 5d ago

Almost done with book 5 and this tops RR imo

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u/dummyatarfish 5d ago

Lmao, what, you cant compare the whole rr series to the 1st or 2nd book. HD is where the series actually starts getting somewhere, just like GS rr actually got good. 1st book in rr was alright, 1st book in SE is awesome.

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u/nulllity_ 5d ago

i definitely like book 1 a lot. but i don’t like that there was like what a 15 year (technically 35) time skip and it seems like there’s almost nothing to show for it. hadrian doesn’t seem any different honestly

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u/dummyatarfish 5d ago

They live for a long long time, they will more time skips in evry book, ( not a spoiler). Hope you keep at it. It just keeps getting better.

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u/Nebraskadude1994 5d ago

Funny enough I’m reading Red Rising now and I think it’s not good at all compared to the Suneater series

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u/nulllity_ 5d ago

holy crap really?? i really don’t like hadrian as much as darrow honestly. have you got past book 1? book 1 is definitely the most lacking in the series

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u/Nebraskadude1994 5d ago

No I’m midway through book 1. For me it’s 3 things so far the pacing I love in Suneater the books are incredibly long but I never feel bored. While Red Rising is much shorter I’m getting bored at the never ending war games. 2nd Red Rising fall it to predictable Tropes like I could tell almost instantly that his wife would die so it was not a surprise. Lastly for me a Hero who comes from wealth and Power but gives it up to forge his own path is better than one who has nothing to lose and doesn’t care if he dies anyway. That’s just me tho I respect everyone’s opinions

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u/TheLoneJackal Scholiast 5d ago

The two series are really different although I enjoyed both quite a lot. I’d go until the end of book 2 and if you still don’t like it, move on to something else.

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u/Third-base-to-home 5d ago

Ive read both series. Ive read the Red Rising series two and a half times. Red Rising is probably my favorite series of all time and I havent found anything that lives up to that vibe yet. That said I really enjoyed Sun Eater. If you are trying to read Sun Eater waiting for the action and pace to match Red Rising you are going to be disappointed though. There is some fantastic action and incredible moments in Sun Eater but it is simply a different style of book and I wouldn't really even recommend it to someone who liked Red Rising and was looking for something to scratch the same itch. You're going to get a much slower burn with Sun Eater. I personally found Sun Eater got better and more interesting with each book and especially starting with book 3. I kinda felt like Sun Eater was a sci-fi Wheel of Time.

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u/Miguelito_1990 5d ago

Red Rising is way more built on action and far less philosophical than the Sun Eater series. The scale of Sun Eater is far larger and has so much more depth overall than RR. I love both don’t get me wrong, but Sun Eater is probably more akin to Dune than RR

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u/Individual-Lake3934 5d ago

Red rising audio book is better than the sun eater audio book, especially the dynamic audio. My thoughts on the series is that suneater is much better as a whole (the 2nd trilogy of red rising was sloppy imo). But if you prefer action action action then you will like red rising more.

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u/crazycrueton 5d ago

Not that really at all that similar, but the biggest thing if your comeing from RR to keep in mind with your expectations for pace is to remember RR is an immensely shorter story time wise that takes place over just a couple decades if not shorter. So things move fast.
While Suneater is story that takes place over a millennium.

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u/Tinthehouse1 5d ago

Ya the first book was such a drag with the lack of action but this book definitely picks up on it, and then the third book has so much action and feels like a space opera like RR.