Demon in White

The typical problem with reviewing the books of a series is that at least three or four stars can be attributed to the world the author has set up, and most of that is due to book 1 (in this case [b:Empire of Silence 36454667 Empire of Silence (Sun Eater, #1) Christopher Ruocchio https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1523897945l/36454667.SY75.jpg 58159105]). That's somewhat true here, but if that were the case, Demon in White would only get four stars. By book 3 some series have reached the “TV show” stage, where their characters are going on adventures that don't seem entirely related to the overall arc of the story or are just cool, fun things for them to do with new powers or technology. In that case a book could still get three stars if it's in a four-star universe.This certainly isn't the case with Demon in White. With each of [b:Howling Dark 41564599 Howling Dark (Sun Eater, #2) Christopher Ruocchio https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1554659319l/41564599.SY75.jpg 64859822] and Demon in White, Christopher Ruocchio has taken the galaxy set up in Empire of Silence to the next level, and he's done the same with the characters. I used to wonder why a story like Ben Hur or Star Wars had to be so tied to a character, why it couldn't be about how awesomely huge THE EMPIRE is. I think the reason I thought that (at the age of twelve, for crying out loud) was that the characters offered in such stories are often just an excuse to tell the story of how huge the empire is. Ruocchio solves this problem by offering us a character who is believably human, and interesting. He likes to draw, he's awkward with girls, he knows how to fight, but he tries to avoid it, and so on. He then takes that character on a crazy adventure through the galaxy, thereby showing the hugeness of it.Howling Dark takes that character to another level, and Demon in White makes him larger than life, so he matches the universe. I don't know how I could give this book less than four stars because it's finished and it doesn't suck. By that I mean it's an artistic accomplishment, and it is worth every one of its 746 pages (there's an appendix). There are no BOGSAT scenes, no filler of any kind. Just pure space opera awesome, so much that I was almost worn out by the end. This character is larger-than-life, and we get some idea of why in this book, but he is still overwhelmingly human, and that's why I'm eagerly awaiting the next book.