Empire of Silence

Hadrian Marlowe is the son of a planetary governor. His father has plans for his life, Hadrian has other ideas. Every decision he makes takes him out of the frying pan and into the ... into the next frying pan over a different fire. The narrative is fast paced as he tries to plan, manipulate, and luck his way into a more desirable future.

It's fifteen thousand years into the future, humans have colonised countless star systems along one arm of the galaxy, there is genetically engineered perfection for the elites, cryo space travel between systems, plasma lances and stun guns etc. But the culture is more medieval with knights in armour, palace and family intrigue, political maneuvering, the Roman coliseum with fights to the death, a serf underclass, and over it all is the Chancery, the equivalent of the Spanish Inquisition with it's powerful torturers and mystics. And Hadrian is well educated so there are quotes from Shakespeare, Thomas Aquinas and other ancients peppered into his thinking.