Empire of Silence (Sun Eater)

Some interesting takes on some of the same themes as Frank Herbert's Dune, with a more heterogeneous view of humanity. Well crafted prose, easy to read and hard to put down!

Does follow the privileged young man rejects that privilige and slums it with the proles trope a bit and not a lot was resolved as it's the first of the series, but I'm looking forward to how the rest of the series goes!

This is a book that isn't ashamed to show its influences - Interstellar space empire where magic shield belt technology has obsoleted guns in favor of knives and swords - "Highmatter swords" whose blades cut effortlessly through anything except each other, and whose blades can be summoned and dismissed from the hilt - Interstellar space empire that has regressed to feudalism, with the state religion taking a dominant role

There's some interesting stuff here, but there are also a lot of tired tropes. Every woman's appearance is described exhaustively. Every woman is either a love interest or an unfeminine drudge. The hereditary ruler scorns his intelligent, educated, hardworking son in favor of his other son who's a loutish brute.

It also has start-of-a-series syndrome - there's a lot of exposition and things started up, but hardly anything is concluded or resolved.

I don't know, I'm reading the next one, but

A solid "I grew up at my father's estate surrounded by tutors and yet, chose to ditch the privilege and mingle with commoners in pursuit of galactic scale something while being a good person" kind of book.