As the centuries go by, even Hadrian Marlowe is beginning to get old. His expertly crafted palatine genome, and the cryo sleep he has endured while traveling through space, can only extend his life so far, and Marlowe is now over 600 years old. It has been two centuries since he struck the emperor and fled imperial space to Jadd, leaving behind a war and political intrigue for the life of a fugitive. He has certainly enjoyed his time on Jadd, especially the last 40 years raising his daughter Cassandra. She is a skilled warrior who has learned swordplay from the famed Maeskoloi of Jadd, but she knows little of the dangers that exist beyond this planet. So when an Imperial messenger arrives with a pardon and calls Marlowe back into service in a war that humanity is losing, he has no desire to accept. But he must, because if he does not, there will be no future for any human, and that includes his Cassandra.

After the events of the last book, it is a miracle that Hadrian Marlowe is still alive. Or is it? Since Hadrian is narrating the story of his life as an old man, it is a foregone conclusion that he won't die, so every situation comes down to how he survives the events that threaten his existence. Things were so dire in Kingdoms of Death that any way out alive for Hadrian would have to border on ludicrous, and it did. It made me wonder if Christopher Ruocchio had fundamentally undermined this series by giving Hadrian a reality-shifting ability that was just too powerful. At the time it seemed that Hadrian could use this ability to get out of any situation without consequence, but there are also a few hints that things are not exactly as they seem to be. Only time will tell which side of plausible this series winds up on, but either way it continues to get more dark and foreboding.

Although author Michael Moorcock announced that Elric was retiring after 30 years back in 1992, he decided to honor the 60 year anniversary of his most beloved character with one last adventure. Melniboneans can command dragons and tremendous sorcery because their ancestors, the immortal Phroon, were half dragon themselves. As part of his education Elric was sent on dream quests and in some he met his "Aunt", the sister of the first Emperor of Melnibone, who tutored him in sorcery, became his lover, and invited him to visit someday. After destroying his homeland and the tragic death of his cousin caused by Stormbringer, the sorcerer Elric of Melnibone started wandering through the lands known as the Younger Kingdoms. Along the way he was befriended by the jovial adventurer Moonglum who joins Elric on a perilous journey off the edge of the map and onto the flip side of their world (everyone knows the world is flat) to find the mysterious Phroon and his Aunt. Thanks to Moonglum's current girlfriend they have found a merchant ship brave enough to attempt the plunge off the edge of the world in search of exotic goods they can take back to the Younger Kingdoms. Surviving the plunge is only the first of many dangers Elric and Moonglum face as they journey through a strange continent and Elric gets entangled in his Aunt's schemes.

This isn't the first time that the Emperor has given Hadrian an impossible task, but it certainly seems more boring than the others. And the boredom is starting to get to him. There have been numerous attempts on Hadrian's life, and that is one of the reasons he has been relegated to an obscure planet where his talents are going to waste. As Hadrian, humanity's most effective effective weapon, sits on the sidelines for decades, the war between the Empire and the Cielcin rages on without him. There is however one thing that has changed - humanity is now clearly losing the war. The Great Prince Syriani Dorayaica has united the Cielcin clans and is driving the Empire back at every turn. Hadrian has high hopes when he learns that the Emperor is coming in person to give him a new mission, but he is quickly disappointed when he finds out what it is. Hadrian is commanded to travel to the Lothrian Commonwealth and convince them to join the war on the side of the Empire. An impossible task for sure, and a boring one. Or not?

After defying death at the hands of the Cielcin, Hadrian Marlowe is now known as the Halfmortal and has become a bit of a legend within the Sollan Empire. His prominence has also amassed him quite a few enemies who feel that he is a threat to the throne, and he must now worry that the Emperor himself could be one of them. To make matters worse, the Cielcin have also upped their game and they now have a new leader known as the Scourge of Earth. This new leader is a lot more strategic and that has turned the tide of the war in the favor of the Cielcin. Despite all of those threats to Hadrian, what really grabbed me about this book was related to the "ancient" alien race known as the Quiet. Although some of the new revelations will make your brain hurt at times, for me the Quiet have now gone from a slightly boring thread in the series to a very interesting one.

Hadrian Marlowe has managed to free himself from his gilded cage and is now in a position to pursue his dream of seeking peace with the Cielcin. For 400 years the Sollan Empire has been at war with the alien Cielcin and it has now become a war that both sides have inherited rather than started. Because of this, Hadrian thinks that if humanity could just find the Cielcin leadership it might be possible to discuss peace with them and end the bloodshed. Rumors indicate that the path to finding the Cielcin lies with first finding the lost planet of Vorgossos, and that is something Hadrian has been pursuing for decades without much success. He has been chasing down one rumor after another and has nothing to show for it except yet another "promising" lead. With the limited support he has from the Empire eroding quickly, Hadrian finds he is at a crossroads. He must either commit treason against the Empire in order for it find peace or give up on his dream and return to his former captivity. For Hadrian Marlowe, that is no choice at all.

The Sun Eater is a series that chronicles the life of Hadrian Marlowe. The official blurb says "The galaxy remembers him as a hero: the man who burned every last alien Cielcin from the sky. They remember him as a monster: the devil who destroyed a sun, casually annihilating four billion human lives - even the emperor himself - against Imperial orders." So this is one of those series where the reader knows that the protagonist is not going to die because he is the one telling the story of his life, something I am not a fan of, but it does come highly recommended so I decided to give it a try. This is a far distant future where Earth has been destroyed and since become the basis of the dominant religion, and humanity has spread among the stars using ships capable of interstellar travel. So it is epic in scope and the quoted blurb sets the stage for big things to happen, but it all starts with Hadrian as a young noble who resents his parents and wants no part of the gilded future that is available to him.

Elric of Melniboné, along with the sword Stormbringer, is the most influential of Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champions. The first Elric story, The Dreaming City, was published in 1961 and created the trope of the fantasy anti-hero with a burdened soul. These tales of his adventures as he wanders the world in a futile quest for spiritual peace have influenced countless works in the sci-fi and fantasy genres. That description fits superheroes like The Hulk, and while I'm not sure Elric influenced the comics, there is a definite resemblance in the television series of the 1980's. The multiverse concept pioneered here is seen in the works of authors like Brandon Sanderson and the place that brings spiritual and mental peace, Tanelorn in this multiverse, is echoed in Guy Gavriel Kay's references to Fionavar. The conflict between Lords of Chaos and Order was the basis for Louise Cooper's The Time Master series. References to the series and Stormbringer appear throughout popular culture including music, comics, and even lines in television series such as Game of Thrones. "But are the books actually good?" My answer: It's complicated.