Empire of Silence is heavily influenced by Dune, and likely was inspired by it. There are shield belts, a focus on hand to hand combat, Mentat-like characters, and devil-machines. I enjoyed the author's writing still greatly.
The book is written in an introspective way. You get to be the listener, "reading" an account of Hadrian's life, that he wrote himself. It's like listening to someone recount a story about their own life, but colored by the wisdom of lived experience.
I am going to read The Lesser Devil next, and then I'll continue the official Sun Eater series.
Rating 4/5