Ashes of Man

Ashes of Man is the fifth novel of Christopher Ruocchio's Sun Eater series, and it opens only hours after the end of Kingdoms of Death; the two were first written as a single book before it was split in two.

The Cielcin have united under one banner and are tearing through the worlds of men, and the Sollan Empire stands alone after the Commonwealth's betrayal. Rumor says Hadrian Marlowe died in the fighting, but he survived with the help of the Tavrosi witch Valka, and the two of them have learned something few will believe: the Cielcin's gods are real. Meanwhile the Prophet-King has found a way to follow the Emperor's movements along the Imperial borders, and its legions are closing in.

Told by an older Hadrian looking back on his life, the book spends much of its length on his grief and slow recovery, held up by Valka and his friends in the Red Company, before building to a long and bleak final stretch of war.