The Lesser Devil

The Lesser Devil is a Sun Eater novella by Christopher Ruocchio, self-published in February 2020 and cataloged as book #1.5 in the series, set in the timeframe of the first novel, Empire of Silence, and readable any time after it.

The story follows Crispin Marlowe, the younger brother of series protagonist Hadrian Marlowe, who has grown up overshadowed by his brother's intellect and their father's favoritism. Answering a summons from his dying grandmother, the Duchess of Delosis, Crispin sets out on what should be a routine flight to the ducal palace from the family seat at Devil's Rest — only to fly into a trap of court intrigue and a cultist ambush in the surrounding mountains.

Told in third person and more combat-focused than the main series, the novella is a darker, action-heavy detour that fleshes out the Sun Eater universe's politics and the Marlowe family history without requiring the reader to have finished the later books.