I found this book in a thread for recommendations on books like Red Rising. Unfortunately, it feels less like Red Rising and more like Dune in it's general slowness and how it kinda throws the reader into the deep end of the world of the book. I think because of that it really took me a while to get into the book. It wasn't until a little less than halfway through that I started to feel positively about the book.

One thing to note is the book's interesting writing style, it's written as if it's a memoir from the perspective of our main character, Hadrian. Right from the beginning we find out there's been some sort of war, and that Hadrian has done something horrible in the course of that war but that this story isn't about the war and Hadrian's role in it, at least not yet. For now, he's just retelling his life story. Throughout this retelling, however, we get periodic nuggets of commentary from future Hadrian on his past, and these little asides where he reflects on how he used to act or think is how we're slowly introduced to the character he becomes.