Review of Ascendant Sun

	Ascendant Sun by Catherine Asaro 384pp (Paperback) My Rating: 6/10 Amazon Rating: 4/5 LibraryThing Rating: 3.81/5 Goodreads Rating: 3.9/5

Ascendant Sun is the fifth novel published in Catherine Asaro's Saga of the Skolian Empire series. Currently, there are thirteen novels total in this science fiction series and chronologically Ascendant Sun comes after five other novels in the saga (it is not really sixth chronologically since there are three other novels following different characters set around the same time as this one). I would not recommend beginning with this book which is a direct sequel to The Last Hawk, the first book about the character Kelric. Although I think The Last Hawk is a decent starting point for the series, I do think it is a good idea to read Primary Inversion and The Radiant Seas (in that order) before reading Ascendant Sun or you will miss a lot of what is going on due to Kelric's rather limited perspective.

Please note that Ascendant Sun begins soon after The Last Hawk ends, which means there will be spoilers for the previous book in the plot description. If you do not want to know what happened, skip down to the horizontal line, which marks the end of the plot description.

After spending eighteen years on the planet Coba, Kelric returns to the Skolian Empire only to find it greatly changed. The Skolian web has collapsed, Aristos are openly walking around, his parents are being held in protective custody, and many of his family members are now dead including his brother Kurj and two of his Imperial heirs. Kelric realizes he is now the only surviving Imperial heir but decides it is best not to reveal he is in fact alive due to the current political situation. Yet Kelric himself is dying and needs money and better medical facilities than are available nearby in order to be healed.

After receiving some care at a clinic Kelric is at least well enough to manage for a little while, although he will still die if not treated. He finds a job to earn some money and is later approached by a man who can pay him a great deal of money. However, this high-paying job requires that he travel to a place he'd really rather avoid - Eubian space. In spite of the risk of capture, Kelric accepts since he realizes he just might have a chance to do some good for Skolia.

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So far I have read four of the books in this series in addition to this one - Primary Inversion, The Radiant Seas, Skyfall and The Last Hawk. Ascendant Sun is easily my least favorite book in the Saga of the Skolian Empire so far. All the other books were absorbing and difficult to put down, but I actually found this one difficult to get into and outright boring in a lot of places. There were certainly some great parts, but a lot of times I found myself reading this one just to get to the end instead of because I was enjoying it.

One of the reasons Ascendant Sun was disappointing was the incredible amount of infodump. The first couple of chapters covered the events in The Radiant Seas and there was also a lot of explanation about the empire in general and what occurred in The Last Hawk. It was probably intended to be accessible to readers even without being familiar with the other books in the series, but personally I don't think this book works well on its own at all anyway. The main moments I found satisfying were ones that I would not have cared about were I unfamiliar with some of the other characters and what had happened in Primary Inversion and The Radiant Seas. It was emotionally satisfying to read certain scenes because I had been following the plight of these characters.

All the explanations certainly slowed the book down, but that aside, it also just seemed a lot slower paced and less interesting than the other books although I'm not entirely sure what it is about it that kept me from being interested in what was happening at times. At first, I thought it was because it was mainly about Kelric and didn't carry on the main story, but I quickly realized that couldn't be the case. My favorite of the books, The Last Hawk, was all about Kelric and had far less to do with the other books in the series I've read so far on its own (although I suspect it will be important to the overall story arc just because of how it affected Kelric). Perhaps it is because for a while it seemed to be following a similar pattern as The Last Hawk but was missing the compelling setting and secondary characters (although there was one new character that I liked).

In spite of its failure to completely capture me to the same extent as the other books, it was not all bad. Kelric is still a character I enjoy reading about with his intelligence and introspective nature. There were a couple of interesting revelations from Kelric's time spent among the Eubians, and I do enjoy how Asaro manages to make a people with the need to torture others sympathetic and human - not good by any means, but many of them don't seem completely bad either. Two parts near the end also had me so excited I could have jumped up and down (if I had no dignity, that is) - not because they were surprising but just because it was so fulfilling to see them finally happen.

Although it is not the strongest book in the series, Ascendant Sun is not a waste of time for fans of the series who have read at least The Last Hawk, Primary Inversion and The Radiant Seas. There is a lot of explanation and slow parts to get through, but there are also some occurrences that are very rewarding to read about.

My Rating: 6/10

Where I got my reading copy: I bought it.

Reviews of related books (in chronological order):

• Skyfall
• The Last Hawk
• Primary Inversion
• The Radiant Seas

Elsewhere: Interview and Giveaway with Catherine Asaro

Today I read a very interesting interview with Catherine Asaro. She discusses everything from some of her favorite things to her absolute favorite character she writes to the next Skolian book. The next Ruby Dynasty book will be called Carnelians, and although it is a stand alone, Catherine said it also ties in with Diamond Star and The Ruby Dice.

There is also a chance to win a copy of Diamond Star (Skolian Empire series - romantic science fiction), the Diamond Star CD, or a copy of The Night Bird (The Lost Continent series - fantasy romance).

Review of The Last Hawk

	The Last Hawk by Catherine Asaro 480pp (Paperback) My Rating: 9.5/10 Amazon Rating: 4.5/5 LibraryThing Rating: 3.85/5 Goodreads Rating: 3.86/5

The Last Hawk is the third published novel in Catherine Asaro's Saga of the Skolian Empire series. The books within this romantic science fiction series are written about several different characters and many of the books can stand alone. The Last Hawk is the first book about Kelric, the Imperator's half brother and heir, whose story is continued in Ascendant Sun. Although this novel takes place outside of the Skolian Empire, it works well on its own and is a decent introduction to the series. It's also my favorite Skolian Saga book so far because of its well-developed society and excellent characters.

When Kelric's ship is attacked by the Traders, he is forced to land on the planet Coba before his vessel's last engine fails. The inhabitants are frightened to discover the nearly dead man is not from their world since they do not want to be part of the Skolian Empire and have convinced Imperial Space Command to mark them as a restricted world. If Kelric were to return home, the news that there was no reason not to incorporate Coba into the empire would spread and their society would be ruined. Although they feel threatened by his presence, two of the most powerful women within the matriarchy are intrigued by the handsome stranger so he is cared for and his ship is destroyed.

While Kelric is recovering, he becomes excellent at playing Quis, an intricate game that is interwoven into Coban politics. The strongest estates on the planet are those whose managers (queens) are the best players, aided by the skills of their Calani. The Calani is comprised of the very best male Quis players, whose lives are dedicated to serving their estate through their skills at the game. These men are bound by very strict rules and must take a vow to avoid reading, writing, contact with the outside world, and speaking to most people.

After discovering the deliberate destruction of his ship, Kelric becomes very upset and attempts to escape. He very nearly succeeds at stealing one of the Coban ships, and once he is recaptured, one of the managers suggests he should be executed just in case he ever does manage to leave. Deha, the manager of the fourth most powerful estate, has fallen for Kelric and saves him by making him one of her Calani and her husband. Thus begins Kelric's role as a political pawn - and sought-ought commodity - for the women of Coba.

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With many books, there is one particular strength, but I felt this one excelled on all levels. It kept a great pace from start to finish, the society was fascinating, and the characters all felt unique. The Last Hawk also had a lot of diversity and it would be too narrow to classify it as a science fiction adventure or romantic science fiction. There was politics, action, focus on character relationships with some romance, and some elements of hard science fiction.

Although this novel is told from the perspective of several different characters, the main point of view character is Kelric, the Imperial heir from an empire with gender equality where his sister could be the next Imperator as easily as he. It's hard not to love and empathize with Kelric. Not only does quiet, reserved Kelric have no freedom due to being an outsider but also due to being a male in a world dominated by females. Coba is a study in complete gender reversal from the normal patriarchy - the women make the rules and decisions, the women pursue the men, the women only want to marry virgins, and the women have certain expectations for how men should behave.

Matriarchies have been done before and just making the society function exactly like a patriarchy could make it seem stale, but it did not even though it was not very subtle. I've read many books in which the female lead is in the middle of a love triangle, but I honestly cannot think of a single book where the main male protagonist was part of one. In The Last Hawk, the man is the exotic beauty pursued by hordes of women, the one with an ability that makes him special (his mastery of Quis). By writing from the perspective of the hero, the feminist aspects never seem heavy-handed or preachy. It's very clear that Kelric is equal to the women, not inferior. Also, each woman is very different and some are more sexist than others. One manager believed all men should dress in robes and only smile at their wives, and another caused a stir by promoting a man to a position previously only held by females.

In addition to the matriarchy, the culture is defined by Quis and its role in the civilization. For centuries, everyone has played Quis, a game played with colored dice. Wars are not waged through battle but via the game. One of the strongest assets to a manager is her Calani and Calani who have belonged to other estates are particularly prized for their knowledge and the political advantage the estate ruler gains from it. The most influential Quis players put some of themselves into the game and as various rulers play with each other, the ideas spread throughout the twelve estates. Quis is also used for figuring out scientific and mathematic concepts.

At times, I did have to suspend my disbelief with this novel but it was good enough that I mostly told my brain to just shut up and enjoy the story. The main part I had to quit thinking about was how it was possible for Quis to be able to convey so much. The way it was described with dice and colors that had some symbolism and a few rules about which shapes and colors could be next to each other made it seem very simple. This was explained when Kelric was first learning the game and could be attributed to taking baby steps. It was vague enough later that I decided to just go with it, especially since I loved the concept, and after that, I could find explanations for the other parts I found a bit incredulous. Initially, Kelric's aptitude for Quis seemed believable since he had an internal computer system that helped him. Ever since his injury, this system had been malfunctioning and it was soon unable to help him, though, but he still continued to become an amazing player. It does make sense that he would be better at it than average due to his more advanced knowledge of science, math, and military strategy and would account for him being a genius at it. Also, every woman thought Kelric was beautiful, which seemed a bit over the top, but could also be explained by the fact that he was an exotic foreigner, plus his family had dabbled in genetic engineering. This also did not bother me too much since it was very much a reversal of the usual woman who is loved by every man who sees her. The aspect that I found most difficult to swallow was how willing several of these women were to trust a foreigner who seemed to have some dangerous tendencies. However, some women were more accepting than others and it was explained that Deha believed in him because she understood him from playing Quis with him. The others just wanted to like him because they thought he was pretty and it is true that people can be blinded by beauty.

The Last Hawk is one of those rare books with an entertaining story, great characters, and a fantastic culture. It's easily my favorite book I have read so far this year.

9.5/10

Review of The Charmed Sphere

	The Charmed Sphere by Catherine Asaro 384pp (Trade Paperback) My Rating: 7/10 Amazon Rating: 3.5/5 LibraryThing Rating: 3.35/5 Goodreads Rating: 3.61/5

The Charmed Sphere is written by Catherine Asaro, who is best known for her Skolian Saga series of space opera. This is the first book in the Misted Cliffs series, currently comprised of five romantic fantasy novels and the story "Moonglow" from the Charmed Destinies collection. I have enjoyed the three Skolian novels I have read, and I found The Charmed Sphere entertaining, although a lot simpler and lighter than Asaro's science fiction.

When Chime hears that the king is coming to her town, she does not run outside to watch the procession by the street but instead climbs a tree where she can watch discreetly - or so she thinks. The Mage Mistress Della No-Cozen senses Chime's presence and shape mage abilities when she rides by despite the young woman's efforts to hide. Later Della visits Chime, who is the strongest mage of her generation and whom she has discovered at a time when they are difficult to find. Although Chime is reluctant to leave her home, Della persuades her to marry the king's heir so she can one day become queen, who leads as a strong shape mage and helps protect the country against its neighboring enemy. Neither Chime nor her groom-to-be are happy with the idea of marrying a stranger until they actually meet and discover they are very attracted to one another.

Chime begins learning about spellcasting from Della No-Cozen but has difficulty memorizing and recalling the information she is taught. Soon she is joined by a second apprentice, Iris, who also has potential to be a strong mage. While Iris has a much easier time with explaining how magic works, she has far more trouble than Chime with actually managing to cast a spell and is thought to be weaker than her predecessor. However, once Iris overcomes her obstacles and uses her power, it is apparent that she is the stronger of the two and would be better suited to be queen - and Chime is reduced to second best.

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The Charmed Sphere is a fluffy, easy to read story that had me turning the pages. One problem I did have at the beginning of the story was that the names were cheesy and reeked of trying too hard to sound like fantasy names - Varqelle the Cowled, Anvil the Forged, Chime Headwind. When the king's heir was introduced at the beginning of chapter two as "Muller Startower Heptacorn Dawnfield," I nearly put the book down and started something else. (Fortunately, he is just referred to as "Muller" after that.)

This novel was fairly traditional fantasy - mages, royalty, warriors, and a "good" side and a "bad" side complete with a villain who needed to be foiled. I did appreciate that there was an actual magic system, although it was relayed through the often-used method of an instructor explaining to a student. Spellcasting was done by focusing on a shape with more powerful mages able to use more complex shapes. Mage ability was based on the colors of the rainbow with stronger magic users able to use more colors. For example, Chime and Della were both green mages, meaning they could do red, orange, yellow, and green spells. Blue mages like Iris could use all the colors a green mage could plus blue. Each color was associated with a type of magic, such as blue for healing and green for empathy. Mages tended to be best at spells involving the highest level color they could do, making Chime best at feeling and soothing emotions.

It was Chime and Muller who carried the story for me. Chime began as a very powerful woman who was going to become the most important woman in the country, only to have all that turned upside down. She had the potential to be amazing yet had struggles with learning instead of picking up everything easily. In fact, many considered her to be stupid since she did have trouble with memorization. Muller was also flawed with unusual power that no one believed he had and that he found difficult to control. Together, Chime and Muller were very entertaining - Chime is stubborn and immovable and Muller was terribly vain and obsessed with his appearance before Chime shook things up for him. To listen to them, you would think they hated each other but they very obviously do not.

This was a fun book to read but I did feel it was not a particularly well-written one. As I mentioned earlier, the names were rather distracting and we were also told several times that "Muller brooded," which I found annoying in a show-don't-tell sort of way. In spite of Della's status as king's advisor and an expert in magic, she did seem somewhat uninformed about some aspects of the subject's history that it seemed like she should have known. She told Chime that some types of magic were only rumors and myths yet later it turned out someone she would have known had those abilities. Mages were scarce at this point in time, but it did seem like an awful lot of people with strange twists to their powers that had not been seen before in recent history kept popping up. Perhaps this is explained in later books, but it seemed odd to me that so many of the main characters had unusual mage powers that the "experts" had not seen nor heard of before.

The Charmed Sphere did not strike me as a technically good book but it was absorbing enough to keep me wanting to know what happened next, particularly since I did care about what happened to Chime. I'll be reading the next book, although it is not one I must rush out and buy immediately.

7/10

Eight Chapters from Diamond Star Available for Free

The first eight chapters of Diamond Star, the next book in Catherine Asaro's Skolian Saga, are available on the Baen website. Diamond Star will be released in May 2009. Here is the description from Amazon:

Del was a rock singer. He was also the renegade son of the Ruby Dynasty, which made his career choice less than respectable, and gave him more to worry about than getting gigs and not getting cheated by recording companies, club owners, or his agent. For one thing, the Ruby Dynasty ruled the Skolian Imperialate, an interstellar Empire, which had recently had a war with another empire, the Eubian Concord. For another, Del was singing on Earth, which was part of a third interstellar civilization, and one which had an uneasy relationship with the Imperialate. Del undeniably had talent, and was rapidly rising from an unknown fringe artist to stardom. But, with his life entangled in the politics of three interstellar civilizations, whether he wanted that or not, talent might not be enough. And that factor might have much more effect than his music on the lives of trillions of people on the thousands of inhabited worlds across the galaxy.

Review of Skyfall

	Skyfall by Catherine Asaro 336pp (Paperback) My Rating: 7/10 Amazon Rating: 3.5/5 LibraryThing Rating: 3.63/5 Goodreads Rating: 3.88/5

Although it is the ninth book released in Catherine Asaro's Saga of the Skolian Empire series, Skyfall is the first book in the series chronologically. The books in this series have won numerous awards, including the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 2001 for The Quantum Rose. These novels are generally considered to be science fiction romance and contain a blend of space opera and hard science fiction. Skyfall was heavier on the romance side and lighter on the science fiction side than the other two books I have read in this series (Primary Inversion and The Radiant Seas). I would recommend newcomers to the series begin with the first published book, Primary Inversion. While it was very entertaining, I thought Skyfall was significantly weaker than both this novel and its sequel.

Roca, heir to the Skolian Empire, has just realized that her son Kurj plans to start a war. He sent her on a mission with only his people for protection and she has been delayed from returning home. She knows this is no coincidence since the council of the Skolian Empire will soon meet to vote on whether or not to go to war with their enemies, the cruel Eubian Traders. If Roca is not available for the council session, Kurj will cast her vote in her absence and there is a good chance the results will be in favor of the war. Desperate to prevent many of her people from dying, Roca escapes from her bodyguards and manages to get a flight to the planet Skyfall. In a couple of days, Roca will leave with a supply ship scheduled to stop at the planet and surprise Kurj by ruining his scheme.

Shortly after Roca's arrival on Skyfall, the bard Eldrinson rides to the port, abruptly hauls her up in front of him, and brings her back to his castle. Roca protests at first, but she is intrigued by Eldrinson's strong telepathic abilities which are similar to her own and ends up agreeing to visit him for one day. One day turns into two when a severe snowstorm hits and soon Roca is stuck on Skyfall until the next supply ship stops on the backwater planet - which could be months away.

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Skyfall is a very straightforward, easy to read novel. The science in this one is slim and limited to infodumps on Roca's internal computer that performs various useful functions such as regulating her temperature and helping her to learn languages quickly instead of focusing on theories as in The Radiant Seas.

The characterization in this novel is also somewhat thin compared to the others with the exception of Kurj, who is the type of complex and conflicted character I always enjoy reading about. His chapters were my favorites in the entire book. Roca is a much more passive and perfect heroine than her daughter Sauscony and therefore not as interesting. Our heroine looks like a 20 year old in spite of her 50+ years of age (which is not unusual for Skolians but adds to the character's aura of perfection), is drop dead gorgeous, kind, loved by just about everyone, and peaceful. She is very much the stereotypical female character, and even though there is an explanation for her willingness to be kidnapped by Eldrinson, it makes her seem like a helpless woman unlike the strong, determined Sauscony. Roca was likable but she did not seem unique or very well fleshed out.

The writing in this one also seemed more awkward than other books, partially because there were a few infodumps but also because much of the dialogue was stilted. This was to demonstrate the fact that Eldrinson and Roca did not actually speak the same language and did not always communicate clearly through spoken language in spite of their empathic/telepathic bond. Although it was not without merit, this did get annoying at times.

It may sound like I did not enjoy this book, but I actually could hardly put it down and the pages flew by. It was definitely fun to read, but it certainly was not as good as the other books in this series that I have read. I did find it interesting to read about the details of some of the events mentioned in the other novels even if I had a basic idea of how the story would end.

Skyfall is not the best book in the Saga of the Skolian Empire, but it is a worthwhile read for learning more about events a generation before the Radiance War.

7/10

Reviews of other books in this series:

Primary Inversion
The Radiant Seas

Free Revised Version of Primary Inversion

I signed up for a Catherine Asaro mailing list a while ago when I was desperately trying to find a copy of The Radiant Seas. Yesterday Catherine sent an email to the group to let us know that a revised version of her first novel Primary Inversion is now available at the Baen Free Library. Here is what she had to say about the new revisions:

This is a rewritten version of my first published book. I'm a better writer now, so I went through the entire book earlier this year, polished, streamlined, and updated it. If you're in the music business, you could say I remastered it ;-)

I am curious about the changes since I thought this was already a pretty good book. Primary Inversion was one of those books I couldn't put down and read in about 2 days (review). Actually, it was the book that convinced me I might like space opera after all.

There are many other titles also available for free at the Baen Free Library.

Review of The Radiant Seas

	The Radiant Seas by Catherine Asaro 512pp (Paperback) My Rating: 8.5/10 Amazon Rating: 4.5/5 LibraryThing Rating: 3.93/5 Good Reads Rating: 4.07/5

The Radiant Seas is the direct sequel to Primary Inversion, an earlier novel in Catherine Asaro's Skolian Saga. Although Asaro's website says all the books in the series are intended to be stand alone with the exception of the Triad duology (originally written as one book until it became too long), I would recommend reading Primary Inversion first. I don't think I would have enjoyed this novel to the same extent if I did not have the background information on the characters and world provided in its predecessor.

Since this is a review of a book that picks up immediately at the end of the sequel, spoilers for Primary Inversion are contained in this review.

The Skolians and Eubians have been at war for a very long time. The former are empaths and the latter are their antithesis - experiments in counteracting the Skolian's abilities led to their development as a race of anti-empaths who derive great pleasure from torturing them. After the Eubian heir Jaibriol II was captured by the Skolian Empire, he was rescued by the Skolian heir Sauscony, who had fallen in love with him after discovering he was actually a strong psion like herself. Unknown to anyone from either of the empires other than Sauscony's father, Sauscony and Jaibriol were married and faked their deaths under the pretense that both were killed when Sauscony pursued the escaping prisoner Jaibriol. Instead, the two took refuge on an uninhabited planet and began a new life together away from the animosity between their two worlds. They face obstacles such as allergic reactions to their new home and violent sentient plants and raise a family.

On Skolia, Sauscony's parents and siblings grieve her passing and her brother Kurj, the Imperator, selects their brother Althor as his new heir. Althor has reason to be suspicious that his sister is actually alive and manages to get the truth about her "death" from his father. He is sworn to secrecy, but is later captured by the Eubians who torture him mercilessly. Even though his mind is in the process of automatically erasing his memories, the empress discovers that Jaibriol is still alive. She sends forces to capture Jaibriol and bring him back to the Empire, and soon afterward, Sauscony returns to Skolia determined to rescue her husband without revealing to anyone that they are married and have four children.

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The Radiant Seas was more difficult for me to get interested in than Primary Inversion, but it became very difficult to put down later. Sauscony was no longer the point of view character nor was she the main character since the story focused on her, various members of her family, and the Eubian emperor and his wife. She was not as compelling a character in the beginning, either, since a lot of the beginning of her story involved having and raising children, which I didn't find that interesting. However, I did really enjoy getting to see the softer side of the hard-hearted Imperator Kurj as well as glimpses into life in Eube. Although the anti-empaths were still not as sympathetic as the Skolians, they were more humanized than they were in the previous novel.

This novel combines the politics and adventure of space opera with hard science fiction. At times, there was quite a bit of technical discussion as theoretical scientific concepts were explored. This also dragged on a bit too much for my taste at times (although it probably didn't help that I was reading it when I should have been going to sleep).

One other aspect of this book that bothered me was Sauscony's AI developing a personality and attitude. It was not so much the way this was handled as it was that it seemed out of place to me since this AI was the very matter-of-fact type in Primary Inversion.

My favorite part of this book was definitely the world that Asaro has created in this series. The two sides are more black and white than I normally like, but I still can't help but love the intergalactic opposition between the Eubians and Skolians. The idea of telepaths and empaths is always appealing to me, and I am fascinated by the idea of a kind of far-future Internet powered by minds.

Fans of Primary Inversion likely will not be disappointed with its sequel. It does take a little more time to become immersed in the story, but the wider scope of character viewpoints gives a better perspective of the world Asaro has created.

8.5/10

Reviews of other books in this series:
Primary Inversion

Review of Primary Inversion

	Primary Inversion by Catherine Asaro 384pp (Paperback) My Rating: 8.5/10 Amazon Rating: 4.5/5 LibraryThing Rating: 3.63/5 Good Reads Rating: 3.94/5

Primary Inversion, a novel in the Skolian Saga, is the debut novel of Nebula Award winner Catherine Asaro. Although it is not chronologically the first novel in the series, it is supposed to be a good place to start. The series mostly focuses on the story of different members of one family and a few of the books are closely linked (for instance, The Radiant Seas continues the story begun in Primary Inversion and is about the same characters). This partially space opera, partially hard science fiction novel had me hooked from the early pages and proved to be difficult to put down.

The universe is comprised of two main empires that are at war with each other - the Skolians and the Traders (there is also a third empire that is neutral and is not mentioned very much in this book). The Traders, due to a flaw in their engineering, not only can withstand pain but derive great pleasure from it and therefore particularly enjoy torturing the empathic Skolians.

Primary Inversion is told from the first person point of view of Sauscony, otherwise known as Soz, a Jagernaut Primary (a soldier fairly high in the hierarchy with advanced technology making her strong and quick). While on a neutral planet with her colleages, Soz is hit on by a man who is obviously a Trader and most likely of the ruling family. She notices he does not seem like the other Traders, but cannot immediately figure out why.

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This novel has almost everything one could hope for in a space opera - interesting technology and societies, political intrigue, and a pretty cool space battle. A lot of the focus in the middle of the story is on Soz, as she deals with the after-effects of her experience as a spy on a Trader planet and some events in the present. Some may find this to be a little too emo, and there is also some romance, although not too much. This book is certainly not a straight romance novel, as I have heard some of the other books in the series are. The beginning and the end (especially the end) are rather fast-paced and make up for what some may consider to be a slow middle.

Soz is an interesting and well-developed character, both because of her life as a Jagernaut and a member of the royal family and her internal conflict. She is an empath, one who can feel others emotions as though they are her own, yet she is in many ways an emotional cripple. Soz has a hard time expressing her thoughts and feelings and being truly close to people. Her character is likable - believable yet flawed.

This book was very easy to read quickly in spite of a lot of technological explanations (particularly in the beginning when much of the Jagernaut technology was explained to a young man in training). It was mixed in with plenty of dialogue and insight into the characters that kept it from being heavy reading.

If you don't mind some internal struggle and romance but enjoy space opera featuring well-developed characters and societies, I would recommend giving Primary Inversion a shot. It is very easy to begin reading and very difficult to stop reading. I look forward to reading more books in this series.

8.5/10

Update and Review Previews

I haven't put up a review in two weeks even though I have two to do. I feel like a horrible reviewer. Unfortunately, I have a big project at work due the end of next week and I knew there was no way I'd finish it on time with all my other projects if I didn't work extra, so a lot of my spare time has been going into that and I haven't had time to actually write a review (or read all that much). I'll just be glad when this month this over.

So I thought in the meantime I'd take a little break from my project and write a few brief thoughts on the books I've read recently before I get to review them. These are not reviews and my brain is pretty much mush right now, but hopefully it will at least give an idea on the books since I don't know when I'll get a chance to actually write in-depth reviews of them.

Catherine Asaro's Primary Inversion, the first book in the Skolian saga, took me about 1 1/2 days to start and finish. This space opera was very easy to get absorbed in from early in the novel, and it kept me wanting to find out what happened. It may be a bit angst-filled for some people's taste (and it had some romance, although the romance was not the entire plot or anything). It reminded me somewhat of a more connected version of C.S. Friedman's In Conquest Born with it's slightly telepathic race of empaths and empires at odds with one another. I can't wait to read the rest of the books in the Skolian Saga.

Mary Doria Russell's The Sparrow was good, but a little disappointing after all I had heard about it. I had heard that the characterization was wonderful, but even though I liked the characters in the story, I felt they lacked something. I'm not sure what, though, since there were certainly a lot of gray areas and the depictions of their motives are problems were very real. There were a few elements of the story that I found hard to swallow even for science fiction - for instance, using an asteroid as a transport vessel to Alpha Centauri. The writing was ok, but nothing exceptional. The mystery of what had happened was riveting, but at times, the story dragged a little. This story was worth reading for the way it brought up interesting questions about religion and how it depicted Emilio's descent from a godly priest to a bitter man with a bad reputation.

Now I am back to fantasy and reading Melusine by Sarah Monette a little in the evenings when I have time. So far, it is very promising although I've only read the first three chapters.