Skyfall

Well written, filling in important information about the Ruby Dynasty and how it was reinvigorated. Also provides background about characters who have a more central role in stories that have already been published. Most of the series I read develop chronologically. Asaro succeeds in writing stories out of chronological sequence so that I can get fully involved with the characters and plot even though I already know what will happen to them. One thing I notice in this and other books that move back in time (e.g., Schism) is that she develops characters whom I have already met without excessively repeating old information or contradicting it.

This stand-alone novel is part of The Saga of the Skolian Empire. For fans familiar with the storyline, Skyfall tells the tale of how Roca meets Eldrinson [have you ever wondered how improbable that meeting must have been?]. For those of you unfamiliar with The Skolian Empire Saga, this is not a bad place to start. Way into our future, the story goes, humanity reaches the stars only to discover that we are already there. Supposedly, a very long time ago, some ancient race took a sampling of humans from Earth then seeded them elsewhere, then disappeared, leaving humans stranded and having to grow their own societies independent of outside aid. One of these cultures now calls itself the Skolian Empire. Though they are ruled by an Assembly, the strength of that Assembly is in Skolian royalty. Ruby Dynasty psions have strong psychic powers. They run an unmatched and instantaneous interplanetary communications system (the Kyle Web) that keeps their empire strong. The problem is there are very few Ruby psions and breeding them is a challenge for even the greatest geneticists. Roca is the daughter of Lahaylia Selei (Ruby Pharaoh) and Imperator Jarac [Skolian Empire fans know her as the mother of Soz, Kelric, and others]. Being that Roca is an Imperial princess who travels the stars the way we travel the highways, one can only wonder how it was she ever met a quiet man from the backworld planet of Lyshriol [Eldrinson calls the place Lyshriol, but prior to inclusion in the greater galactic society, outsiders just called that weigh-station Skyfall]. And so in this book we have the romantic meeting of two Rhon minds [one is reminded of the fireworks between Sauscony and Jabriol in PRIMARY INVERSION]. So--just how do Roca and Eldrinson meet? Serendipitously, of course. Roca's grown son Kurj from her first marriage wants to go to war with their enemy the Trader Aristos--it's the age-old tale of territorial dispute--but he doesn't hold enough votes to the Assembly to sway the decision in his favor . . . but his mother does. Only problem: Roca will vote against going to war. Now Kurj loves his mother but he does want her where she can't cast those votes. Roca doesn't catch on soon enough, and when she does, events fall against her getting back to the Assembly in time to keep Kurj from using her votes supposedly in her name. In her rush to get back, Roca covers her trail from Kurj's Imperial security and takes a little known route. Then more events fall against her, trapping her on Skyfall/Lyshriol for many months. By the time Kurj finally tracks her down, more events have been set in motion (love, for instance) and Roca has another battle ahead of her with the Assembly and her family: that of getting them to accept the fact that she wants to be married to a nobody (who is also a lost link to the ancient Ruby dynasty). This is a nice love story with intriguing twists and action. Though classed as romantic science-fiction, neither th

In this chilly prequel the extraordinary Catherine Asaro takes us back to How It All Began. Roca, on the lam from her son Kurj, who's trying to ignite hostilities between the Traders and the Skolians while Roca's trying to prevent them, ends up on a low-tech backwater planet, Lyshriol (where part of story related in "The Quantum Rose" will take place), and the next thing you know she's carried off to a castle by the "barbarian" Eldrinson, who Roca quickly realizes is a powerful "psion." You don't have to have read any of the other books to guess what's going to happen next. But this is a Catherine Asaro book and as always she can take the most hackneyed of situations and make something fresh from them. The treat here is not what happens, or when; but how. That's where the suprises come in. The last third of the book, which takes place mostly back in the high tech Skolian Empire with a bit of crosscutting, is emotionally wrenching and the climax is no bed of roses. As usual with Catherine, there's hardly a wasted word in the book's 307 pages (plus appendixes).

Skyfall (2003) is the ninth novel in the Skolian Imperialate series, but is the first in internal sequence. Around 4000 BC, a group of humans were transported from Earth by aliens to the planet Raylicon and, over the next twelve centuries, built an interstellar empire. This empire was ruled by the Ruby Dynasty, a line of empaths and telepaths. They achieved a level of technology that was capable of rearranging solar systems and of modifying the genetic structure of their colonists. The collapse of the Ruby Empire left the colonies isolated from Raylicon. After more than four millennia, the Raylicons began to regain their lost technology and reattained interstellar flight in 1843 AD. Shortly thereafter, genetic experiments by Doctor Hezahr Rhon created a new breed of psions, the Aristos, who could receive but not transmit. Moreover, these Aristos experienced pleasure when receiving the pain of others. The Aristos separated themselves into a new polity, the Eubian Concord, and started conquering Raylicon planets and enslaving the populations. In 1904 AD, Lahaylia Selei founded the Imperialate in opposition to the Eubian Aristos and activated an ancient Lock to restore the Kyle interstellar web, thereby giving the Skolians the huge advantage of instantaneous communications. After two centuries of reigning as the Pharoah and sole Ruby psion of the Imperialate, Lahaylia found and married another Ruby psion, Jarac, who activated a second Lock to increase the power and scope of the Kyle web. Jarac became the Imperator, the commander of all Imperialate armed forces. Their marriage produced two daughters, Dyhianna and Roca. In this novel, in 2203 AD, three centuries after the founding of the Imperialate, Roca is trying to evade the agents of her son Kurj in order to return to Parthonia for the debate and vote on invading the Platinum Sectors. The Eubians have brashly taken over the entire region against the prior claims of the Imperialate and the metals in those sectors are urgently needed to maintain Imperialate technology. Roca is against the invasion plans. However, Kurj has her proxy and is determined to keep her from attending the session so that he can use her votes to support the proponents of the invasion. Kurj has been so warped by his mistreatment by his abusive stepfather and by later experiences with the sadistic Eubians that he is totally opposed to any accommodation with the Eubians. Moreover, he will do anything to protect his mother, even if she doesn't want him to do so. In her flight, Roca is stranded on Capsize, an antiquated spaceport that doesn't even have foul weather guidance systems. Her only transportation is a rusty bucket of bolts that looks like it can't get off the ground unassisted. However, it holds together long enough to take her to Skyfall, where she should be able to transfer to another ship going in the right direction. Her first glimpse of Skyfall is captivating; it has blue clouds in a lavender sky. The grasses

Catherine Asaro cannot make up her mind. I am sure from her point of view it keeps her from being bored. I prefer the science fiction side of her writing, but I admit, I liked this romance. It filled in some past/future gaps in the ongoing Skolian story and, unlike The Radiant Seas, was an easy read. But still the characters did not always ring true to themselves as described in other novels, especially Eldri. I had a hard time believing him to be so impulsive and hot-headed as a young man. The character's edges were not as hard and sharp as they were in Primary Inversion. The intensity of the Rhon connection that I felt with other Asaro lovers like Soz and Jai, Vryl and Kamoj, or Althor and Tina, was missing. This story is tamer. If this is your first time with Catherine Asaro's Skolian Sagas it is a sweeter, softer place to start. But my personal favorite will always be Primary Inversion. Forget having babies, I love it when the Skolian women kick ....