A young girl from present-day Earth is carried into the future to the interstellar Skolian Empire, where she becomes embroiled in a murderous plot to bring down the Empire. Catherine later rewrote this book as the the duology Lightning Strike, Book I and Lightning Strike, Book II.
Schism takes places in Catherine Asaro’s award-winning saga of the Skolian Empire. Although it came out as the tenth novel, it offers an excellent entry point into the series—for Schism harkens to the early years of the empire, back to the beginning of the war between Skolia and the Traders.
Hostilities are increasing between Skolia and the Eubian Traders. Soz Valdoria, an heir to the dynasty, earns acceptance to train as an elite fighter pilot in the Skolian military. When her father forbids her to follow such a dangerous path, her brother takes her to the academy, driving a wedge into the Ruby Dynasty. As the traders increase their assault against the dynasty, Soz and her family must face some of the most demanding trials of their lives, both personal and political.
With The Moon’s Shadow, Catherine Asaro begins a thrilling new chapter in her galaxy-spanning epic of the Ruby Dynasty.
At the age of seventeen, Jaibriol Qox III becomes ruler of a vast galactic empire—and loses everything he values. Born of a secret liaison between an heir of the Skolian Imperialate and a prince of the genetically engineered Traders, Jai Qox grew up in exile. Now he must walk a razor’s edge, to seize the power of his birthright without succumbing to its dark seduction. Only then can he avert a war that threatens to engulf a thousand worlds.
Spherical Harmonic tells the story of Dehya Selei, the Ruby Pharoah of the Skolian Imperialate. In the aftermath of a disastrous, star-spanning war, she struggles to bring together the tattered remnants of their family. Her people have lost too much, too many lives, too many battles. The pharaoh must act quickly to save her family and her people. With the welfare of a trillion people in her hands, she must fight for her family to resume their rightful place as heirs to an interstellar civilization.
Founded by the Ruby Dynasty, the Skolian Imperialate rules a third of the civilized galaxy. But war with the rival Trader empire looms, a conflict that can only lead to slavery for the Skolians or the destruction of both sides. When Soz Valdoria, an fighter pilot and daughter of the Ruby Dynasty, meets Jaibriol Qox the Second, the Trader emperor’s heir, all bets are off. With hostile forces seeking their capture or death, Soz and Jabriol must work together to find salvation for their people before war destroys them all.
Asaro rewrote the eBook version of Primary Inversion, polishing the original, and considers it the best version.
“An unusually masterful first novel. Physicist Asaro combines hard speculative science and first-rate storytelling.”— Booklist
“An imaginative debut that takes off at a frantic pace, with dazzling technology, stirring battles and mental hijinks … plenty of energy and invention.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Fast, smart, speculative and full of theorizing about faster-than-light drive, PRIMARY INVERSION is a stellar debut.”— Los Angeles Daily News
“Hard science fiction fans can rejoice—the next superstar is here.”—Romantic Times Book Review
On the Skolian Empire series:
“One of the major series in the genre.” —SF Chronicle
“Asaro’s Skolian saga is now nearly as long and in many ways as compelling as DUNE, if not more so.” —Booklist
“Known for her brilliance at combining science, adventure and riveting characterization, Catherine Asaro breaks new territory…”—Mary Jo Putney, New York Times bestselling author of Once a Spy and Dearly Beloved.
Catherine Asaro, a physicist who combines hard science with first-rate storytelling, exploded onto the science fiction scene with her stellar debut novel, Primary Inversion. Now she introduces a stand-alone tale in her Ruby Dynasty saga, a novel that AudioFile calls “a classic tale of power and conflict, with a twist.”
Kelric, a scion in the dynastic family of the Imperialate, crash-lands his starfighter on the planet Coba. A powerful queen saves his life, but refuses to let him leave. The matriarchs of the great estates fear, with good reason, that if the Imperialate learns of their thriving culture, Coba will lose its freedom. To protect their world, they take Kelric prisoner. Then they discover his gift for the strategy game that controls the fluxes of power on their world. He rises in the ranks of its experts, never knowing that his talent can bring world-shaking changes to Coba—and to the future of a galactic empire.
Ascendant Sun offers an adventure-packed sequel to The Last Hawk. Kelric, heir to the Skolian Empire, crash-landed his fighter on the Restricted planet of Coba. For 18 years, the powerful queens of the great estates held him prisoner. And then Kelric escaped their gilded cage. In Ascendant Sun, he returns to Skolian space, only to find the Empire in control of the Allied forces of Earth after the devastating Radiance War. With the death of his brother during the war, Kelric finds himself the only surviving heir to the military command of his people—a secret he must protect with his life. With little more than the clothes on his back, he takes work on a merchant vessel. But when the merchant enters Trader space, Kelric finds his worst nightmare realized: he becomes a slave to the Trader Aristos–who have no idea they have captured the heir to the throne.
Soz Valdoria and Jaibriol Qox II, the heirs to opposed interstellar empires, live in secret on a deserted planet. Their exile offers the only way for them to love each other and raise a family. Then interstellar war erupts and Jaibriol’s people, the Traders, discover his hideout. They snatch him away, forcing him to become their puppet emperor. Soz must lead an invading space fleet to rescue him from his own empire—without revealing their marriage. With interstellar civilization poised on the brink of destruction, the devotion of these two lovers, their sacrifices, and their heroism just might forge a new order—if their enemies don’t kill them first.
Catherine Asaro has won numerous awards for her Saga of the Skolian Empire novels, including the Nebula Award and two Romantic Times awards for Best SF Novel. This series represents space adventure at its finest.
The Final Key is the second half of the story arc begun in the novel Schism. Personal conflict within the Ruby Dynasty has torn apart the Imperialate. Now the empire comes under all-out assault from its nemesis, the Trader Aristos. In the midst of the chaos, Soz Valdoria, an heir of the dynasty, begins her training as a fighter pilot. Still just a cadet, Soz finds herself plunged into a war where her decisions could make the difference between survival or defeat for an empire.
Catherine Asaro has won widespread acclaim for her innovative blend of cutting-edge physics, interstellar intrigue, and adventure romance. In 2002, she won the Nebula Award for Best Novel for The Quantum Rose, a novel in her Saga of the Skolian Empire. Skyfall offers the perfect chance to introduce new readers to this epic SF series, here’s the perfect chance. It goes back to the beginning, telling the story of how a chance meeting on a backwater planet gave birth to an interstellar dynasty.
Eldrinson, a provincial ruler on a primitive colony, struggles with his inner demons. But when he meets Roca, a mysterious woman from the stars, he whisks her away to his mountain retreat. His action changes an interstellar empire, causing a war but also giving new life to a dying dynasty. Revel in the grand adventure of this Nebula Award-winning series.