Amazon.com
The adventures of super-sexy space-stud Kelric Garlin continue, as he comes back from the dead in Ascendant Sun, the fifth--and so far raciest--installment in Catherine Asaro's popular Saga of the Skolian Empire series (which kicked off with 1995's Primary Inversion). But Kelric needs to keep his miraculous resurrection hush-hush: presumed dead after crash-landing on Coba 18 years ago in Last Hawk, love-prisoner Kelric endured and finally escaped the lusty attentions of the planet's swoony ruling matriarchy. Back at last, the bronze-god telepath finds that his world has been turned upside down: The galaxy-uniting psiberweb has collapsed, the Allied Worlds of Earth control the Skolian Empire, and his family, the Ruby Dynasty, are all either dead or held hostage, leaving him as the sole and long-lost Imperial Heir, a man nearly everyone in power would see imprisoned or assassinated--if they knew he was alive.
Harvard-trained physicist Asaro continues to astound by straddling the SF and romance genres so adroitly, alternating between chin-rubbing speculations on quantum theory and blushingly steamy sex scenes with all the skill of an accomplished ballet dancer (which, coincidentally, she also is). Surely junior-high kids will get their paws on this title tout de suite (and quickly skip to the "good" parts), but Asaro's award-winning prose, her knack for high-adventure story-telling, and her equal expertise in both science and romance make this a worthy read for any fan of either genre. --Paul Hughes
From Publishers Weekly
The follow-up to The Last Hawk, which was a Nebula nominee, picks up with Kelric, a cybernetically enhanced Jagernaut warrior and member of the Skolian Empire's ruling family, on his way home after 18 years on the Restricted world of matriarchal Coba. Kelric arrives only to learn that Earth's Allied Forces have assumed the job of local peacekeeper in space after the devastating Radiance War caused the Collapse, the destruction of the telepathic communication web through "psiberspace" that once linked the three vast empires of Skolian, Euben and Aristo space. With most of Kelric's family dead, he is now the only heir to a throne that may not exist much longer. Kelric isn't in great shape, though, with his Jagernaut cybernetics failing from damage incurred during his Coba getaway. Hoping to avoid detection by his enemies, he assumes a false identity and takes a job aboard a merchant spaceship--only to be taken prisoner by the Aristos, an advanced race that obtains its greatest pleasures from the pain and discomfort of its "provider" sex slaves. Even worse, the Aristos have captured Kelric's brother Eldrin in hopes of not only using his psibernetic abilities to restore and control interstellar communications, but also to open the Lock, a space-time portal that will give them incalculable power. Kelric must risk everything to foil the Aristo plot. While readers new to Asaro's world may be confused at times by how every element in the novel fits together, series veterans will find this to be yet another fast-paced and pleasing entry in the Saga of the Skolian Empire.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
