Skyfall

Catherine Asaro

Book 9 of Saga of the Skolian Empire

Language: English

Publisher: Macmillan

Published: Oct 1, 2004

Description:

Catherine Asaro exploded onto the science fiction scene in 1995 with the publication of her widely acclaimed debut novel, Primary Inversion, which introduced readers to the vast and intricate far-future Saga of the Skolian Empire. She won widespread acclaim for her innovative blend of cutting-edge physics, interstellar intrigue, and passionate romance. Over the next few years she garnered nominations and awards in both SF and romance. Then in 2002, Catherine Asaro won the Nebula Award for Best Novel for The Quantum Rose, the sixth installment in her Saga of the Skolian Empire.

If you haven't caught on to the myriad pleasures to be found in this multiple award-winning epic SF series, here's the perfect chance. Skyfall goes back to the beginning, to the re-birth of Skolia, showing how a chance meeting on a backwater planet forged a vast interstellar empire.

Kurj, a provincial ruler on a primitive planet, is plagued by inner demons. But when he meets Roca, a beautiful and mysterious woman from the stars, he whisks her away to his mountain retreat, inadvertently starting a great interstellar war, and birthing the next generation of rulers for the Sklolian Empire.

Revel in the newest grand adventure of this Nebula Award-winning series.

Read More

Catherine Asaro exploded onto the science fiction scene in 1995 with the publication of her widely acclaimed debut novel, Primary Inversion, which introduced readers to the vast and intricate far-future Saga of the Skolian Empire. She won widespread acclaim for her innovative blend of cutting-edge physics, interstellar intrigue, and passionate romance. Over the next few years she garnered nominations and awards in both SF and romance. Then in 2002, Catherine Asaro won the Nebula Award for Best Novel for The Quantum Rose, the sixth installment in her Saga of the Skolian Empire.

If you haven't caught on to the myriad pleasures to be found in this multiple award-winning epic SF series, here's the perfect chance. Skyfall goes back to the beginning, to the re-birth of Skolia, showing how a chance meeting on a backwater planet forged a vast interstellar empire.

Kurj, a provincial ruler on a primitive planet, is plagued by inner demons. But when he meets Roca, a beautiful and mysterious woman from the stars, he whisks her away to his mountain retreat, inadvertently starting a great interstellar war, and birthing the next generation of rulers for the Sklolian Empire.

Revel in the newest grand adventure of this Nebula Award-winning series.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

**

Amazon.com Review

Catherine Asaro's Saga of the Skolian Empire may be the most important and entertaining science fiction series to originate in the 1990s. However, its novels have not always been published in chronological order, and they share a vast cast. Newcomers should start with the ninth novel, Skyfall (2003); it takes place a generation earlier than, and sets the stage for, the previous novels.

Roca Skolia is not only the imperial heiress; she's one of the exceedingly rare Rhon psions, gifted with great telepathic and empathic powers. She's been traveling alone and incognito through the galaxy, but now she must return home. She's the Skolian Empire's sole hope of preventing interstellar war with the Eubian Concord.

Traveling the galactic backwaters has its risks, however, and Roca finds herself on Skyfall, a primitive, isolated planet. Skyfall isn't connected to the interstellar information network, so Roca can't contact Skolia; and if she misses the next starship, there won't be another for months--or years. Roca is abducted from the tiny starport by a barbaric local lord, Eldrinson Althor Valdoria--a man who, against all odds, may be another Rhon psion. Roca finds herself trapped in Eldrinson's remote mountain castle as blizzards pile the blue alien snow high...and the army of Eldrinson's barbarian rival surrounds the castle. --Cynthia Ward

From Publishers Weekly

Intrigue, drama and romance converge in Nebula winner Asaro's latest Skolian Empire adventure (after 2003's The Moon's Shadow), an enthralling stand-alone that fills in the early history of the empire. Married and a widow twice over, Roca is not only the heir to the Ruby Dynasty's pharaoh, Lahaylia Selei, but also the Skolian Empire's foreign affairs councillor and an unwilling pawn in her son Kurj's efforts to rid the empire of its enemy, the sadistic Aristos. In a bid for freedom from her overbearing, manipulative son, Roca escapes and finds herself marooned on a backwater planet, Skyfall, whose inhabitants have mysterious genetic traits that connect them to the Ruby Empire of long ago. Roca becomes the hostage, captive, confidant, lover and finally wife of the bard Eldri. Though their technology is primitive, the inhabitants of Skyfall have a no less advanced society than her own. Eldri teaches Roca to trust men again, and in the end, to find a love that can surpass the demands of her position as heir to the Ruby throne. Some SF fans may be disappointed to find so little of the physics the author, a former physics professor, usually puts into her books, but romance readers will have no cause to complain. FYI: The Quantum Rose, the sixth novel in the author's Saga of the Skolian Empire, was named Best SF Novel by Romantic Times Bookclub.
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