Rating: 
Summary: Asaro is the new Andre Norton
Review: SPHERICAL HARMONIC is the 7 th novel in the Saga of the Skolian Empire and it lived up to and exceeded my expectations. Dehyianna Selei, the Ruby Pharaoh, tells the story in the first person. SPHERICAL HARMONIC is the direct sequel to THE RADIANT SEAS. It tells the story of a family and civilization rebuilding itself after a war that nearly cost them everything.
Rating: 
Summary: Necessary, but not Great
Review: The trouble with a series is that some books will be better than others, but you really need to read them all to inderstand the story. This book did not work for me. Dehya is out of character. I could not accept her in this proactive leadership role as the Fist of Skolia. I like her much better in the shadows as the influential Pharoah. I also did not like the story written in first person. It makes is almost impossible to get inside any other character. Since this story is about the Ruby Dynasty, I wanted to know more about the history, the future, the other members of the family. There was little of that it this book. And it seemed to have discrepencies with The Quantum Rose, which I loved. It was okay, but if you like Asaro the romance writer, read The Quantum Rose. And if you like Asaro's sci-fi epics, read The Radiant Seas. Both are more satisfying.
Rating:
Summary: Necessary, but not Great
Review: The trouble with a series is that some books will be better than others, but you really need to read them all to inderstand the story. This book did not work for me. Dehya is out of character. I could not accept her in this proactive leadership role as the Fist of Skolia. I like her much better in the shadows as the influential Pharoah. I also did not like the story written in first person. It makes is almost impossible to get inside any other character. Since this story is about the Ruby Dynasty, I wanted to know more about the history, the future, the other members of the family. There was little of that it this book. And it seemed to have discrepencies with The Quantum Rose, which I loved. It was okay, but if you like Asaro the romance writer, read The Quantum Rose. And if you like Asaro's sci-fi epics, read The Radiant Seas. Both are more satisfying.
Rating:
Summary: Less a book than a report
Review: This is definitely not the book to try first if you're new to Catherine Asaro's Skolian novels. Though it opens with drama and tension, that tension vanishes as soon as the danger does. The structure here, unfortunately, is a series of very long reports of backstory interwoven with scenes--and with Asaro's trademark delicious physics divertimenti. It's hard to stay with this one; the internal thrust just isn't there, instead, the reader sticks with it to find out what happens to characters from other books they know and love. Either Asaro needed to write a whopping big novel so that events could be in realtime, or this should have been two or three books.Fans will want to have it to know what's going on. New people, do try PRIMARY INVERSION or THE LAST HAWK for a more engrossing, and more linear, introduction to the Skolain empire and its leaders. This one is not the place to start.
Rating:
Summary: The best in romantic sci-fi
Review: Though both sides claim victory, the interstellar war devastated the Skolians and the Aristo Traders. Pharaoh of the Ruby Dynasty, Dyhianna Selei, obtains a fragile peace with the nefarious Aristo Traders, but both entities know that hostilities will continue anyway.
Dyhianna learns first hand that the "cold war" remains hot as she surfaces on a humanoid planet after making a desperate leap to escape her enemies' effort to kill her and her family. Her foes pursue Dyhianna, but she is rescued by a Skolian battle cruiser, only to learn that her invention the psychic-Internet no longer exists and that the Aristos haves captured her husband, Prince Eldrin. A desperate Dyhianna knows that Eldrin's psychic abilities accompanied by the ancient Lock the enemy controls will give the edge to the Aristos. She turns to her former spouse and his special kids on Earth as a last resort to stop the Aristo Traders from conquering her people.
SPHERICAL HARMONIC, the seventh Skolian tale is an engaging outer space novel that will excite fans of the series. The story line hops around the galaxy faster than the speed of light, but that is a two edged light saber as the action never stops, but the subplots do not fully mesh. Catherine Asaro's audience will enjoy this novel because it is fun to watch the wonderful gender bender heroine struggle to save her people at what might cost her the lives of her family.
Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: The best in romantic sci-fi
Review: Though both sides claim victory, the interstellar war devastated the Skolians and the Aristo Traders. Pharaoh of the Ruby Dynasty, Dyhianna Selei, obtains a fragile peace with the nefarious Aristo Traders, but both entities know that hostilities will continue anyway.
Dyhianna learns first hand that the "cold war" remains hot as she surfaces on a humanoid planet after making a desperate leap to escape her enemies' effort to kill her and her family. Her foes pursue Dyhianna, but she is rescued by a Skolian battle cruiser, only to learn that her invention the psychic-Internet no longer exists and that the Aristos haves captured her husband, Prince Eldrin. A desperate Dyhianna knows that Eldrin's psychic abilities accompanied by the ancient Lock the enemy controls will give the edge to the Aristos. She turns to her former spouse and his special kids on Earth as a last resort to stop the Aristo Traders from conquering her people.
SPHERICAL HARMONIC, the seventh Skolian tale is an engaging outer space novel that will excite fans of the series. The story line hops around the galaxy faster than the speed of light, but that is a two edged light saber as the action never stops, but the subplots do not fully mesh. Catherine Asaro's audience will enjoy this novel because it is fun to watch the wonderful gender bender heroine struggle to save her people at what might cost her the lives of her family.
Harriet Klausner
Rating: 
Summary: The Analog reviewer speaks...
Review: Watch for a positive review in the April 2002 Analog. Asaro's emphasis here is less on romantic entanglements than on political intrigue: The Skolian and Trader Empires are seriously damaged by their war, but past romances hold out a hope of reconciliation. Asaro is an absorbing storyteller whose greatest contribution is her insistent reminder that brain and heart need not be separate.
Rating:
Summary: The Analog reviewer speaks...
Review: Watch for a positive review in the April 2002 Analog. Asaro's emphasis here is less on romantic entanglements than on political intrigue: The Skolian and Trader Empires are seriously damaged by their war, but past romances hold out a hope of reconciliation. Asaro is an absorbing storyteller whose greatest contribution is her insistent reminder that brain and heart need not be separate.
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