by Catherine Asaro
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Product Description
In the distant future, the Skolian empire rules one third of the human galaxy, and is the most powerful of all. For the ruling family has the power of telepathy, and through it, the ability to communicate faster than light across the interstellar space. but their most determined enemy, the traders, who thrive on human pain, need to interbreed with a Skolian to gain their powers. And now they have her.
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Average Customer Review:
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 Romance squicked me out...., 2008-03-09
I listened to the unabridged audio edition of this novel. It starts off okay with a young Los angelean teen discovering a cyborg-like pilot Althor from the future. She takes him home and eventually they have sex. He is 50+ years old and she is 17. The age discrepancy really squicked me out. I'm not a prude, but this story was not to my taste. What's with Asaro and her huge age gaps anyway? I dunno, I was disappointed. I prefer characters to be closer and age.
As far as the narration goes- Anna Fields has never been a favorite, her masculine voices sound goofy and stilted. 1 star.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 Another great Skolian story, 2007-12-23
This story kept me glued until my eyes couldn't focus any longer. Hard science fiction, a few erotic scenes, a very cool way of dealing with faster-than-light travel, and a budding promise that the Rhon may not become extinct after all. I can't wait for the next installment in the Skolian series! Taken together, they make a most wonderful universe. These novels would make an incredible TV series, but Hollyweird couldn't do them justice.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
 Science Fiction Sequel Leaves Readers Wanting More!, 2007-11-08
CATCH THE LIGHTNING is the second book in the Saga of the Skolian Empire. Over half a century has gone by in their world since the debut novel PRIMARY INVERSION. Much is alluded to that will be filled in by subsequent books including the upcoming release SPERICAL HARMONIC (Tor; Nov. 2001). The hero, Althor Vyan Selei kya Skolia is the son of Soz's oldest brother Eldrin and Dyhianna Selei, her aunt and a Key of the Skolian Triad.
The story is written in the first person, as a memoir of sorts, by the story's heroine 'Akushtina (Tina) Pulivok. The tale begins in the year 1987 on an alternative earth.
Tina, seventeen, had been born in a simple Mayan Village in Southern Mexico. Her mother had been a healer, her father a stranger who had briefly bonded with her mother before leaving, never to return. When Tina had been nine her mother had taken her and her orphaned cousin Manuel to search for him. They never found him but finally relocated to gang torn Los Angeles. To Tina it was like living in another universe. Now both her mother and Manuel are gone. Tina is alone and doing the best she can to survive.
Returning home one night from her job as a waitress, Tina meets an intriguing stranger. She is wary, for his appearance is rough. His purple hair, black clothing, etc. suggest gang affiliations. Yet she is inexplicably drawn to him.
He is Althor Valdoria, a Jagernaut of the Imperial Space Command who had been on his way to attend a diplomatic reception held by the President in honor of his mother. His crippled ship had come out of inversion here, not in the 24th century as anticipated, nor even in the same universe. He needs help and recognizes Tina as a kindred spirit. "Like knows like". Tina has had abilities from birth that she has kept hidden. She is an empath, able to taste, smell, see the emotions of others.
Her common sense tells her not to trust him; her instincts tell her otherwise. When he saves her from attack by a gang leader, she allows him to walk her home. The next morning she finds him asleep outside her door. For the first time in a long time, she feels protected and cherished. As Althor reveals his plight, Tina decides to aid him in any way she can. The deep connection they feel for each other rapidly blooms into a physical and emotional relationship.
Althor's Jag has been confiscated by the military, he needs it in order to go home. While researching the possibilities, Tina is attacked again. Althor runs afoul of the law trying to protect her, and soon the two are on the lam. With help from their friends they evade the law and breach security at the Air Force Base. Will Althor evade capture and recover his ship? Does Tina care for him enough to once again adapt to a completely foreign world? Who is responsible for sabotaging his ship, sending him four thousand years into the past?
This story is rife with complex emotions. Althor the warrior is both very strong and very vulnerable. He must come to terms with his past and reconcile his relationships with the reality of what has since occurred. He must learn to cope with a gross betrayal of trust, and mend fences with those who love him most. Tina is mature beyond her years. She is courageous, loyal, and extremely loving. She must learn not only to cope with yet another lifestyle change, but also to the realities of becoming a member of the ruling family of Skolia.
Even though this is a personal story, the Eubians also have a hand in testing their mettle. The reader will get an up close and personal look at the Raylicans, the descendants of the pure original Earth seed, and through Tina learn of their ancestry for the first time. She just might be the only thing standing between the Rhon and certain extinction. So much for the reader to discover about these fascinating people, yet so much still to be filled in by successive novels. Ms. Asaro has created a fascinating world that makes the reader yearn for more. -- Reviewed for PNR Reviews
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 Scientifically Intriguing, Humanitarianly Mediocre, 2007-09-13
This fiction talks about a Mayan descendent girl meeting an outer-space Jagernaut pilot. Because they share the same genetic root, the union became a love, an adventurer and, of course, eventually a triumph.
The book introduces several interesting scientific concepts: super-light speed traveling, genetic modification and man-machine combination, telepath, and even transformation between mind and body. The author used Mayan legends to weave the scenes together and gives the aliens a humanity that we can identify with. This thread also give the fictional science and technology an earthly ground (relativity and quantum mechanics).
On the humanity side, the book has very few bright spots. It's no other than a typical paperback. The author tries to address some profound issues such as how a person can love and accept another with entirely different experiences and even physical composition (is Althor man or machine?). However, it is more "tell" than "show". Therefore one should keep in mind this is a science fiction. So stick with the science part.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 Not her best, 2007-08-21
This is the seventh book I've read in Asaro's Skolian series. It's also the first one that I found boring. There's far too much information about the background of the Skolian Empire and more technical information than any of the other books in the series.
If this is the first book in this series you've tried, read her other books before giving up on the series.
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