This is a significant improvement over the first installment in Kelric's story, The Last Hawk. Kelric is an interesting character. In nany ways he reminds me of a softer version of Soz. That said I'm uncomfortable with the way slavery and the suggestion that an enslaved person could consent to sex with a person holding them in captivity is uncomfortable. Otherwise I think this installment in the saga. ( )

A whole lot of genetic and biological determinism, matriarchy, men-as-sex-slaves and a complex and interesting universe encountered mainly in passing through infodumps that drift along whenever the romance plotline needs a rest. This last point is rather similar to [a:Sharon Lee|57980|Sharon Lee|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1249574929p2/57980.jpg] and [a:Steve Miller|5829|Steve Miller|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1249575165p2/5829.jpg]'s early Liaden universe books. But the Liaden books also differ on a critical pointLee and Miller treat all their characters, male or female, Liaden or alien, with a reasonable degree of respect.

Asaro does not. Our Hero, who spent the last book ([b:The Last Hawk|672961|The Last Hawk (Saga of the Skolian Empire, #3)|Catherine Asaro|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1312060043s/672961.jpg|3926]) being traded around like a commodity between six different "queens" on the planet Coba, most of whom he was forced to sleep with, is captured and made a sex slave by the evil "Aristos," who feed off of the pain of telepaths like him. Part of auctioning him off to the highest bidder apparently required a fade-to-black gang rape of Our Hero by three women and a man, from which he emerges tired and wanting a shower. He then continues on with his journey, having sex with lots of people, including one of his rapists who is now his owner, mostly against his will (but he likes it and sort of falls in love with them because of his empathic abilities, UGH). 150 pages later, in the middle of a daring escape, he does pause briefly to reflect that "the rape they had committed imprinted on his mind at a level so deep, it had become a part of him, like emotional scar tissue" (Asaro, p. 241). It was easy to find this via Google Books, because this is the only place in the whole book that the word "rape" is actually used. After this throwaway line, which in no way is reflected by any kind of change in his thoughts, behavior or reactions to others, Our Hero completes his mission, escapes, and trades sex for shelter from an average-looking woman, falling in love with her because of how "caring" she is. The novel triumphantly concludes that for the first time he got to "choose" who to love rather than have her "chosen" by others, happy music, the end. Incidentally, this is the only relationship in both of the books about him where he's the one in a position of power (he's the Imperator of Skolia, she's a former slave conditioned to obedience) over his partner rather than the other way around.

There are no words. I want to keep reading because the universe is interesting, but a) throwing in a gratuitous rape for no reason, and b) dealing completely unrealistically with the consequences of that rape, not to mention the rest of the sexual abuse that is portrayed - means I'm not sure I want this woman getting into my head any more.

Yuck. It's frustrating, too, because part of what I liked about the first book where we encounter Our Hero is how realistically it dealt with the emotional and psychological consequences of the extreme objectification he experienced, from both overt and subtle angles, while being considered both "valuable" and "special" by the women objectifying him. ( )

Don't get me wrong, there are books in the Saga of the Skolian Empire that are worth reading abut this is not one of them. Finding the same themes running through most of the books with this one the worst. For more on my general rethink of this series visit my blog, Thank the Maker at http://girlsguidetoscifi.blogspot.ca/2013/09/the-land-of-meh-rethinking-skolian-... ( )

Don't get me wrong, there are books in the Saga of the Skolian Empire that are worth reading abut this is not one of them. Finding the same themes running through most of the books with this one the worst. For more on my general rethink of this series visit my blog, Thank the Maker at http://girlsguidetoscifi.blogspot.ca/2013/09/the-land-of-meh-rethinking-skolian-... ( )

The premise: ganked from BN.com: Ascendant Sun is the direct sequel to The Last Hawk, in which Kelric, heir to the Skolian Empire, crash-landed his fighter on the Restricted planet of Coba. He was imprisoned by the powerful mistresses of the great estates -- women who, over time, fell in love with him. After 18 years of living in their gilded cage, Kelric finally made his escape.

In Ascendant Sun, Kelric returns to Skolian space, only to find the Empire in control of the Allied forces of Earth. With little more than the clothes on his back, Kelric is forced to take work on a merchant vessel. But when that vessel enters Euban space, Kelric finds his worst nightmare realized: he becomes a slave to the cruel Aristos -- humans who use torture and sex as the ultimate aphrodisiac.

My Rating: It's a Gamble

I actually enjoyed this more than I was expecting, and I wasn't expecting much, thanks to the cover and some of the negative reviews I'd read of this book before reading. But thankfully, while the ick moments are certainly ick, and while the reader must roll his or her eyes every time Kelric meets a straight female, because inevitably sexual attraction becomes part of the narrative, the story read very quickly and I was engaged in learning how Kelric would (if he even could) find a way to claim his role of Imperator. Also seeing him interact with Jay Rockworth, whose true identity is revealed in The Radiant Seas, is quite the hoot, and interesting besides. I'm slowly growing more invested in seeing how the Skolian and Aristo societies rebuild after the Radiance War, and Kelric's personal philosophy and observations touch on some things I wondered myself: why can't there be peace? And depending on how's in charge, peace is very well possible. So I enjoyed this, despite all indicators saying I wouldn't. Asaro's writing still leaves me a little meh, and I'm starting to think it's because the author oscillates between super technical and super erotic without striking the right tone that makes those extreme oscillations okay, if that makes sense.

Still, despite enjoying this, I'll be moving on to another series, simply because I don't want to spend half the year catching up on my Skolian Empire novels. I do plan to come back to the series, don't worry, but I want to knock out some trilogies, so the next series I'll be focusing on is Elizabeth Bear's Jacob's Ladder.

Spoilers, yay or nay?: Yay. For those who want to remain surprised and unspoiled, do not read the full review, which is at my blog and linked to below. Everyone else, comments and discussion are most welcome!

REVIEW: Catherine Asaro's ASCENDANT SUN

Happy Reading! ( )