Primary Inversion: A Novel in the Saga of the Skolian Empire

Catherine Asaro

Macmillan, May 15, 1996 - Fiction - 384 pages

A romance between heirs to warring empires. She is Soz, a psi-powered fighter pilot of the Skolian Empire, he is Jaibriol of the evil Trader Empire. But he is different from his compatriots and they fall in love. The background is a war fought using the faster-than-light inversion drive. The Skolian Empire rules a third of the civilized galaxy through its mastery of faster-than-light communication. But war with the rival empire of the Traders seems imminent, a war that can only lead to slavery for the Skolians or the destruction of both sides. Destructive skirmishes have already occurred. A desperate attempt must be made to avert total disaster

What people are saying

Review: Primary Inversion (Saga of the Skolian Empire #1)

User Review  - Harpmary - Goodreads

Good sci-fi. Part of the Skolian Empire series. I had read Quantum Rose a few years ago, and while I liked it, I had never read any other of the Skolian series, so I thought I would start at the ...

Review: Primary Inversion (Saga of the Skolian Empire #1)

User Review  - John Strohm - Goodreads

It's a pretty well-told tale that I just didn't care for. I can't put my finger on exactly why -- maybe it's the Romeo and Juliet story, or maybe it's the unbelievable way the Skolians work, or a combination, but I couldn't get past 100 pages of this book in two tries.

Contents

• Island of Sanctuary: 3
• Tams Station: 25
• Psibernaut: 39
• Lucifers Legacy: 63
• Denials: 95
• Zabo Squad: 109
• Aftermath: 142
• Forshires Hold: 167
• A Time to Search: 169
• A Time to Weep: 191
• A Time to Heal: 202
• A Time to Speak: 226
• A Time to Plant: 243
• Diesha: 257
• Fist of the Web: 259
• Mind of the Web: 288
• Chains and Silk: 309
• Heart of the Web: 328
• Until Tomorrow: 348

About the author

Catherine Asaro was born in Oakland, California and grew up in El Cerrito, just north of Berkeley. She received her Phd in Chemical Physics and MA in Physics, both from Harvard, and a BS with Highest Honors in Chemistry from UCLA. Among the places she has done research are the University of Toronto in Canada, the Max Planck Institut für Astrophysik in Germany, and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Her research involves using quantum theory to describe the behavior of atoms and molecules. Catherine was a physics professor until 1990, when she established Molecudyne Research, which she currently runs.
A former ballerina, Catherine has performed with ballets and in musicals on both coasts and in Ohio. In the 1980s she was a principal dancer and artistic director of the Mainly Jazz Dancers and the Harvard University Ballet. Catherine still teaches ballet in Maryland.

Catherine's fiction is a successful blend of hard science fiction, romance, and exciting space adventure. She has published more than ten novels, almost all of which belong to her Saga of the Skolian Empire, including The Quantum Rose, which won the Nebula Award for best novel of 2001

Her husband is John Kendall Cannizzo, an astrophysicist at NASA. They have one daughter, a young ballet dancer who loves math.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Primary Inversion: A Novel in the Saga of the Skolian Empire; A Tor book; Issue 1 of Saga of the Skolian Empire, Catherine Asaro; TOR SF
• Author: Catherine Asaro
• Edition: reprint, revised
• Publisher: Macmillan, 1996
• ISBN: 0812550234, 9780812550238
• Length: 384 pages
• Subjects: Fiction / Science Fiction / General; Fiction / Science Fiction / Space Opera