Primary Inversion

A Novel of the Skolian Empire

By: Catherine Asaro

Narrated by: Anna Fields

Length: 11 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

The best way to listen to this series: Primary Inversion (Unabridged) The Radiant Seas (Unabridged) The Last Hawk (Unabridged) Ascendant Sun (Unabridged) The Quantum Rose (Unabridged) Catch the Lightning (Unabridged)

©1995 Catherine Asaro (P)2000 Blackstone Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"In an unusually masterful first novel, physicist Asaro combines hard speculative science and first-rate storytelling to look at the galaxy's distant future....This is one of the best sf first novels in years." (Booklist)
"Though Asaro, a physicist, provides more than enough esoteric detail on faster-than-light inversion drives, cybernetic enhancements, and computer networks, she manages to anchor her story with thoughtful, engaging characters and an intriguing vision of the future." (Publishers Weekly)
"This novel deserves a wide readership." (Library Journal)

Engaging SCIENCE fiction

Here is for once a novel that lives up to both parts of the genre’s name: SCIENCE FICTION. Wow, what a concept! That said, it is only enough to make the book work, it is not science for science’s sake (and I am a Latin teacher). It’s not as ‘hard’ science as James P. Hogan or Geoffrey Hoyle, but neither is it just the pabulum of space-magic or space-romance or a mindless space-war snack-book. I would describe it as light-to-moderate hard-science fiction, as well as a galactic war story; it’s also a romance, and, refreshingly different, for a hard-SF --from a woman’s perspective. This one will make you think and challenge your intellect. It’s not perhaps one of the greats of SF, but it certainly is a captivating book that gains momentum as it goes along, and I had already purchased the first sequel five minutes after I finished this one.
The reader, Anna Fields, is quite engaging, and though she may not portray the best or widest range of male voices, she does at least as well at those as most male readers do for female voices; as a male, I did not find her male renderings disrupted the book or made the work any less enjoyable. She was able to give enough individuality to a sufficient range of characters that after the first hour I knew most of the characters by how she read them, and that’s more than one can say for a lot of professional readers. I would certainly not shy away from any titles she read, and indeed consider her a plus for any work I was considering.

Really great book, but....

Though written out of chronological order. Each book can be listened to independently. The world building is exquisite. The characters are each well defined. The story incredible and believable. I recommend the complete series. There is only one glaring issue. The various narrators cannot pronounce the same identical words the same way. Good gods, this is English!!! What, they cannot listen to the other books and give it continuity????? If I was Catherine Asaro, I would fire all the producers and get one talented narrator and redo all of the books. She has made a great deal of money on the books. But I still really like the books!

Refreshingly Realistic Attitude, Good Story

No Dragons or Magic, thank God! Both author and narator are down to earth. Even episodes of mental breakdown slide in so normally that one is with her all the way. The sci-fi sounds like science. Good narration compared to most I've listened to. Looking forward to reading the sequels.

There's Sci Fi and then there's Sci Fi

If you are one of those trekkies who is more interested in how intersellar warp drive works than how it moves the story forward, you might like this book. There are parts of it that dwell on arcane physics theory so as to cause interruption to the plot. No sooner are your characters escaping the clutches of evil when such a dissertation starts.
Then again, if you are such a sci fi fan, you might think this story is too much like a "chick flick." The basic setup is fine, even interesting and original; it's the digressions and the inane back story that are worth criticism. I can only hope for those of you who dare read the next installation that some of this rambling (about Rex, Jareth, Helda, etc.) serves a purpose later. I will never know since I am not interested enough in the lead characters to find out how they fared.

interesting story

Sari, is an primary facing multiple challenges. also one of the two remaining heirs to the Skolian empire. But a chance meeting with the heir of her enemy changes everything for them both.

Good Narrator and a Good Story

I am a fan of science fiction and fantasy novels. In addition I enjoy novels with strong character development (i.e. George R.R. Martin, Robert Heinlein, Robert Jordan etc.). This book was an enjoyable listen- not as fully developed as books by the afore mentioned authors, but a "lighter read". The Narrator was excellent; the plot easy to follow with just enough sci-fi, political intrigue, romance, and action; and the characters believable and enjoyable. If you are looking for a novel that contains these elements but is not highly complex, I would definitely recommend this book-you won't be disappointed.

Pretty good!

I liked this book - interesting science, especially about the reasons why the Traders enjoy inflicting pain on others. Descriptive writing about other worlds, colors, textures, and the strong main female character made this an enjoyable listen.

The narrator was good, I don't love romance.

Is it too much to ask the female lead not to fall in love?

I felt like it was trying to be a romance at times but what I really wanted was more science fiction. Other than that it was great. I enjoyed the techno sci-fi aspect of it, I just wanted more of it.

first book - so far so good

What made the experience of listening to Primary Inversion the most enjoyable?

The characters interest me and the story line was very predictable at first but has since been less predictable to me. I'm a sci-fi fantasy fan and took a while to get me started on this audio.

Who was your favorite character and why?

I am finding Cox's heir to be intriguing just because of the way the story line is going. I'm curious to see how this story plays out.

What does Anna Fields bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

She sounds similar to Ellen DeGeneres which was hard to separate at first, but now that I have heard her through most of the book, I quite enjoy her voice and voices.

Any additional comments?

I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.

Good Stuff!!

Hard Science Fiction from a Harvard educated chemical physicist - good stuff! Primary Inversion, being the first in the Skolian Empire series, 'published order," is a great start to what, I hope, will be a series able to stand toe-to-toe with the likes of Card's Enderverse & Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga. Starting book two, now!