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)

Primary Inversion

I thought I would like this book more. It wasn't bad, it wasn't great. I wanted to like the main character, Soz, but really just felt that she was a bit of a cougar. Her struggles with all that had happened to her in the past were valid, but it felt like her way of dealing with things was to jump in the sack with whomever caught her fancy. And everyone who caught her fancy was under 25. She is 48 - all of the male characters in the book she either hated or wanted to sleep with, except for her psychiatrist and her father. It was a bit 2 dimensional and flat - there are many other ways to relate to the opposite sex and she had none of them. I don't plan on reading any further in the series, but may try the next book to see if it gets any better.

Great series. Disappointing performance.

This is the start of a great series: world-building, character growth, interesting science, telepathy, you name it. I've read the books many times, and was looking forward to an audio version.

Unfortunately I was very disappointed with this presentation. The reader was extremely wooden: almost entirely devoid of emotion or nuance, to the point where otherwise interesting scenes were almost painful to listen to. Couldn't finish, and will go back to reading these myself.

Rating the quality of recording, not the book

This brief review is aimed not at the book itself but the recording.

While Anna Fields does an excellent job with the narration, there are places where the audio quality changes. If I had to guess, they were spots where the original recording wasn't quite right. But, something was different about these little bits and I found it jarring. Then, at about 4:42 into the first portion, there was a double sentence. Having purchased and listened to 5 or 6 audiobooks, this lower quality is surprising.

(The second book in the series, "The Radiant Seas" does not seem to have these issues.)

Mostly good, but bad impression of behavior in chapter 8

Chapter 8 when the young college student is told 2 times to leave & he does not, then he runs his finger down her strap between her breast, she responds in self defense then the writer has her scolding herself fir over reacting! Saying he was not going to tape her after all. It’s my option that the writer is not aware of a man forcing himself on a women
! When you tell someone to leave 2 times & they puss you against a wall to lower your strap that IS a good indication that he means to tape you. By not taking to tape victims you have now given boys & men’s to think this type of behavior is ok that when a women or girl says no or leave they don’t mean it! Wrong lesson. Girls should not be made to feel they are over reacting either when a man won’t take get out, leave, or no, etc. other wise the story was pretty good so far.

Second read- still good

I liked all the set-up of the future world. I’m fascinated by the Set-up and I’m reminded of what an awesome narrator Anna Fields is and it was a treat to listen to her narrate a book I already expected to enjoy.

great piece of the story and better narrator

It's an interesting plot development in this one. I really enjoyed that the narrator knew how to say the word psion after putting up with the other one for so many books.
I actually preferred this narrator's voice also and would like to hear more from her.

Enjoyed Listening

Another fun listen about the Skolian Empire. Asaro has just the right mix of action and romance in her books. You should get at least one hardcopy so you can take advantage of the timeline of events and descriptions of all the major characters that is in the appendix. I've read or listened to over half the Skolian stories and am looking forward to any more that Audible deigns to provide. This is a prequel to Radiant Seas.

Great

Since this was a sale item, I took a chance on it dispite some of the other reviews. I am actually suprised - this is really quite a good book. The sci-fi is not skimmed over nor over indulged (as many hard sci-fi tend to be). The story is good, the characters easy to relate to and understand their connections and reactions. The sex is just mentioned, and not detailed as it can be in other books (which I don't need in sci-fi thank you). Although short - I like 12 plus hr books to spend my credits on, it moved along without dragging at all. I will be listening to the next in this series - even spending my credits on it.

Pleasant surprise

This is SF with a new twist to my knowledge. Enough universe, consistent textures and story telling to satisfy the hard SF'er. At the same time Catherine brings in the human side. It is not very complex and still quite mono-dimensional, but this effect creates a very interesting and captivating tension in the layer that supports the story.

Basically a West side love story

Catherine Asaros's Primary Inversion is her first installment set in her Skolian universe, although not the first chronologically within the overall series. In the Skolian universe, Earth has settled many worlds, but is largely peripheral to this region of space. The Skolian empire is a rather benign entity that is held together by telepathic abilities that have been exploited to allow near instantaneous communication and internet connectivity. The Skolians have an enemy, the Traders, that have partial telepathic abilities (variable among humans), that result in a sadistic governing aristocracy intent on total domination with long standing hostility between the two groups. The main Skolian character, Sauscony is an elite special forces operative who is also a member of the particular family that supplies the top of the line telepathic abilities. She encounters an odd Trader artisto who just happens to possess the right genetics for the next generation of telepathic superpowers. This leads to conflicts that eventually forces both individuals to go rogue.

Asaro crafts a relatively sophisticated series of polities that can barely maintain balance. Faster than light travel as well as a wide array of telepathic abilities some of which result in sadist tendencies leading to enslavement are the main sci-fi elements. At the same time rather than merely good guys versus evil empire, both sides end up being run by typically megalomaniacal individuals leaving them little choice but to ditch the whole universe and branch out on their own.

The narration is well done with good character distinction and reasonable pacing.