Primary Inversion

A Novel of the Skolian Empire

De: Catherine Asaro

Narrado por: Anna Fields

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

Reseñas de la Crítica

"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)

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.)

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.

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!

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.