Reviews

Ascendant Sun by Catherine Asaro

being_b's review against another edition

3.0

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.

Spoiler

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

Spoiler

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.

grayjay's review against another edition

1.0

This is the first book in the series I've read where the protagonist was a man. It also veers further from sci-fi/romance into sci-fi/erotica, which heavily dates the novel. I don't usually encounter novels with such graphic sex scenes, or with so many of them, but the over-emphasis on beauty ideals—big boobs and waists—really turned me off. It's also basically a slavery fantasy, which is troubling. I'm reading this series because the next book won a hugo award. Will I think it was worth it? I guess we'll see.

jamieh2024's review against another edition

4.0

This is a direct sequel to [b:The Last Hawk|672961|The Last Hawk (Saga of the Skolian Empire, book 3)|Catherine Asaro|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177005441s/672961.jpg|3926] by Asaro. It continues the story of the heirs to the Ruby Dynasty. I love how she writes these worlds and that the characters are multi-dimensional. Yes, it's perhaps a touch of space opera but Asaro handles it so deftly that you still find yourself completely enmeshed in the characters and thier lives.

kdf_333's review

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

jch2022's review against another edition

4.0

This is a direct sequel to [b:The Last Hawk|672961|The Last Hawk (Saga of the Skolian Empire, book 3)|Catherine Asaro|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177005441s/672961.jpg|3926] by Asaro. It continues the story of the heirs to the Ruby Dynasty. I love how she writes these worlds and that the characters are multi-dimensional. Yes, it's perhaps a touch of space opera but Asaro handles it so deftly that you still find yourself completely enmeshed in the characters and thier lives.

harmony's review

4.0

As I read through the book, I started to realize that I'd read this one before. It had been long enough that it was more like deja vous than actually knowing what came next, and I enjoyed it as much this time as I vaguely recall enjoying it the first time. Kelric is so beautiful that people fight and even go to war to possess him, but he's baffled by what they see in him and not very vain, which frankly I find unbelievable, but the rest of the book I very much liked, including the trials he faces when he escapes the planet where he had long been imprisoned, and which continue through the rest of the book. He's strong, determined, compassionate, and open-minded. And don't forget brilliant! He's put through a lot, and it makes for good reading.

Content warning: Sexual assault and abuse are explicitly but not graphically included. Reader beware.