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A review by lauriereadslohf
The Last Hawk by Catherine Asaro
4.0
I found this book, the 3rd in Asaro's Skolian Empire Saga, much different than the two previous books. The other two take place in a relatively short span of time with the point of view being the heroine's. This book is more of a saga spanning over sixteen years. The main character is a very sympathetically drawn male and it's written in the third person. Also, the huge chunks of technical information that went over my head in the previous books were absent from this one. It is much wider in scope, an entire planet is written in vivid detail, and is one of those engrossing reads whose world you fall into.
Kelric, space fighter and heir to the Imperialite Empire is forced to crash land on the planet Coba when his craft malfunctions. Coba is a planet who has escaped the rule, bloodshed, war and politics of Kelric's world and intends to keep things that way. Their world is ruled by women who exist peacefully through a 3D dice game called Quis that is much more than a simple game. It's the framework that they've built everything on. The better a Quis player, the more power the ruler has. The women who rule the planet immediately sense the danger Kelric presents if word ever gets out about their planet so they immediately destroy his ship and thwart all chances of his escape.
Kelric, being very easy on the eyes is quickly sought after by the ruler of the land he crashes on. It turns out that he is a genius at their game of Quis making him an even more valuable asset to her land. She makes him her "Akasi" their term for husband(s) of the highest ranking woman - and, yes, the rulers can have more than one. It's not long before all of the various rulers of the planet want to make him their own "Akasi." The more he raises in rank the more valuable he becomes. But as much he wants to avoid it, because he's become content with their peaceful way of life, his knowledge of war starts to "infect" their Quis and their world will never, ever be the same.
That's a barebones sketch of this involving story but I don't want to give it all away. I hope it's enough to whet your appetite for more because this is a great story. The reverse sexism was at times funny and at others, especially after I got to know the characters, very painful. The main characters are people you grow to care about. Sensitive and caring Kelric is mistreated and the book is often very sad but he does find love a few times, true love once and experiences so much heartache by the book's end that the reader is put through an emotional wringer. The cast of secondary characters is huge and occasionally was a little overwhelming for me. I found myself going back a few times to figure out who someone was. But I doubt this would've been a problem if I had a better memory and wasn't interrupted every few pages by real life.
Kelric, space fighter and heir to the Imperialite Empire is forced to crash land on the planet Coba when his craft malfunctions. Coba is a planet who has escaped the rule, bloodshed, war and politics of Kelric's world and intends to keep things that way. Their world is ruled by women who exist peacefully through a 3D dice game called Quis that is much more than a simple game. It's the framework that they've built everything on. The better a Quis player, the more power the ruler has. The women who rule the planet immediately sense the danger Kelric presents if word ever gets out about their planet so they immediately destroy his ship and thwart all chances of his escape.
Kelric, being very easy on the eyes is quickly sought after by the ruler of the land he crashes on. It turns out that he is a genius at their game of Quis making him an even more valuable asset to her land. She makes him her "Akasi" their term for husband(s) of the highest ranking woman - and, yes, the rulers can have more than one. It's not long before all of the various rulers of the planet want to make him their own "Akasi." The more he raises in rank the more valuable he becomes. But as much he wants to avoid it, because he's become content with their peaceful way of life, his knowledge of war starts to "infect" their Quis and their world will never, ever be the same.
That's a barebones sketch of this involving story but I don't want to give it all away. I hope it's enough to whet your appetite for more because this is a great story. The reverse sexism was at times funny and at others, especially after I got to know the characters, very painful. The main characters are people you grow to care about. Sensitive and caring Kelric is mistreated and the book is often very sad but he does find love a few times, true love once and experiences so much heartache by the book's end that the reader is put through an emotional wringer. The cast of secondary characters is huge and occasionally was a little overwhelming for me. I found myself going back a few times to figure out who someone was. But I doubt this would've been a problem if I had a better memory and wasn't interrupted every few pages by real life.