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Fiction Post
• Goddess of the Green
• Why On Bob's Earth pt. 13
• When light fails.
• Pyrchion: keep me
Quizzes
• Isard's Revenge
• Hogwarts' and Houses' Crests
• The Dragonbone Chair: Characters
• First contact with the Borg
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 Primary Inversion
Catherine Asaro writes SF that is part hard SF, part space opera, and part romance, a terrific combination. She won a Nebula for her "Quantum Rose," a book in the Skolian Empire series. But it all started back in "Primary Inversion"
The main character in Primary Inversion is Sausony or Soz. She is an empath/telepath, the strongest there is (called Rhon). Her grandmother was created in a genetic lab, and her family (Skolia) rules the Skolian Empire because with their telepathic abilities they support a psiberweb that allows instanteneous communication.
The opposite to the Skolians are the Traders, ruled by an elite group of several thousand Aristos. Also a result of genetic experiments, they are the antithesis to empaths. They receive empathic inputs but their brains don't know how to interpret it, and just flush it down to their pleasure sensors. The more intense the emotion, the greater the pleasure. In other words, they get off on pain. They call pleasure slaves that they torture - providers. Empaths make the best providers.
The Skolians and the Traders are at war. (The third player is the Allied Earth - keeping neutrality, disbelieving the rumours about the brutality of Aristos.) So far they are at a stand-still. Traders have more resources and more advanced technology, while Skolians' psiberweb and instanteneous (telepathic) communication allows to come out of inversion in perfect formation and attack without warning. (Sidenote: Inversion is a means of faster-than-light travel - think of it as similar to hyperspace. When a ship inverts, its velocity get imaginary components that allows ftl travel. This also takes care of the time-debt accrued when the ship is near-light speed.)
In secret, the Aristo (Trader) Emperors decided to build their own psiberweb and take away the advantage of the Skolians. By having children with Rhon providers (strongest telepaths), finally the heir to the Aristo throne was a Rhon telepath, Jaibriol Cox. He was brought up in complete isolation, with only robots for servants and tutors, lest anyone find out his secret (he's now 23), and turns out to be a very decent person.
Sauscony Valdoria grew up in a loving Rhon family of 10 children, had biomech installed throughout her body (for enhanced physical strength, to store information, and to be able to access the psiberweb), at 48 has achieved the highest military rank of Admiral (Primary) and is one of two heirs for the Skolian Imperator.
Jaibriol and Soz meet on Delos, a neutral Allied planet. Once they make a telepathic contact, know how perfect they are for each other. They are soulmates. They match. Rhon telepaths are extremely rare, and Soz didn't think she'd ever find one. Plus, there's the whole business of Rhon pheromones. After being together for several hours, they are in love, and do some really drastic things for its sake.
That's the premise of the book. Something about it really moved me. Beyond all the cool space opera SF stuff, it's a touching story. I was thinking how much our world lacks that empathy in human relations.
Primary Inversion is on the very short and eclectic list of books that I've read more than once. ~ NephtisHave you already read Primary Inversion? Please take a moment to rate it and help others find the best fantasy books.
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