false 772536 0 0 2032246 3404243420 9783404243426 0 <![CDATA[Die Quantenrose (Das Sternenreich von Skolia, #6)]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2032246.Die_Quantenrose 0.0 0 The Quantum Rose is the sixth novel in the acclaimed Saga of the Skolian Empire, following the novels Primary Inversion, Catch the Lightning, The Last Hawk, The Radiant Seas, and Ascendant Sun. This intelligent, entertaining series combines space opera, hard SF, future history, military SF, and romance in a rare and potent blend. The Quantum Rose is an interplanetary adventure, but the space-opera and hard-SF elements are less prominent, as the plot focuses on a compelling and complicated love triangle, the clash of very different cultures, and an approach to war that SF has almost never considered.

A Nebula Award finalist, Catherine Asaro has won the Analog Readers' Poll, the Sapphire Award, and the Homer Award. In addition to the Saga of the Skolian Empire, she has written the near-future SF novels The Veiled Web and The Phoenix Code. --Cynthia Ward

]]> 34854 3.71 2701 292 772536 3.50 2 0 2000 2032243 3404243196 9783404243198 0 <![CDATA[Der letzte Falke (Das Sternenreich von Skolia, #3)]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2032243.Der_letzte_Falke 0.0 0 Der letzte Falke liegt bereits der dritte Band der Saga um das Sternenreich von Skolia vor. Glücklicherweise handelt es sich hierbei nicht um eine weitere Endlosserie, in der jeder Band auf dem vorhergehenden aufbaut und Neueinsteiger erst Aufholarbeit leisten müssen, wollen sie alles verstehen. Catherine Asaro legt ihre Romane als Puzzleteilchen an, die für sich lesbar sind, zusammen jedoch ein größeres Ganzes ergeben. Der letzte Falke beispielsweise spielt zur gleichen Zeit wie der Serienauftakt Der PSI-Faktor, allerdings auf dem abgelegenen, völlig isolierten Planeten Coba.

Die Gesellschaft Cobas wird von Frauen dominiert, in erster Linie von den Anführerinnen der Herrscherhäuser. Krieg wurde abgeschafft und durch ein Spiel namens Quis ersetzt, in dem sich auch die Männer beweisen können. In diesem Spiel geht es unter anderem darum, die öffentliche Stimmung durch geschicktes Informationsmanagement zu steuern. Nicht selten versuchen verfeindete Häuser, unzufriedene Männer aus dem gegnerischen Lager auf ihre Seite zu ziehen und dadurch einen Informationsvorsprung zu erhalten.

Das abgeschottete Dasein von Coba wird ernstlich in Frage gestellt, als Kelric, ein Mitglied der Rubin-Dynastie von Skolia, dort notlanden muss. Er überlebt mit knapper Not, muss jedoch bald feststellen, dass er bei dem Haus, das ihn gerettet hat, tief in der Schuld steht. Trotzdem unternimmt er einen Fluchtversuch. Dieser misslingt und Kelric landet im Gefängnis. Seine Lage nimmt jedoch eine Wendung zum Besseren, als er herausfindet, dass sich die einflussreichen Frauen von Coba zu ihm hingezogen fühlen <nobr>-- und dass er dank skolanischer Biotechnologie ein meisterhafter Quis-Spieler ist...

Catherine Asaro ist eine echte Entdeckung für Freunde von Lois McMaster Bujold und David Weber: Ein ausgefuchster technischer Hintergrund, ein geheimnisvolles Sternenreich, politische Intrigen und tief empfundene Leidenschaften sorgen für mitreißenden Lesestoff. Zwar geht gelegentlich die Begeisterung mit ihr durch und sie übertreibt es mit der Beschreibung gesellschaftlicher Zusammenhänge. Doch dafür sind ihre Protagonisten Wesen aus Fleisch und Blut, mit denen wir mitfiebern können, in Freud und Leid. Großartig! --Felix Darwin

]]> 34854 3.71 2701 292 772536 3.50 2 0 1998 2032244 3404243293 9783404243297 0 <![CDATA[Die strahlende See (Das Sternenreich von Skolia, #4)]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2032244.Die_strahlende_See 0.0 0 The Radiant Seas follows the critically acclaimed novels Primary Inversion, Catch the Lightning (the 1997 Sapphire Award winner), and The Last Hawk as the fourth of a proposed seven novels in the Saga of the Skolian Empire, an exceptionally well-written and well-plotted series that mixes space opera, future history, hard SF, military SF, and romance. By internal chronology, The Radiant Seas is the direct sequel to Primary Inversion. It is also Catherine Asaro's most ambitious novel to date. Fans of the earlier books will find The Radiant Seas less focused on romantic aspects, and readers new to the series may find this novel starts slow, but the complex story is always clear and soon picks up speed. Hard SF fans will revel in the numerous brilliant ideas extrapolated from physics and genetics (the author is a physicist), while readers uninterested in science will find the novel unmarred by chunky speculative-science digressions. All will find The Radiant Seas bursting with fascinating characters and subplots, and will quickly discover they can't put the novel down. --Cynthia Ward

]]> 34854 3.71 2701 292 772536 3.50 2 0 1999 2032247 340424334X 9783404243341 0 <![CDATA[Das dritte Schloss (Das Sternenreich von Skolia, #5)]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2032247.Das_dritte_Schloss 0.0 0 Ascendant Sun, the fifth--and so far raciest--installment in Catherine Asaro's popular Saga of the Skolian Empire series (which kicked off with 1995's Primary Inversion). But Kelric needs to keep his miraculous resurrection hush-hush: presumed dead after crash-landing on Coba 18 years ago in Last Hawk, love-prisoner Kelric endured and finally escaped the lusty attentions of the planet's swoony ruling matriarchy. Back at last, the bronze-god telepath finds that his world has been turned upside down: The galaxy-uniting psiberweb has collapsed, the Allied Worlds of Earth control the Skolian Empire, and his family, the Ruby Dynasty, are all either dead or held hostage, leaving him as the sole and long-lost Imperial Heir, a man nearly everyone in power would see imprisoned or assassinated--if they knew he was alive.

Harvard-trained physicist Asaro continues to astound by straddling the SF and romance genres so adroitly, alternating between chin-rubbing speculations on quantum theory and blushingly steamy sex scenes with all the skill of an accomplished ballet dancer (which, coincidentally, she also is). Surely junior-high kids will get their paws on this title tout de suite (and quickly skip to the "good" parts), but Asaro's award-winning prose, her knack for high-adventure story-telling, and her equal expertise in both science and romance make this a worthy read for any fan of either genre. --Paul Hughes

]]> 34854 3.71 2701 292 772536 3.50 2 0 2000 2032248 3404243471 9783404243471 0 <![CDATA[Sphärenmusik (Das Sternenreich von Skolia, #7)]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2032248.Sph_renmusik 0.0 0 Dune, captivating readers with its complex universe, its diverse cast of sympathetic characters, and its imaginative blend of hard SF, future history, military SF, space opera, family saga, and romance. Spherical Harmonics is the seventh book in the loosely organized series.

A woman comes to consciousness on a world she doesn't recognize, and fades out again--literally. As nonexistence and awareness alternate, the woman regains her memory, realizing she is Dyhianna Selei, the Ruby Pharaoh, titular head of the Skolian Empire, who was destroyed in a star-spanning battle that ravaged both her empire and that of its enemy, the Aristos. Instead of dying, Dyhianna was transported to a distant world via the quantum-mechanical universe of Hilbert space--and now she is in danger of disappearing permanently into that nonphysical universe. And that isn't her only problem. Her husband has been physically and psychologically scarred by his captivity in Aristo hands. She may have to overthrow the elected government of her own Empire in order to resurrect it from the ashes of the Radiance War and defend it from the powerful Aristos.

Spherical Harmonics follows (and sometimes overlaps) the events in The Radiant Seas, 031286714XThe Quantum Rose, and Ascendant Sun. Other books in the series include Primary Inversion, Catch the Lightning, and The Last Hawk. --Cynthia Ward

]]> 34854 3.71 2701 292 772536 3.50 2 0 2001 6897116 3404163257 9783404163250 0 <![CDATA[Fieber]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6897116-fieber 4.00 1 2998 3.48 3812 329 772536 3.50 2 0 2009 6131808 3404243382 9783404243389 0 <![CDATA[Schwarz wie der Tag.]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6131808.Schwarz_wie_der_Tag_ 3.00 1 32276 3.56 1136 91 772536 3.50 2 0 2005 6279646 3404233387 9783404233380 0 <![CDATA[Die Kriegerin]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6279646.Die_Kriegerin 0.0 0 10517 3.97 20132 854 772536 3.50 2 0 2009 6279644 3404233328 9783404233328 0 <![CDATA[Die Flotte von Charis]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6279644.Die_Flotte_von_Charis 0.0 0 10517 3.97 20132 854 772536 3.50 2 0 2009 6279647 340423331X 9783404233311 0 <![CDATA[Codename: Merlin]]> http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-111x148.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6279647.Codename_Merlin 0.0 0 10517 3.97 20132 854 772536 3.50 2 0 2009