Books I Like: Skyfall by Catherine Asaro

Skyfall (Saga of the Skolian Empire) 

Blurb:

Kurj, a provincial ruler on a primitive planet, is plagued by inner demons. But when he meets Roca, a beautiful and mysterious woman from the stars, he whisks her away to his mountain retreat, inadvertently starting a great interstellar war, and birthing the next generation of rulers for the Skolian Empire.

I like this book. One of the things I love about it, is Catherine Asaro's world building. the universe is very real, yet fantastic. 

What hooked me, was Roca. That is to say, the description of her golden-self and how her gentle yet firm and noble persona jumped off the page at me. I fell in love with her, right away. 

Though I love this book in-particular, and mostly enjoy The Skolian Empire Series, Catherine Asaro's writing style does have a few quirks which bug me. Mostly, and this applies to other Sci-Fi writers as well - She has this bad habit of stopping the plot, and getting fixated on whatever science details are there to provide the rational for whatever is going on at the moment. This is not so much about tech, which is understandable, its more, related to planetary things. 

I really get annoyed when Sci-Fi writers do this... It comes off as 'Hey, look at all the science trivia I know' and its not actually storytelling, though I realize its being done to bolster the whole "Science Fiction" thing. 

But as I said, this is an enjoyable book and you can read it as a standalone experience, without needing to know the whole series. That's always a plus in my mind. Even connected material - Needs to be its own thing.