Undercity

Written by Catherine Asaro

Narrated by Morgan Hallett

BOOK ONE IN A BRAND NEW SERIES by Nebula and Hugo Award Winner Catherine Asaro set in the world of her Skolian Empire universe. In the galaxy-spanning future, Major Bhaajan is a tough female P.I. who works the dangerous streets of Undercity. Major Bhaajan, a former military officer with Imperial Space Command, is now a hard-bitten P.I. with a load of baggage to deal with, and clients with woes sometimes personal, sometimes galaxy-shattering, and sometimes both. Bhaajan must sift through the shadows of dark and dangerous Undercity-the enormous capital of a vast star empire-to find answers. "[Baahjan], who starts out keeping an emotional distance from the people in the Undercity soon grows to think of them as her community once more. Asaro . . . returns to the Skolian empire's early history to tell Bhajaan's story."-Booklist "Asaro delivers a tale rich with the embedded history of her world and bright with technical marvels. Her characters are engaging and intriguing and there is even a bit of romance. What really touched my heart was Bhaaj's interaction with the children of the aqueducts. I spent the last fifty pages of the book sniffling into a tissue."-SF Crowsnet "I'm hooked, both on her writing and her Skolian universe. This book had everything I wanted: strong characters, a new and unique world, and a plot that isn't as simple as it first appears."-TerryTalk

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: Jan 23, 2015
• ISBN: 9781490635460

Catherine Asaro

Catherine Asaro is the author of thirty books, ranging from thrillers to science fiction and fantasy. Her novel The Quantum Rose and novella The Spacetime Pool both won the Nebula Award, and she has been nominated for multiple Hugo Awards. Asaro holds a doctorate in chemical physics from Harvard; her research specializes in applying the mathematical methods of physics to problems in quantum physics and chemistry. Asaro has appeared as a speaker at many institutions, including the Library of Congress, Georgetown’s Communication, Culture, and Technology program, the New Zealand National ConText Writer's program, the Global Competitiveness Forum in Saudi Arabia, and the US Naval Academy. She has been the guest of honor at science fiction conventions across the United States and abroad, including the National Science Fiction Conventions of both Denmark and New Zealand, and served as president for the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. She can be reached at www.catherineasaro.net and has a Patreon page at www.patreon.com/CatherineAsaro.

Reviews for Undercity

[kmartin802_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

UNDERCITY is an accessible entry point for readers interested in Asaro's Skolian Empire books. It tells the story of a woman who escaped the poverty-sticken and violence-ridden Undercity by joining the army, has a successful career, retires and becomes a Private Investigator on a different planet. When she is hired, at an extremely high rate of pay, she finds herself returning to the planet of her birth and having to go back to the Undercity she thought she had escaped forever.She has been hired to track down a missing Majda prince. While searching for him in the Undercity, she runs into an old love and some old enemies too. She also uncovers a plot that has the potential to destroy the culture of the Undercity and destroying the Skolian Empire too. Bhaajan is an interface between the power elite of the world and the people in the Undercity. She finds herself educating her employers about the culture of the Undercity and protecting the citizens from forced assimilation by the residents of the upper city - the City of Cries.I enjoyed this story about a woman who finds herself going back to a world she thought she had left behind. I liked the way she advocated for her culture which she could do because she has spent years in the dominant culture. I liked the way she handled the culture clash. I liked the rekindled romance in the story. I thought the technology was fascinating. I liked the mention of the psychic powers that has the potential of turning the residents of Undercity into an essential resource for the Skolian Empire even though that made the loss of their culture more imminent. I look forward to reading more books about this character.

[Veronica · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

As always, Catherine Asaro’s books are excellent. Brilliant world building and brilliant writing. I always feel treated like an intelligent reader.

[glennis.leblanc · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I've read a few of Ms Asaro's earlier books but I haven't kept up with all of them. This book is great that you can read it and not need to know that it fits into a larger universe. Bhaajan is a retired Major who is now working as a private eye and has just taken a very large payment to see if she would be interested in a case. Turns out the case is off planet and is actually from her home world and she needs to rescue a missing prince. Lots of “old home week” as she catches up with old friends that she left behind when she enlisted. The story is actually in a few parts and the initial case is not the entire plot of the book. A good fun read and a great place to step into a new universe if you haven’t read them before. There is also a handy readers guide to the chronology of the stories if you want to see what fits where all the books available.

Digital copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley

[tldegray-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Incredible worldbuilding. Asaro creates a matriarchal world that flows naturally throughout the story. And also creates a thriving (sub)culture that exists in staggering detail, from the behaviors of its peoples to the least of its decorative furnishings. I'd love to dive back into this world, and since Asaro writes throughout time in this universe maybe I'll be able to. (Provided by publisher)

[altheaann · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

If you have run out of Lois McMaster Bujold books to read, Asaro's 'Undercity' is a good next choice. It's got that same kind of space-investigation-military-adventure going on, with engaging characters and fast-moving action.

Set in Asaro's well-established matriarchal Skolian Empire, 'Undercity' introduces her fans to Bhaajan - an ex-military woman who's set herself up as a private investigator in luxurious Selei City. (Imagine her as a somewhat-more-moral detective version of Han Solo, with cyber-soldier bio-enhancements).

As the story opens, Bhaaj has just accepted a lucrative-but-opaque assignment. Little does she expect to be spirited far from her new home, and plunged back into the subterranean ghetto that she barely escaped as a child.

The book contains three almost-separate stories. One links right into the other, but each has a separate focus. In the first, Bhaaj is assigned to find a missing prince. In the second, the plot expands to encompass a weapons-smuggling scheme. And in the last, the human-rights theme that is evident throughout the book comes to the fore, as Bhaaj finds herself taking on the cause of the second-class citizens of the undercity.

Good fun, with plenty of room for more adventures to come...

Many thanks to NetGalley and Baen for the opportunity to read this book. As always, my opinions are my own.

[dokfintong · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Do we always have to save the world?Catherine Asaro has never ranked among my fav authors. One of my gripes is the three-story model she likes. Many of Ms Asaro's books are three linked short stories that together present a complete tale. This is a practical approach to writing SF because while SF is centered on short stories published in mags and collections, single-author books can generate more publicity and income for the individual author. The three story approach means that Ms Asaro can write serial stories that can be sold individually and they can also be put together and sold as a novel written in three sections she calls "books." This is a practical and efficient marketing move and it also gets Ms Asaro off the hook of doing a long-form novel. But I don't particularly like short stories and the bumps between the book sections are not seamless enough for me to pretend Ms Asaro's books actually are novels.Which brings us to Undercity.I love detective stories especially SF detective stories and while the first "book" in Undercity is too short (all short-stories are too short), it is really pretty good. Major Bhaajan (retired) is a private eye based in Selei City on Parthonia. With some reluctance she accepts a job on her home world Raylicon and is instantly embroiled in the culture and politics of the ruling Madja family, an absolute matriarchy. To solve the case Bhaaj must descend into the ancient underground channels that everyone calls "aqueducts" where she grew up. She's been gone a long time and many things have changed. Her friends are still there and so are her enemies and some of each have switched sides. Bhaaj solves the case, of course, and sets out for home. Jump to book two.At the end of book one, Bhaaj has made the sensible economic and emotional decision to return home to Selei. Jak, her love interest, is considering coming with her, or at least coming to visit for a while. The Madja ask her to delay her departure to continue the investigation because some of the information Bhaaj has already uncovered points toward a leak of weapons and information and possibly treason. Bhaaj agrees and we are off on another mystery set in the aqueducts. Book two isn't as good as book one. Ms Asaro has started adding extraneous stuff in preparation for book three. In an annoying shift that is not grounded in the story, Bhaaj decides to stop calling the children of the aqueducts "dust rats" because rats are "vermin." Tell that to the 7th Armoured Division, UK, or to people living in the Southwest USA or to parents of "rug rats", or to any other persons or groups using "rat" as an affectionate nickname implying persistence and survival. Ms Asaro suddenly finds it important to tell us that the world of Raylicon is "dying." I haven't figured out what that has to do with anything at all. Book 3 discards all pretention to being a mystery and doesn't even tie up the loose ends from Book 2. Instead we have a reworked Dune including the puzzle of where Raylicon's water went. Bhaaj organizes the undercity population, saves "her" undercity culture, and sees a vision of the future that is lifted straight from Muad'Dib's head (oh look, another affirmative rat reference). Big yawn here.I received an advance review copy of Undercity by Catherine Asaro (Baen) through NetGalley.com.

[templecat-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Undercity, by Catherine Asaro, is an exciting YA science fiction novel set in the City of Cries, part of the Skolian Empire. As Thomas Wolfe famously has written, You Can't Go Home Again, but the protagonist of Undercity, Major Bhaajan (she doesn't have a first name), most definitely doesn't even want to go home again! The ex-army Major, now a private investigator, lives and works in Selei City on the world Parthonia, the capital of the empire and jewel of the Skolian Imperialate, graced with tree-lined boulevards and mansions. She worked like a fanatic to escape the dystopian environment of her dust rat girlhood on Raylicon, a world of red deserts, dried seas, and a vast underground maze of caves and tunnels, aqueducts and canals called the undercity, stretching under the City of Cries and under the Vanished Sea, the vast, empty ocean basin, a desolation of red dust.In a traditional detective story trope, the Major has taken an extremely lucrative job from an unknown, possibly nefarious, client in order to cover the next installment on her office loan. The sleek flycar that is sent for her by her anonymous client turns out to be a disguised starship and Bhaajan is whisked off to parts unknown. The Major is a bit concerned by this, but she really needs the money, is curious, and has great confidence in her ability to survive through her wits and her enhanced body.When she left the Army, the Major was allowed to keep the biomech body web enhancements that military officers are provided - high-pressure bio-hydraulics, modifications to the skeleton and muscles, a microfusion reactor for energy, two or three times the strength and speed of an unaugmented human, and a spinal node with as much processing power as a starship that can link to flycars and starships and other external inputs through jacks throughout the body web. Nanomeds in the body provide her the health and appearance of someone in their late twenties, though she is in her forties.Upon landing (on Raylicon, where else?), Bhaajan meets her employer and learns that her job is to find a missing person. She has been hired because of her reputation for discretion, for succeeding in such searches, and for her knowledge of Cries. This knowledge is crucial for solving the case, for it is through her contacts on Raylicon, her old dust gang, that she is able to begin her investigation.Undercity's structure is that of a traditional detective story - the detective needs money, takes a case, talks with contacts, finds clues, discovers that the case is bigger/more important/more dangerous than originally assumed, has violent encounters with antagonists, etc. However, this novel is different in that although there is enough action to more than satisfy the reader who enjoys thrillers, the real strength of the story is in its strong portrayal of its characters and its dystopian setting, with the kickers of advanced weaponry and enhanced physical abilities.The main characters are Bhaajan, the members of her old dust gang, and the antagonist, Scorch, an old enemy from the days when Bhaajan was a young girl. Asaro uses Bhaajan to supply a first person point of view throughout the story, so the reader knows what the detective knows and only what the detective knows. This is also a standard approach, but Bhajaan is a very intuitive character and has an emotional depth seldom encountered in traditional detective stories.Some of the individuals in the old dust gang are carefully and lovingly portrayed well enough for the reader to develop a strong empathy for them, even though their points of view are not shared. Bhaajan's love interest, Jak, for example, is portrayed through his actions as a man who cares for children, and through strong sensual similes and adjectives as having: coal eyes, smoldering with energy ; a voice like dark molasses, like whiskey, deep and inebriating; a scarred body; a cleft chin; an intoxicating laugh, a flashing grin. We learn from Bhaajan that he is "...looking dangerous with those shimmering dark eyes. The tight-shirt was unravelling along one shoulder, showing glimpses of roughened skin. I wondered how it would feel to run my hand under the cloth." (loc 843) We aren't just told that Bhaajan thinks that Jak is sexy, we learn the why, the details. Each of the main characters is described with similar thoroughness, as is each of the events in the story. We don't just hear about the characters and events; we share in them emotionally. Asaro's own words, appearing toward the end of the story, both summarize the events that have occurred and elucidate the core element of the novel: "Too much had happened. So many emotions, so much grief and triumph, pain and joy, fighting, killing and birth, children laughing and children dying, starvation and freedom, the freedom simply to stand in the sunlight." (loc 4908) Each of these emotions and states become themes that thread their way through the entire plot, from beginning to end. And in Asaro's hands, the reader feels, in her heart, triumph and pain and joy and grief.I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.