Bronze Skies

Written by Catherine Asaro

Narrated by Morgan Hallett

TOUGH FEMALE P.I. EXPLORING THE UNDERWORLD OF A VAST STAR EMPIRE. Book two in a new series set in the world of Catherine Asaro's Skolian Empire series. Major Bhaajan achieved the impossible. Born to the Undercity, the slums below the City of Cries on the planet Raylicon, she broke free from crushing poverty and crime to become a military officer with Imperial Space Command. Now retired from military duty, she walks the mean streets of Undercity as a private investigator. And she is about to embark on her most challenging case yet. Summoned by no less than the Ruby Pharaoh herself, Major Bhaajan is tasked with finding a killer. But this is no ordinary murderer. The Ruby Pharaoh witnessed a Jagernaut cut down Assembly Councilor Tap Benton-which shouldn't have been possible. The Jagernauts are the elite of the elite soldiers in the Imperial Space Command. What's more, the spinal node implanted in all Jagernauts should have prevented the murder. But the Ruby Pharaoh is sure of what she saw, and she has reason to believe that the Jagernaut will kill again. Now, Major Bhaajan must hunt down a killer before it is too late. To do so, she must return to the one place on Raylicon she knows best: Undercity.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: May 24, 2018
• ISBN: 9781980002123

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 Bronze Skies

[kmartin802_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Major Bhaajan has a new case and the stakes couldn't be higher. A Jagernaut killed a man with the Ruby Pharoah as a witness. This is almost an impossible crime because the Jagernauts have EI (Evolving Intelligence) nodes in their spine which should prevent that. Now the Jagernaut has run to the Undercity and no one knows the Undercity better than Bhaaj.The fact that many of the citizens of the Undercity are psions has brought them to the attention of the City of Cries above but when they go looking for them, they are not able to find any. Bhaaj knows that the people in the Undercity have their own language and culture and, though they live in crushing poverty, they aren't interested in the charity of those above. She needs to find a bridge between the two cultures that could at least relieve the poverty and provide adequate health care since many of those Undercity have birth defects because of in-breeding. This is a complex story with lots happening. Searching for the missing Jagernaut leads Bhaaj to many secrets about her world, her culture, and herself. Fans of the rest of Asaro's work will be eager to read this episode which takes place earlier in time than most of the rest of the books. This is also hard science fiction with lots of physics but with a very human focus in the main character Bhaaj.

[rivkat_2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Major Bhaaj fought her way out of the despised Undercity into a precarious position in her city. Then the Ruby Emperor directs her to find a killer whose strange behavior may threaten the Emperor herself. The quest leads Bhaaj back into the Undercity and to secrets about the history of the whole Ruby Empire. A good adventure story with a lot of worldbuilding.