The Bronze Skies
The Bronze Skies
Catherine Asaro
Baen
Fiction (Adult), Science Fiction & Fantasy
Pub Date 05 Sep 2017
Review
Absolutely fantastic! The Bronze Skies is a thrilling blend of science fiction and mystery set on a world divided. The rich live above ground while the poor live in the ancient aqueducts beneath the surface. Bhaajan is a troubleshooter for the Majda family, a detective respected in the Undercity and able to fit in in the city above. Bhaajan’s newest case involves an impossible murder witnessed by none other than the Ruby Pharoah. Jagernauts, enhanced with biotech and subject to a demanding honor code enforced by a spinal implant, should be unable to commit murder. But somehow one individual went haywire and murdered a government aide - and is likely to kill again. Bhaajan must discover not only why the event happened, but where the jagneraut is hiding. Bhaajan’s investigation takes her into the depths of the planet, bringing her face to face with her past and the alien intelligence that resides within the planet.
The Bronze Skies is impossible to set aside once you start reading. The culture of the Undercity and the inhospitable world the humans inhabit is developed in great detail. Not only that, Catherine Asaro’s characters, even those with smaller roles are well developed. There are so many fascinating aspects, the psionic abilities, the strange history of human habitation, the evolving intelligences (EIs) that inhabit linked humans, and so much more. Catherine Asaro is a gifted storyteller with a way of making her world and her people so very real. I loved this novel and can't wait to see what comes next.
5 / 5
I received a copy of The Bronze Skies from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
--Crittermom
Description
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.
