This has many dated and oppressive tropes which are not as common in more recent fiction that make this book particularly cringeworthy.
It's hard to believe this is the same author that wrote Primary Inversion much less that this is written considerably later and the former was a first published novel.
That said once I acknowledged the uncomfortable sexism, tyranny packaged as moralistic war, that the natives to the planet of Lyshriol ( more or less native anyway) are an uncomfortable reflection of white supremacist colonial bullshit, I was not as put off by the uncomfortable love story?????
I wish the author would rewrite this.


Review from 2018:
This is as silly as I remember. I plan to re-read this series, since hoopla has it available as an audiobook, and the 2 Major Bhaajan books which are written in this universe. I truly love this series but not this book or the immediately following Triad duology.
Roca and Eldri are the parents of Soz and her dynastically important Valdoria Skolia siblings who make up the bulk of the main characters of the novels in this series. Their love story is told in mere paragraphs in various of the series installments. It's told more effectively in those paragraphs than in this novel. The setting on Lyshriol is nice as few of the books are actually set on the world of the Valdoria Skolia siblings. Still, the relationships feel hollow and forced. Eldri behaves in a way that makes it hard to understand what Roca saw in him. Roca's parents don't feel like parents, without context from the series the relationship with Kurj makes no sense. The novel just doesn't work for me. ( )

Excellent book. I wish it was available as an e-book. ( )

Dr. Catherine Asaro, theoretical physicist and former ballerina writes space opera like nobody's business. In this one, Roca, psion queen and ballerina(!) with the body of a porn star is swept away by hunky barbarian on horseback. Her family politics dictate interstellar politics and everybody's motives are spelled out in neon. Beyond over the top, the absurdity is delectable because the story is well paced and fun. (March 14, 2005) ( )

very disappointing. reads like a bad romance novel with a few space opera flourishes as window dressing. Asaro can do so much better, and generally does. ( )

Meh! Nominally science fiction but actually 100% romance novel. Characters rather single-dimensional and rather unbelievable in some cases. Getting some backstory to the (better) Primary Inversion — the only other book I've read in her Skolian Empire series — was interesting, but not enough to really rescue this book. About the only thing I really enjoyed was the gender role reversal...e.g., women ruining men's honor by sleeping with them prior to marriage. Don't think I'll be bothering with any of the remaining 13 volumes. ( )