The Skolian Saga is a science fiction series by Catherine Asaro. It is composed of many novels and short stories, which cover several generations of events. A major feature of the series is the conflict between two interstellar empires, the Skolian Empire and the Eubian Concord. The publication order is not the same as the chronological order.
Works
(listed in internal chronology)
- Skyfall
- "The City of Cries" (short story)
- "Stained Glass Heart" (short story)
- "Echoes of Pride" (short story)
- The Final Key
- "The Edges of Never-Haven" (short story)
- "Light and Shadow" (short story)
- "Aurora in Four Voices" (short story)
- "Walk in Silence" (short story)
- "The Pyre of New Day" (short story)
- The Last Hawk
- Primary Inversion
- The Radiant Seas
- "The Shadowed Heart" (short story)
- Ascendant Sun
- The Quantum Rose
- Spherical Harmonic
- The Moon's Shadow
- Diamond Star
- "A Roll of the Dice" (short story)
- "The Ruby Dice" (novella)
- The Ruby Dice (full length novel)
- Carnelians
- "Ave de Paso" (short story)
- Catch the Lightning
Tropes found in this series include:
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: The Eubian Aristos are an entire race of these.
- Phlebotinum Rebel: The Skolian Imperialate was founded by a woman who was genetically engineered in the Eubian Concord, but rebelled against her intended purpose and escaped. The Imperialate is now the only society capable of holding the Concord at bay from conquering the entire galaxy.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: The Eubian Traders are a whole race of this.
- Shown Their Work: Spherical Harmonic and The Quantum Rose are prime examples of Asaro's use of mathematics.
- Serious Business: The Last Hawk, "A Roll of the Dice", and The Ruby Dice have a dice game in called Quis that is very important.
- Space Sector: Locations in the saga include Onyx Sector (divided among the Eubian Concord, the Skolian Empire, and the Allied Worlds), Sphinx Sector (deep inside Eubian space), and the Platinum Sectors (disputed between the Skolians and the Eubians, and—not surprisingly—a major source of platinum ore).
- Transplanted Humans: In the backstory, someone took a group of humans from Earth around 4000 BC and transplanted them to a faraway planet (much like Stargate SG-1). These humans rediscovered spaceflight (twice — once thousands of years ago using technology left behind by these unknown someones, and again around the 1600s AD with a much more robust knowledge of how things work) and so were already spacefaring when Earthlings finally left home.
