Catherine Asaro's new novel in the saga of the Skolian Empire is a direct sequel to Primary Inversion. The Radiant Seas continues the story of Sauscony and Jaibriol, each the heir to an interstellar empire, as their lives become entangled again in the machinations of the Skolian Empire. They are beginning to pick up what's left of their lives, in exile on a deserted planet with their children, when the fate of much of the known universe comes to rest on the shoulders of their fragile young family. Interstellar war erupts, and Jaibriol is snatched away to be the unwilling ruler of the Highton Aristos. Sauscony must fight her way at the head of an invading space fleet to rescue him from his own empire - without revealing that they are married. And with much of interstellar civilization poised on the brink of destruction, it is the devotion of these two lovers, their sacrifices and their heroism, that might just found a new order. That, and the existence of their teenage son, who is the genetic heir to a legacy of pain he must rise above.
