Rating: 
Summary: One of the best scifi/fantasy books I have read!
Review: Although her previous novels are not required to understand Last Hawk, I recommend reading Primary Inversions first. Asaro's skills as a writer improves with each novel and although Primary Inversion was published first it was written after Last Hawk. Her Skolian universe is so vast and rich, and Last Hawk focuses on a very small portion of it. I will recommend this book to Asaro's fans, since each novel links to the others creating a rich tapestry.
Rating: 
Summary: I'm glad I read Primary Inversions first.
Review: Although her previous novels are not required to understand Last Hawk, I recommend reading Primary Inversions first. Asaro's skills as a writer improves with each novel and although Primary Inversion was published first it was written after Last Hawk. Her Skolian universe is so vast and rich, and Last Hawk focuses on a very small portion of it. I will recommend this book to Asaro's fans, since each novel links to the others creating a rich tapestry.
Rating:
Summary: One-Book Wonder
Review: Catherine Asaro is becoming one of my favourite authors, and this book is why. Smoothly written narrative and intriguing concepts blend with Asaro's spice of romance and gender relations to create a distractingly unique tale. It's a castaway tale-- a Gulliver's Travels set on a remote planet where women are the masters, and where Kelric, our hero, must learn to adapt or die. I think anyone who has read it will recommend the story for the game of Quis alone, which has so many facets that I confess I was thinking about it long after I had put the book down.
I don't want to give away too much, but let's put things in this way: when I talk to people at bookstores, there are four sci-fi books I usually recommend. The first is Ender's Game, then Clay's Ark, and also David Brin's The Postman. The fourth is this one.
Rating:
Summary: I couldn't put it down!
Review: Catherine Asaro's first two books were great and this one is even better. The Last Hawk is a face-paced science fiction adventure with plenty of action and romance. It also has interesting and well-developed characters. The culture of Coba, the matriarchal world on which the Last Hawk is set, is also fascinating. I hope a future book will continue the story of Kelric. I can't wait to read The Radiant Seas.
Rating:
Summary: This one kept me thinking in multiple dimensions.
Review: Final Nebula Ballot Nominee 1999 (for best novel) Must Read! The Last Hawk branches out of Catherine Asaro's Skolian Empire using the missing-presumed-dead ruse she loves so well. This time it is the littlest Rhon, Keldric (Keldricson Garlin Valdoria kya Skolia) who crash lands on the extradited, restricted planet Coba. Wounded in the crash, and forced to survive in an environment hostile to his health, his telepathic and empathic abilities suffer. Coba is a matriarchal society that functions around the game, Quis. The game's the not the only thing that has caught the conscience of the "Queen." Keldric, with his mathematical genius and bio-enhanced mind quickly excels, changing Coban life forever with his ideas of sex, love and war. Chapter headings are a thrill--they point to the fact that the book itself unfolds as a complex Quis game. Want more Keldric? I know I do! Ascendant Sun (Tor 2000) completes the story, and is richer and more satisfying if you've previously read The Last Hawk. The cover art is worth the cover price. Another Ruby Dynasty story in Analog Magazine (December 1994) details Keldric's teen years and his first marriage. "A Roll of the Dice" in the July/August 2000 issue of Analog Magazine takes place on Coba with many familiar characters and a guest appearance by Keldric.
Rating:
Summary: This one kept me thinking in multiple dimensions.
Review: Final Nebula Ballot Nominee 1999 (for best novel) Must Read! The Last Hawk branches out of Catherine Asaro's Skolian Empire using the missing-presumed-dead ruse she loves so well. This time it is the littlest Rhon, Keldric (Keldricson Garlin Valdoria kya Skolia) who crash lands on the extradited, restricted planet Coba. Wounded in the crash, and forced to survive in an environment hostile to his health, his telepathic and empathic abilities suffer. Coba is a matriarchal society that functions around the game, Quis. The game's the not the only thing that has caught the conscience of the "Queen." Keldric, with his mathematical genius and bio-enhanced mind quickly excels, changing Coban life forever with his ideas of sex, love and war. Chapter headings are a thrill--they point to the fact that the book itself unfolds as a complex Quis game. Want more Keldric? I know I do! Ascendant Sun (Tor 2000) completes the story, and is richer and more satisfying if you've previously read The Last Hawk. The cover art is worth the cover price. Another Ruby Dynasty story in Analog Magazine (December 1994) details Keldric's teen years and his first marriage. "A Roll of the Dice" in the July/August 2000 issue of Analog Magazine takes place on Coba with many familiar characters and a guest appearance by Keldric.
Rating:
Summary: Imaginative and original
Review: I have to say that the Last Hawk is one the best science fiction novels I've ever read. And having read more books that I can count, I can honestly say that it is original,intense, imaginative, and yes...romantic. As Kleric suffers, learns, and loves, I was right along with him every step of the way. The book was so intense that I stayed up all night reading it.
Rating:
Summary: This is one terrific book
Review: I've enjoyed all of Asaro's stories, but this one may be my favorite. Her world building of matriarchal Coba is fascinating, as are her characters. I also loved the role reversal, with Kelric playing the Helen of Troy role as most of the female rulers on the planet fall in love with him. There are comic aspects to this, and terrific characterization, but also serious ideas about what it means to be adored but powerless, usually a role assigned to women. I also loved the strategy game of Quis, a truly brilliant fictional invention. I understand that Kelric's story will be carried on in an upcoming Asaro title. I fully intend to snap it up the day it appears.
Rating: 
Summary: Good-but a little unbelieveable
Review: I've read five of the Skolian empire books, and this one is probably the least believable and one of the most interesting.
In a world where politics are changed by a game, Calani, Kelric crashes and threatens to interrupt the unchanged society. He quickly learns and becomes extremely good at the game. He is purchased by the managers of the estates(the world is divided into estates run by female managers). He is miserable, abused, and rarely truly happy. It takes great courage and self sacrifice by another for him to finally acheive his goal and achieve relative happiness.
The plot was pretty good, but the managers were just slightly too eager to buy him, and a few of the things they did to attempt to win him over were too unbelievable. I think that the society was well described. It was overally enjoyable.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but not great
Review: In contrast to other novels recently read, The Last Hawk is rather unsophisticated and derivative. Even so, this novel is fairly entertaining (although the theme of star-man marooned in a feudal society has been done a bizillion times), and certainly the best (in terms of writing skill) of the four she has written. You do NOT need to read the other three novels to read The Last Hawk. (I wish someone had told ME that!) In the past 30 years (or so), I have read over 1500 (or so) sci fi books. For me, great sci fi (1) develops delightfully original ideas and characters, (2) challenges my mind and moves my heart and soul, and (3) introduces me to unique, diverse, and REAL characters. Although this novel is "good," it does meet my criteria for "great." I wish Amazon would give me the word-count to list all of the truly great sci fi novels of the past 50 years. Those of you giving Catherine five-stars have probably not read the great gems of sci fi. BTW: Here's my recent reading list: The Passion, Killing Mister Watson, Darwin's Radio, A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters, A Deepness in the Sky, Cold Mountain, Jack Faust, and Slow River. The Last Hawk gets a C compared to these A's.
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