Rating: 
Summary: Excellent addition to a fantastic seies
Review: In space, the Traders attack the Emperor Kurj's step-brother, Kelric, the heir to the Skolian Empire. His craft is disabled and Kelric crashes on the nearby restricted planet of Coba. The injured pilot is quickly captured by a matriarchal led group, who must decide what to do with the space travelor. They do not want to kill him, but also refuse to allow him to return to space for fear the more technically advanced races will destroy their civilization if they become known. Jeha Dahl has a personal reason for keeping Kelric Coba-bound. She falls in love with the Skolian. Eventually, the ruling females help Kelric recover from his injuries, but also destroy his ship. Stranded over the next two decades, Kelric remains on Coba, raising a family. Now he has a chance to escape, but he has fallen in love with the planet, the people, and his family. Leaving them might destroy all he has learned to love. The third novel in Catherine Asaro's thrilling Skolian empire series is a fabulous work of science fiction that mixes many futuristic romance elements into a winning tale. Kelric and Jeha are a wonderful couple, but it is the blending of the technological into the fast-paced story line that turns this novel into a great reading experience. Ms. Asaro, whose first two novels were enjoyable, has shown quantum leaps as a writer, and is wellworth reading for any discerning fan. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: complex but engaging
Review: One of the things I have found that I really like about Asaro's books is that the world's are complex and yet they have internal logic. This is true of Coba where a Skolian heir crash lands. He lives a full, very full, life for a man in Coba society as a member of six different "harems" or Calanya for 18 years. In the process he starts serious social changes, not because he wants to overthrow the matriarchy (thank goodness, that thread gets tiresome in science fiction and fantasy) but simply because he is so desired. Yes, there is sex here but more than that is the intellectual dynamics are the more intriguing and enticing parts of the book. Finally a book with a positive look at a female dominant society that doesn't claim to be utopia or in need of "a man's hand".
Rating:
Summary: complex but engaging
Review: One of the things I have found that I really like about Asaro's books is that the world's are complex and yet they have internal logic. This is true of Coba where a Skolian heir crash lands. He lives a full, very full, life for a man in Coba society as a member of six different "harems" or Calanya for 18 years. In the process he starts serious social changes, not because he wants to overthrow the matriarchy (thank goodness, that thread gets tiresome in science fiction and fantasy) but simply because he is so desired. Yes, there is sex here but more than that is the intellectual dynamics are the more intriguing and enticing parts of the book. Finally a book with a positive look at a female dominant society that doesn't claim to be utopia or in need of "a man's hand".
Rating:
Summary: A great read
Review: The Last Hawk is about the brother of the main character in Primary Inversion and The Radiant Seas. He crash lands on a planet that has a matriarchal society in which a few men are treasured, the men who can play a game that determines the course of the future. Kelric is a natural at this game. He is a pawn traded from kingdom to kingdom, from queen to queen, as his influence as a player grows. The book contains an interesting examination of male/female roles by making males subserviant to women. The game is also fascinating. It seems to be based on quantum physics, but I don't know enough about that area to be sure. The book is good SF. It was also a great read. I picked it up thinking I wouldn't like it (after I'd read some of the reviews below) and couldn't put it down. I think that there's a difference between great literature and great reading. I give books that I enjoy more stars than books I should enjoy but don't, so Proust (boring) gets 1 star and The Last Hawk (thrilling) gets 5. By the way, the SF I've liked includes Endymion, Neuromancer, Snow Crash, The Forever War, Rendezvous with Rama, The Left Hand of Darkness, Babel-17, The Man in the High Castle...
Rating:
Summary: One of the best scifi/fantasy books I have read!
Review: The last Hawk is the first book (and only so far)that I have read by Catherine Asaro. I had no idea what to expect, but I LOVED it. It had just the right mix of science fiction, fantasy, adventure, and romance. It covers a broad range of genres and the plot kept me reading. I couldn't put it down! This is definitely not the last book by Asaro that I will read. I hope that future books continue the tale of the planet Coba and its inhabitants and also what happened to Kelric. I definitely recommend this book!
Rating:
Summary: Asaro is spellbinding
Review: The Last Hawk is the third Asaro novel I have read, and while they each stand alone (Primary Inversion & Catch the Lightning being the other two) they also build a fascinating description and time-line of an alternative universe. The Last Hawk focuses on what happens to our hero after he is forced to crash on a planet in which matriarchy is the dominant social form. Asaro reminds me of early Joanna Russ & Ursula LeGuinn in her handling of gender issues, which jolt us with their unfamiliarity and make us look at our unbidden assumptions. There is a lot of action here, but a lot of subtlety also. One of the central themes has to do with a planet-wide game which also serves as communication net -- rather as if chess & go were a primitive form of the internet. Ian Bank's "The Player of Games" comes to mind. If you like adventure, alternative realities, personal stories and social commentary in your science fiction, this is a must read.
Rating: 
Summary: Fun SF novel which plays with Romance conventions
Review: The Last Hawk takes place roughly at the same time as the action of Catherine Asaro's first novel, Primary Inversion, but on a completely isolated planet. The connection to her other Skolian novels is that the protagonist, Kelric, is a member of the Ruby Dynasty, ruling family of the Skolian empire. He crash-lands on an isolated, restricted, planet, Coba, and becomes a pawn in an extended power struggle. The novel is really concerned with the social and political setup on this planet. The society of this planet is female dominated, and a powerful male like Kelric is a threat, both to the societal structure, and to the political independence: this last because if he is found by the Skolians, the restricted label is likely to vanish, and Coba will be absorbed into the Empire. There are other key aspects to the social structure: Coba is dominated by a number of Houses, each with a female head. The planet has replaced war with a game called Quis. Each House has some first rate Quis players: the Head of the house, and members of her household, especially including her "husbands" (or "akasi"s). Information is transmitted by Quis playing, and very good players can influence "public opinion" by innovative playing. I found this concept fascinating, though in the end quite unconvincing. An important aspect of this is that a Calani (male Quis player) from one household is very valuable to another household, because of his "inside knowledge", as it were, and a certain flexibility he seems to gain from being exposed to different styles of Quis. Thus these Calani become, essentially, prize commodities, tradable for money or political favors. After his crash, Kelric is rescued by a team from the leading allied house to the "ruling" house. Kelric, damaged and also unable to tolerate some of the local chemistry, barely survives. Soon, however, he has "married" the head of Dahl house (the house which found him), and he has met the heir apparent to the ruling House. Despite his emotional ties, he eventually tries to escape, and accidentally kills someone, as a result ending up in prison. However, he has two important things on his side: he is a natural genius at Quis (helped somewhat by his Skolian biomechanical enhancements); and he is very sexy, and the powerful women of the Houses tend to fall in love with him. The story follows him through a variety of Houses as the disruptions his presence causes begin to threaten the structure of Coban society. This is an interesting novel, with much to recommend it, and very readable. I had problems with couple of things: the ultimate improbability of Quis is one, including the improbably sudden scientific advances supposedly resulting from Kelric transmitting ideas from Skolian culture to the Cobans via Quis. Also, a couple of villains who were almost too bad (though Asaro really tries hard to make them plausible and close to sympathetic), and I had a certain difficulty in staying emotionally involved with Kelric's many romances and quasi-romances. Kelric's amazing Quis ability was a bit of a cliche (though to be fair, Asaro provides at least some justification for it, in the form of his bio-mechanical enhancements), and the actions of some of the characters at times seemed to be designed to advance the plot rather than to arise from their own characteristics. The female-dominated society was quite well handled, I thought. Sometimes Asaro was too clearly engaging in allegory though, having the Coban women, generally good people, casually treat their men in blatantly sexist ways: all this seemed obviously a reversal of male sexism in our society: a fairly effective device for the most part, but a bit too pat and obvious in places. The novel's structure, in six parts corresponding to the six Houses of which Kelric becomes a member, allows Asaro to explore Coban society from many angles: some of the Houses are traditional, some modern, some strong, some weak: so we get a fairly varied look at the planet and society. That said, I didn't get a strong sense of a "complete" planet: rather, the society seemed to consist of smallish, isolated, enclaves. When I originally finished this book, I thought "Fast, fun, read. Some nice ideas. Not quite successful." But it has improved in memory. Even if I found the basic idea of Quis unbelievable, it is a clever idea, and moreover one which works very well thematically. Also, I believe some of my original mild disappointment was due to the failure of the novel to conform to typical Romance plot expectations. But on reflection, this is a strength, and not a weakness. I feel sure, too, that this novel plants a charge waiting to be detonated later in the Skolian series, whenever Coba confronts the Universe at large.
Rating:
Summary: Fun SF novel which plays with Romance conventions
Review: The Last Hawk takes place roughly at the same time as the action of Catherine Asaro's first novel, Primary Inversion, but on a completely isolated planet. The connection to her other Skolian novels is that the protagonist, Kelric, is a member of the Ruby Dynasty, ruling family of the Skolian empire. He crash-lands on an isolated, restricted, planet, Coba, and becomes a pawn in an extended power struggle. The novel is really concerned with the social and political setup on this planet. The society of this planet is female dominated, and a powerful male like Kelric is a threat, both to the societal structure, and to the political independence: this last because if he is found by the Skolians, the restricted label is likely to vanish, and Coba will be absorbed into the Empire. There are other key aspects to the social structure: Coba is dominated by a number of Houses, each with a female head. The planet has replaced war with a game called Quis. Each House has some first rate Quis players: the Head of the house, and members of her household, especially including her "husbands" (or "akasi"s). Information is transmitted by Quis playing, and very good players can influence "public opinion" by innovative playing. I found this concept fascinating, though in the end quite unconvincing. An important aspect of this is that a Calani (male Quis player) from one household is very valuable to another household, because of his "inside knowledge", as it were, and a certain flexibility he seems to gain from being exposed to different styles of Quis. Thus these Calani become, essentially, prize commodities, tradable for money or political favors. After his crash, Kelric is rescued by a team from the leading allied house to the "ruling" house. Kelric, damaged and also unable to tolerate some of the local chemistry, barely survives. Soon, however, he has "married" the head of Dahl house (the house which found him), and he has met the heir apparent to the ruling House. Despite his emotional ties, he eventually tries to escape, and accidentally kills someone, as a result ending up in prison. However, he has two important things on his side: he is a natural genius at Quis (helped somewhat by his Skolian biomechanical enhancements); and he is very sexy, and the powerful women of the Houses tend to fall in love with him. The story follows him through a variety of Houses as the disruptions his presence causes begin to threaten the structure of Coban society. This is an interesting novel, with much to recommend it, and very readable. I had problems with couple of things: the ultimate improbability of Quis is one, including the improbably sudden scientific advances supposedly resulting from Kelric transmitting ideas from Skolian culture to the Cobans via Quis. Also, a couple of villains who were almost too bad (though Asaro really tries hard to make them plausible and close to sympathetic), and I had a certain difficulty in staying emotionally involved with Kelric's many romances and quasi-romances. Kelric's amazing Quis ability was a bit of a cliche (though to be fair, Asaro provides at least some justification for it, in the form of his bio-mechanical enhancements), and the actions of some of the characters at times seemed to be designed to advance the plot rather than to arise from their own characteristics. The female-dominated society was quite well handled, I thought. Sometimes Asaro was too clearly engaging in allegory though, having the Coban women, generally good people, casually treat their men in blatantly sexist ways: all this seemed obviously a reversal of male sexism in our society: a fairly effective device for the most part, but a bit too pat and obvious in places. The novel's structure, in six parts corresponding to the six Houses of which Kelric becomes a member, allows Asaro to explore Coban society from many angles: some of the Houses are traditional, some modern, some strong, some weak: so we get a fairly varied look at the planet and society. That said, I didn't get a strong sense of a "complete" planet: rather, the society seemed to consist of smallish, isolated, enclaves. When I originally finished this book, I thought "Fast, fun, read. Some nice ideas. Not quite successful." But it has improved in memory. Even if I found the basic idea of Quis unbelievable, it is a clever idea, and moreover one which works very well thematically. Also, I believe some of my original mild disappointment was due to the failure of the novel to conform to typical Romance plot expectations. But on reflection, this is a strength, and not a weakness. I feel sure, too, that this novel plants a charge waiting to be detonated later in the Skolian series, whenever Coba confronts the Universe at large.
Rating:
Summary: So very very close...
Review: This was a fine read and a wonderfully developed story. It is the first of Asaro's Skolian books I've read and has definitely convinced me to read the others. But... I was severely distracted by several poorly developed areas of the book. Asaro makes a common mistake with her matriarchal society. She swaps all of the gender roles as well as ALL of the stereotypes. The women are big and strong, rude, fight, cuss, drink, fight the wars, rule the world and treat men like delicate idiots. The men are meek, submissive, small, weak and couldn't imagine doing something as mentally difficult as being an estate manager's secretary. This book would have been much better if she had thought out and developed a believable society. Putting women into traditional male roles shouldn't turn them into pigs. Likewise, putting males in a subservient role shouldn't turn them into jello. Ixpar? Deha? Avtac? Rashiva? What do these have in common? They are the names of some of the female lead characters. Asaro's naming convention is just terrible. The names are so "out there" and so unrelated to each other that it gets difficult to keep them straight. She should spend some time with some Robert Jordan books to see what a well developed naming convention can do for a story. Ixpar...yeesh! Despite the distracting flaws it is a good read and Asaro has a fantastic imagination. Where she uses it and lets her ideas develop, the story sings.
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