Description:

Catherine Asaro has won numerous awards for her Saga of the Skolian Empire novels, including the Nebula Award and two Romantic Times awards for Best SF Novel. Combining cutting edge scientific theory with grand romantic adventure, this series represents space opera at its finest.
The Final Key is the second half of the story arc known as Triad, which began in Schism. Schism ended with the Skolian Empire torn asunder by personal conflict within the royal family. With The Final Key, the Skolian Empire comes under all-out assault from its nemesis, the Euban Concord, who have undermined the Empire via subterfuge and assassination, leaving it ripe for conquest. The Skolian Empire's only hope? A young woman barely out of her teens who hasn't even complete her training as a cadet.

From Publishers Weekly

Given the complex world within Asaro's Skolian Empire saga, perhaps it's forgivable that the first third of her second Triad fantasy (after 2004's Schism) explains at tedious length the history of the Ruby Dynasty, a ruling tribe of telepaths who struggle with discord among themselves even as they fight off their dire enemies, the Euban Concord. Readers of this extensive chronicle will happily plunge back into the fray, but newcomers might stumble, feeling much like first-time viewers of a byzantine space soap opera. However, once the action heats up with an assassination attempt that disables the head of the Ruby Dynasty, rapid pacing and gripping suspense whisks away any confusion. Young Soz, an heir to the throne and a military cadet, seizes the book's spotlight with her combination of vulnerability and bravery as she steps up to responsibility. But with so many characters, this tale suffers from a lack of focus. Asaro's saga is a monumental work, but only a more careful honing of the individual novels will make the series masterful. (Dec.)
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From Booklist

Before very far into the latest volume concerning the Skolian Empire, unshirted chaos and utter disaster face the Skolia family. Mother has been kidnapped, father is recovering from his ordeal at the hands of the Traders in Schism (2004), the first book of the subseries called Triad, and the Imperator himself is a captive. This leaves Sauscony, 18 years old and a Jaegernaut in training, as the pivotal figure in the action that follows. Both her military skills and her high psionic abilities are called into play, and working with her father, she develops a three-way psionic link (the triad in question), which becomes a crucial weapon against the Traders. Asaro's Skolian saga is now nearly as long and in many ways as compelling as Dune, if not more so, featuring a multitude of stronger female characters. The characters' handling of psionic powers approaches magic, however, and the appended time line is essential for fitting this book into the continuum of the whole. Nonetheless, a certain, intelligent crowd-pleaser. Roland Green
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