Catherine Asaro

Major Bhaajan's next case has her investigating the disappearance of a woman from a gala where she was set to announce the winning of a major and lucrative contract. Bhaaj was at the gala because her employers - the Majdas - asked her to attend to look for anything suspicious. She is immediately sympathetic toward the woman's bewildered husband and is especially so because another investigator is so certain that he is guilty.

Things heat up when someone tries to kill Bhaaj as she show more investigates. Bhaaj isn't at all certain that it isn't her employers. But, no matter who wants her dead, Bhaaj isn't going to rest until she figures out what happened to Mara Quida. Things get even more complicated when another woman vanishes in the same way that Mara did. Only this one was an old friend of her employer Colonel Lavinda Majda who is third in line for the Majda throne.

I love the world building in this story which takes place on Raylicon - a dying world with a lack of fresh water and only two cities. The City of Cries is where all the wealthy, powerful, and beautiful live. The Undercity is where Bhaaj is from. The people there have their own culture and language and have little to do with the people from Cries who look down on them. However, it was recently discovered that the people in the Undercity have a much larger percentage of psychic gifts than the general population and those gifts are need to keep the galactic civilization working.

Bhaaj left the Undercity to join the army and then retired back home when her enlistment period was up. She came back with a galactic education, many physical enhancements, and a desire to help the citizens of Undercity survive and flourish in the greater galactic culture.

Her investigation takes her from Cries to the Undercity and out into the desert to the three ships that brought the original settlers from Earth to Raylicon thousands of years in the past and are now a scientific treasure guarded by the army.

An Appendix at the end of the book lets the reader see some of the ways this story and its science grew. Asaro has a Ph.D. in Chemical Physics which means that reading it seemed like magic to this math-challenged reader. The real math and science was no less magical than the science and math in the story. Luckily, readers can enjoy the wonderful, detailed and engaging characters whether or not math is a language they speak. show less

Major Bhaajan's next case has her investigating the disappearance of a woman from a gala where she was set to announce the winning of a major and lucrative contract. Bhaaj was at the gala because her employers - the Majdas - asked her to attend to look for anything suspicious. She is immediately sympathetic toward the woman's bewildered husband and is especially so because another investigator is so certain that he is guilty.

Things heat up when someone tries to kill Bhaaj as she show more investigates. Bhaaj isn't at all certain that it isn't her employers. But, no matter who wants her dead, Bhaaj isn't going to rest until she figures out what happened to Mara Quida. Things get even more complicated when another woman vanishes in the same way that Mara did. Only this one was an old friend of her employer Colonel Lavinda Majda who is third in line for the Majda throne.

I love the world building in this story which takes place on Raylicon - a dying world with a lack of fresh water and only two cities. The City of Cries is where all the wealthy, powerful, and beautiful live. The Undercity is where Bhaaj is from. The people there have their own culture and language and have little to do with the people from Cries who look down on them. However, it was recently discovered that the people in the Undercity have a much larger percentage of psychic gifts than the general population and those gifts are need to keep the galactic civilization working.

Bhaaj left the Undercity to join the army and then retired back home when her enlistment period was up. She came back with a galactic education, many physical enhancements, and a desire to help the citizens of Undercity survive and flourish in the greater galactic culture.

Her investigation takes her from Cries to the Undercity and out into the desert to the three ships that brought the original settlers from Earth to Raylicon thousands of years in the past and are now a scientific treasure guarded by the army.

An Appendix at the end of the book lets the reader see some of the ways this story and its science grew. Asaro has a Ph.D. in Chemical Physics which means that reading it seemed like magic to this math-challenged reader. The real math and science was no less magical than the science and math in the story. Luckily, readers can enjoy the wonderful, detailed and engaging characters whether or not math is a language they speak. show less

THE DOWN DEEP continues the story of Major Bhaajan on the dying world of Raylicon in the Skolian Imperialate.

Bhaaj came home from her career in the Pharoah's Army with the goal of helping her people who live in the impoverished Undercity beneath the City of Cries. After years of prejudice and neglect, the Imperialate has discovered a need for the citizens of the Undercity. It takes Kyle Operators to keep the Imperialate going and safe from the Traders who want to conquer it.

Kyle Operators show more are rare everywhere except in the Undercity where potential Kyle Operators make up a large percentage of the population. Colonel Lavinda Majda - a member of the very high class and powerful Majda family - asks Bhaaj to arrange a visit where she can hopefully build up some goodwill. After overcoming some obstacles both in the Undercity and in the Majda family, Bhaaj agrees to take Lavinda for her visit.

Problems come up almost immediately when the two rival drug cartels demand that Lavinda meet with them. This has never happened before. Whenever the cartels ran into each other, battles ensued and so did deaths. But it turns out that both cartels want the same opportunities for their children that Bhaaj's Dust Knights have been enjoying. Bhaaj sees this as a major breakthrough to make thing better for her people.

But then, a call for help from the Down Deep comes to the medic the Majdas have seconded to the Undercity. Lavinda demands that they all go to see if they can help and wind up in the middle of an outbreak of carnelian rash which threatens to kill all of those who live there and those who come to help too.

This was an intriguing story with fascinating worldbuilding. The culture of the people of the Undercity was richly developed and contrasted in a major way with that of the above ground culture. Culture clashes and prejudices were realistically portrayed. The characters - especially Bhaaj and Angel who is one of her Dust Knights - are viewed in depth.

I really enjoyed this story which drifts away from the mysteries of the earlier Bhaaj books to the area of epic Space Opera. show less

Major Bhaajan's next case has her investigating the disappearance of a woman from a gala where she was set to announce the winning of a major and lucrative contract. Bhaaj was at the gala because her employers - the Majdas - asked her to attend to look for anything suspicious. She is immediately sympathetic toward the woman's bewildered husband and is especially so because another investigator is so certain that he is guilty.

Things heat up when someone tries to kill Bhaaj as she show more investigates. Bhaaj isn't at all certain that it isn't her employers. But, no matter who wants her dead, Bhaaj isn't going to rest until she figures out what happened to Mara Quida. Things get even more complicated when another woman vanishes in the same way that Mara did. Only this one was an old friend of her employer Colonel Lavinda Majda who is third in line for the Majda throne.

I love the world building in this story which takes place on Raylicon - a dying world with a lack of fresh water and only two cities. The City of Cries is where all the wealthy, powerful, and beautiful live. The Undercity is where Bhaaj is from. The people there have their own culture and language and have little to do with the people from Cries who look down on them. However, it was recently discovered that the people in the Undercity have a much larger percentage of psychic gifts than the general population and those gifts are need to keep the galactic civilization working.

Bhaaj left the Undercity to join the army and then retired back home when her enlistment period was up. She came back with a galactic education, many physical enhancements, and a desire to help the citizens of Undercity survive and flourish in the greater galactic culture.

Her investigation takes her from Cries to the Undercity and out into the desert to the three ships that brought the original settlers from Earth to Raylicon thousands of years in the past and are now a scientific treasure guarded by the army.

An Appendix at the end of the book lets the reader see some of the ways this story and its science grew. Asaro has a Ph.D. in Chemical Physics which means that reading it seemed like magic to this math-challenged reader. The real math and science was no less magical than the science and math in the story. Luckily, readers can enjoy the wonderful, detailed and engaging characters whether or not math is a language they speak. show less