Audiobooks by Catherine Asaro

"BORN TO RUN; BORN TO FIGHT, A PAIR OF STAR-CROSSED LOVERS COMPETE IN THE OLYMPIC GAMES COMPETITORS IN THE INTERSTELLAR OLYMPICS MUST OVERCOME POVERTY AND INTRIGUE Three interstellar civilizations vie for honors in the Olympics, including the Skolian Imperialate. The thriving, populus worlds of by humanity have always dominated the Games. The team from Raylicon, a dying world of scorching temperatures, has never won honors. IS CHANGE COMING? Mason, the coach for Raylicon track and field team, makes a startling discovery: the Undercity, an ancient culture hidden in ruins beneath the desert, carries a secret. In a place where crushing poverty exists alongside a culture of dramatic beauty, a group of spectacular runners has existed for centuries, even millennia, unknown to the outside universe. The Dust Knights are the best of those marvels. With the help of Major Bhajaan, an Undercity native, he recruits the Knights. And so change sweeps their world. The Undercity faces a civilization they've never trusted, one that sees them as barely even human. Now, they must all learn to work together. THE KYLE UNIVERSE Skolia needs the Undercity to trust them--for hidden within its enigmatic population is one of humanity’s greatest resources. Their inbred population has created a large concentration of Kyle operators, an otherwise almost extinct group of humans. Kyles can do more than run; only they have the neurological make-up needed to utilize a vital technology, one that gives Skolian its sole advantage over their conquering enemies. The army wants the Kyles to work for them, but after centuries of being despised and left to die by the rest of humanity, the Undercity wants nothing to do with them. Until Angel, one of the top runners among the Knights, joins the Kyle Corps—and dives into a world of neurological marvels, including star-spanning networks that access a dimension with dramatically different laws than our space-time universe. THE STAKES COULD NOT BE HIGHER AS THE DUST KNIGHTS COMPETE FOR THEIR WORLD—AND THE FREEDOM OF HUMANITY"

Catherine Asaro (Author), Morgan Hallett (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Down Deep

"DUST KNIGHTS: A NEW SERIES IN CATHERINE ASARO’S SKOLIAN EMPIRE A CITY DIVIDED For centuries The City of Cries—one of the most desired locales in the Skolian Imperialate—has existed by the thinnest of threads. On the dying world of Raylicon, the “haves” live in great luxury in Cries while the “havenots” scrape by, eking out a marginal existence in the notorious Undercity beneath the desert. Major Bhaajan, formerly of the Pharaoh's Army, knows both worlds. Born into the Undercity, she nevertheless has made a name for herself in the Imperialate. And now, she has the chance to help her people. HOPE FOR RECONCILIATION For the first time, a member of the Royal class wants to extend an olive branch to the Undercity. Hoping to build bridges, Colonel Lavinda Majda recruits Bhaaj and her Dust Knights to act as guides and bodyguards on a mission of goodwill to those who live below the surface of their parched world. THE DOWN DEEP But the problems of the Undercity run deeper than anyone knows. To help find peace, the Dust Knights must reach the most hidden rungs in that mysterious underground world, a place known only as the Down Deep, where the scars from centuries of distrust are greatest. There they will face an unseen enemy that may destroy the lives of everyone they know—and threaten interstellar civilization."

Catherine Asaro (Author), Morgan Hallett (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Jigsaw Assassin

"Selei City is the capital of the Imerialte and one of the most desired locales in all of the Skolian Empire. But its thin veneer of civilization is cracked when a series of brutal crimes implicates those in political power in a vast conspiracy. Three prominent scientists have lost their lives to a serial killer—and notes at the scenes of the crimes lead to a connection to the Royalist political party. Major Bhaajan, former military officer turned private detective, is called back to Selei City to solve the crime. Bhaaj and her crew of Undercity Dust Knights plunge into the Byzantine world of Imperial politics—a jigsaw world where none of the pieces seem to fit. As the assassination plot becomes more and more convoluted, Bhaaj is kidnapped, threatened with death, and must fight for her life against the growing number of people threatened by her investigation. Bhaaj has faced all this and more, but now she must deal with something far deadlier—interstellar politics."

Catherine Asaro (Author), Morgan Hallett (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Final Key: Part Two of Triad

"The Final Key is the completion of the duology Triad, which began with the novel Schism, and which reveals the epic story of how a war of galactic proportions first exploded between two great empires and how the Ruby Dynasty reached maturity. 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 (Traders). They 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 completed her training as a cadet."

Catherine Asaro (Author), Suzanne Weintraub (Narrator)

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Schism: Part One of Triad

"Schism (Triad, Book I) is the tenth novel in Catherine Asaro’s multiple-award-winning Skolian saga, and represents an excellent entry point into the series. An epic story of how the Ruby Dynasty reached maturity, Triad, divided into two books, reveals how a war of galactic proportions first explodes between two great empires. Schism is how it all began, harkening back to the early years of the Skolian Empire, back to the beginning of the war between Skolia and the Euban Traders. Twenty-three years have passed since the fateful vote in the Skolian Assembly that Roca missed in Skyfall. It created the first open hostility between Eube and Skolia, which has only deepened in the ensuing years. Now Eube senses an opportunity, for strife has riven the first family of the Skolian Empire. Sauscony, the daughter of Roca and Eldrinson, is ready to seek her fortune as an officer-in-training in the Skolian military. When her father forbids her to undertake such a dangerous path, a rupture develops as Soz chooses duty over family. Eube hopes to make this divide permanent, leaving the Empire ripe for conquest. And they’re willing to kill anyone to make it happen."

Catherine Asaro (Author), Suzanne Weintraub (Narrator)

Audiobook

Skyfall

"A grand adventure, the rebirth of the Skolian Empire, and the romance that commenced this saga. Eldrinson Valdoria is a bard and leader on the planet Skyfall, a world with a culture considered primitive by the starflung civilization of the Imperialate. As adept with a sword as he is with a ballad, he is also an undiscovered telepath of great power. Roca Skolia, a former dancer, is now the councilor for Foreign Affairs in the Imperialate’s governing Assembly and heir to the Ruby Pharaoh of the Skolian Imperialate. Caught in a political struggle with her warlord son, she ends up stranded on Skyfall and missing a meeting of the Assembly to vote on humanity’s first interstellar war. Though trapped, she finds herself drawn to Eldrinson, whose thoughts are as clear as the words he cannot write. As their attraction deepens into a love that the laws of both their peoples forbid, the flames of war ignite among the stars."

Catherine Asaro (Author), Suzanne Weintraub (Narrator)

Audiobook

The Moon’s Shadow

"At the age of seventeen the young nobleman named Jaibriol Qox becomes ruler of a vast galactic empire—and loses everything he has ever valued. Born of a clandestine liaison between a renegade daughter of the Skolian Imperialate and a scion of the genetically engineered Eubian Traders, Jai Qox grew up in exile, unaware of the powers that coursed through his noble blood. In the waning days of the bloody Radiance War that ravaged the galaxy, Jai was captured and returned to the Traders to play a role as a puppet emperor in their scheme to consolidate their domination of space. Now Jai must walk a razor’s edge to seize the power that is his by birthright without succumbing to its dark seduction and wield it for the good of all, and to avert a conflagration that threatens to engulf a thousand worlds."

Catherine Asaro (Author), Dennis Holland (Narrator)

Audiobook

Spherical Harmonic

"Catherine Asaro combines her diverse talents to blend hard science fiction and heartrending romance into a sweeping epic known as the Saga of the Skolian Empire. This is her trademark series. Ever since Primary Inversion, her very first novel, this series has continued to grow, building a significant readership and receiving widespread praise. All of Asaro’s considerable talent is on display in Spherical Harmonic, the direct sequel to The Radiant Seas. Separated for decades by circumstance and political machinations, the Ruby Dynasty, hereditary rulers of the Skolian Empire, struggle to bring together the tattered remnants of their family in the shadow of a disastrous interstellar war. Too many have died, others are presumed lost, yet they must move quickly if they are to resume their rightful place as rulers of Skolia."

Catherine Asaro (Author), Liza Kaplan (Narrator)

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The Veiled Web

"Ballerina Lucia del Mar has two great passions: dance, which consumes most of her waking hours, and the Internet, which brings the outside world into her tightly regimented life. These two passions collide when a White House performance and reception leads to an encounter with handsome Moroccan businessman Rashid al-Jazari, creator of a brilliant technology that has set the Internet rumor mill ablaze. A second, seemingly chance meeting with Rashid plunges Lucia into a deadly world of desire and intrigue, for although his work has implications she cannot foresee, there are those who do understand and would turn its great power to their own destructive purposes. As Lucia is drawn deeper and deeper into Rashid's life and work, cut off from the outside world, she finds herself becoming more attracted to him. But is her seclusion within Rashid's well-guarded Moroccan home intended to ensure her safety—or her silence? And is it already too late to stop the terrible consequences his new technology could unleash?"

Catherine Asaro (Author), Caroline Shaffer (Narrator)

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Catch the Lightning

"When a young girl from Earth falls in love with a handsome stranger, she becomes a pawn in an interstellar war. In the distant future, the Skolian Empire rules one third of the human galaxy, and is the most powerful of all. For the ruling family has the power of telepathy, and through it, the ability to communicate faster than light, across interstellar space. But their most determined enemy, the traders, who thrive on human pain, need to interbreed with a Skolian to gain their powers. And now they have her. Full of action, adventure, space and time travel, and romance, this second installment in Catherine Asaro's saga of the Skolian Empire is a gripping tale."

Catherine Asaro (Author), Anna Fields (Narrator)

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Diamond Star: Including the song Diamond Star by Point Valid with Catherine Asaro

"Two-time Nebula Award winner Catherine Asaro takes her immensely popular Skolian Empire saga to new heights. The renegade son of the Ruby Dynasty, Del prefers rock music to interstellar politics. His singing career has recently gained momentum on Earth, which has an uneasy relationship with his family's empire. But with intergalactic tensions running high, Del finds it harder and harder to avoid family expectations. 'Asaro's Skolian saga is now nearly as long and in many ways as compelling as Dune, if not more so .'-Publishers Weekly"

Catherine Asaro (Author), Andy Paris (Narrator)

Audiobook

Alpha

"Charon was the most ruthless-and brilliant-criminal of the twenty-first century, a practitioner of illegal robotics and android research. He is dead now, and General Thomas Wharington believes his team of experts has deleted all the electronic copies that the megalomaniacal inventor created of himself. However, one major problem remains: Alpha, the only android survivor of Charon's cybernetic empire. Outwardly indistinguishable from a human woman, Alpha has superhuman strength and speed, and perhaps even more deadly capabilities still unknown. Thomas' superiors want her dismantled and studied, but to Wharington, it feels like murder. He stalls for time, a move that could prove disastrous. Alpha escapes from an escape-proof compound, kidnaps Wharington, and takes him to one of Charon's hidden installations. Charon might be dead, but Alpha continues to carry out her late master's orders, and she refuses to elaborate on what those orders entail. Meanwhile, her behavior is becoming more human, or so it seems. Is she developing emotions and a conscience, or is she just learning to counterfeit them as a means of carrying out her enigmatic orders? And do those orders include Wharington's death sentence?"

Catherine Asaro (Author), Hillary Huber (Narrator)

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