The Vanished Seas

Major Bhaajan #3

by Catherine Asaro

MAJOR BHAAJAN RETURNS. Book three in the Skolian Empire Major Bhaajan series by Catherine Asaro.

SURVIVE THE CITY OF CRIES

Bhaajan grew up in the Undercity, a community hidden in the ruins buried beneath the glittering City of Cries. Caught between the astonishing beauty and crushing poverty of that life, and full of wanderlust, she enlisted in the military. Now retired, Major Bhaajan is a private investigator who solves cases for the House of Majda, a royal family centered in Cries. The powerful elite of the City of Cries are disappearing, and only Bhaajan, who grew up in the Undercity, can find them—if she isn’t murdered first.

About The Vanished Seas :
“Catherine Asaro continues exploring the underbelly of her baroque, decadent Skolian Empire with this latest adventure of Major Bhaajan, private eye to the highest nobility. . . . It’s a story full of intrigue, mystery, and action. Along with Asaro’s trademark deeply human characters and intricate politics comes a noir-flavored plot that drips with menace and secrets. Major Bhaajan is a compelling character, smart and sympathetic, and both the squalid Undercity and the decadent City of Cries are engrossing. Those who are familiar with the Skolian Empire will find much to like here. For those who aren’t, the Major Bhaajan books make a fine jumping-on point to this vast and convoluted universe.”— Analog

About the Major Bhaajan
“. . . riveting. . . . The world is rich and vivid, with two distinct cultures in the Undercity and the aboveground City of Cries. This exciting novel stands alone for anyone who enjoys science fiction adventure.”— Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Asaro plants herself firmly into that grand SF tradition of future history franchises favored by luminaries like Heinlein, Asimov, Herbert, Anderson, Dickson, Niven, Cherryh, and Baxter . . . They don't write em like that anymore! Except Asaro does, with . . . up-to-the-minute savvy!” —Locus

“Baahjan, who starts out keeping an emotional distance from the people in the Undercity soon grows to think of them as her community once more. Asaro . . . returns to the Skolian empire's early history to tell Bhaajan's story.” —Booklist

“Asaro delivers a tale rich with the embedded history of her world and bright with technical marvels. Her characters are engaging and intriguing and there is even a bit of romance. What really touched my heart was Bhaaj's interaction with the children of the aqueducts. I spent the last fifty pages of the book sniffling into a tissue.” —SFcrowsnest

“I‘m hooked, both on her writing and her Skolian universe. This book had everything I strong characters, a new and unique world, and a plot that isn't as simple as it first appears.” —TerryTalk

About the Skolian
“Entertaining mix of hard SF and romance.” —Publishers Weekly

“ 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.” —Booklist

“Rapid pacing and gripping suspense.” —Publishers Weekly

Genres: Science Fiction, Mystery, Fiction, Audiobook, Science Fiction Fantasy, Adventure, Suspense

480 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published July 7, 2020

About the author

The author of more than twenty-five books, Catherine Asaro is acclaimed for her Ruby Dynasty series, which combines adventure, science, romance and fast-paced action. Her novel The Quantum Rose won the Nebula® Award, as did her novella “The Spacetime Pool.” Among her many other distinctions, she is a multiple winner of the AnLab from Analog magazine and a three time recipient of the RT BOOKClub Award for “Best Science Fiction Novel.” Her most recent novel, Carnelians, came out in October, 2011. An anthology of her short fiction titled Aurora in Four Voices is available from ISFiC Press in hardcover, and her multiple award-winning novella “The City of Cries” is also available as an eBook for Kindle and Nook.

Catherine has two music CD’s out and she is currently working on her third. The first, Diamond Star, is the soundtrack for her novel of the same name, performed with the rock band, Point Valid. She appears as a vocalist at cons, clubs, and other venues in the US and abroad, including recently as the Guest of Honor at the Denmark and New Zealand National Science Fiction Conventions. She performs selections from her work in a multimedia project that mixes literature, dance, and music with Greg Adams as her accompanist. She is also a theoretical physicist with a PhD in Chemical Physics from Harvard, and a jazz and ballet dancer. Visit her at www.facebook.com/Catherine.Asaro

Reviews

[Stewart Tame · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes, Major Bhaajan is a series character. And no, this isn't her first adventure. However, this book looked too interesting to resist, and my local Barnes and Noble didn't seem to have any other of Asaro’s books in stock. So I took a chance. I don't think that my unfamiliarity with the previous Bhaajan books--or with Catherine Asaro’s work in general--hindered my enjoyment in any way.

The story takes place on the imperial planet Raylicon, an uninhabited wasteland of vast deserts except for the City of Cries. Humanity was brought to Raylicon long ago by a now-vanished alien race. Their starships still lie in ruins not far from the city. The ships, and a vast network of caverns and ruins beneath the city are all that remain of these mysterious beings.

Major Bhaajan grew up in the Undercity, a settlement existing in the caverns below the City of Cries. The denizens of the Undercity are generally viewed as criminals or worse, but Bhaajan is part of a group working to change that perception. After serving in the military, she now works as a private investigator. She is hired by the House of Majda, the powerful royal family, to look into the disappearance of one of the elite citizens of the city. Now more people have disappeared, and someone--possibly several someones--is trying to kill her …

I love the world that Asaro has created. Raylicon feels like a real place, and there are all sorts of intriguing details that hint at larger mysteries. One of the appendices to the book is a detailed timeline of what I'm going to call the Asaroverse. Not only the Bhaajan books, but seemingly *all* of her fiction seems to fall somewhere in it. The other appendix is an essay titled, “Mathematical Methods and the ‘What if?’ of Science Fiction,” which, frankly, made my head spin. Having twice failed to pass Calculus in school, I’m going to take her word for it that the math all checks out.

The Vanished Seas is definitely quality science fiction. Highly recommended!

[Mara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a headache from hell from trying to understand the science behind it, but hell I was a total flop at school so I don’t know why I try. :D

I love this series. I love this heroine and it gives me a kick to see the reversal sexism (yes, we could have been sexist too). It shows its ugly teeth in a stark contrast. I love the grit, the Undercity, its culture. And what an ending.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

This series started out strong and keeps getting even better.

[Kathy Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

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 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.

[Catherine Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the plot. There was a less character development in this one, and I skipped entire paragraphs that were set up to explain things that had been explained before (how she couldn’t take in the sky all at once-that was repeated a few times in a short time period). Without those explanations, which seemed unnecessary if you’re reading the third book of a series, the storyline would have been smoother. Otherwise, a good story with interesting Raylicon discoveries. I would love a fourth!

[Kerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Catherine Asaro's Skolia books are my jam. They do all the things are love and I am generally unabashedly uncritical about them.

This one didn't disappoint. As much as I love the main sequence of the series and always want more, the Major Bhaajan books also work a treat as they are SF mysteries as Bhaaj, usually with an archeological bent as she slowly discovers more about the mysterious past of Raylicon. I'll take me an archeological/historical SF mystery any day.

I cannot be objective about these books because I love them to pieces.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was just what I expected in tone. I like hanging out in the Skolian Empire, and it's even more fun with Bhaaj who works for the super elites than it was hanging with the royal family. I enjoy the background gender reversals and how minor prejudice against men is officially frowned upon but widely practiced. Daan is an airhead with an exploitable talent that gets him into trouble, but he's just a man out of his depth so people are indulgent.

[Kris Sellgren · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this science fiction detective story from Catherine Asaro. Major Bhaajan, former slum dweller, former military officer (she is extremely bright to win her rank purely on merit in a society run by nobility), is now a private investigator employed by a noble family. She is asked to find a missing corporate executive, or perhaps murdered exec. She moves seamlessly between slum and palace, following clues and her intuition. She might have a form of precognition; she gets “feelings” that warn her to move out of harm’s way a second before the bullet or explosion. She solves the mystery despite betrayal at high levels.

I particularly enjoyed the discussion of the science behind “Kyle space” with its eigenvectors, eigenfunctions, and Hilbert space in an essay after the novel. One way of looking at Kyle space is that it is a space (or universe) where location is determined by thoughts. One political party is over here, another over there. Lustful thoughts cluster. So do thoughts about commerce, or cats. Interstellar communication is done by humans called “Kyle operators” with the ability to connect to this space. Location is more complex than that, since one can simultaneously hold thoughts about the light through trees outside, housework, and writing a Goodreads review (for example). Asaro, with her PhD in chemical physics from Harvard (apologies if I got that wrong), comes up with unique approaches to the physics of space travel. Check out her ideas about faster than light travel, which doesn’t break the laws of physics if one postulates that velocity can have an imaginary component (imaginary in the sense of imaginary numbers, like the square root of -1). I think they are described at the end of her science fiction novel Primary Inversion, my favorite Asaro novel.

[Margaret · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an exciting action-filled book! Vanished Seas is the third book in the Major Bhaajan series. I really enjoy books with more than one culture.

Major Bhaajan grew up in the Undercity where the inhabitants are considered ignorant and frankly subhuman by the dominant society. This is far from the truth, of course, but the dominant culture in the City of Cries just sees that the Undercity inhabitants don't have the tech level that they take for granted.

Major Bhaajan is an exception in that she was able to educate herself using the tech access that the Undercity actually has (and no, not all residents are necessarily tech savvy) and manages to walk out of the Undercity as far as the nearest military recruiting center in the City of Cries. She then has a successful military career, from which she is now retired.

This is such a fascinating series because this person literally from the underclass finds herself working in her capacity as private investigator for the royal Majda family when people start mysteriously vanishing.

She is valuable to the royal family precisely because she has a foot in each world (the underclass and the dominant society).

Vanished Seas is very fast-paced and thus quite a page-turner. I stayed up late several nights to get it finished because I literally hated to put it down!

Highly recommended for mystery fans, Skolian Imperialate fans, and people who enjoy character-driven action!

[Mary Soon Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the third novel in the Major Bhaajan series, far future science fiction narrated by the eponymous Major Bhaajan, a very likable ex-soldier turned private investigator, who now serves as a bridge between the Undercity where she grew up and the larger world of wealth and privilege. I enjoyed it considerably, though a smidge less than the first two books. (Two thumbs up for the ruziks, however.)

N.B. The book is a quick read with a light touch, but is followed by an appendix on the mathematics behind the fictional psi powers for those fond of eigenfunctions, Hilbert spaces, Fourier transforms, et al.

Three and a half out of five vectored stars, rounded up for the ruziks.

About my reviews: I try to review every book I read, including those that I don't end up enjoying. The reviews are not scholarly, but just indicate my reaction as a reader, reading being my addiction. I am miserly with 5-star reviews; 4 stars means I liked a book very much; 3 stars means I liked it; 2 stars means I didn't like it (though often the 2-star books are very popular with other readers and/or are by authors whose other work I've loved).

[Glenn Younger · Rating 5 out of 5]

The breadth of the historical under city clashes with the depth of human greed

The breadth of the historical Under City and the depth of human greed clash in this 3rd book of the Major Bhaaj series. With Catherine Asaro’s signature story telling style filled with rich descriptions, tense action, and figures from all walks of life on Raylicon—from the highest royalty to a hidden Cabal to friends from the Under City—this story kept me reading until I finished it in one sitting. Being the third book in the series, we also get to enjoy a fuller picture of the Royal sisters as well as see how the Under City is handling the inevitable changes that come with interaction with the “slicks” from the above city of Cries.

This can be read as a stand-alone book without having to read books 1 & 2, although I recommend reading them in order if at all possible if for no other reason than to appreciate the fullness of life in the Aqueducts, aka the Under City.

[Goddess of Chaos · Rating 4 out of 5]

"...an alien civilization that had been ancient before humans ever walked this world."

This entire series blends relatable character dynamics with out of this world cases -- in this book Major Bhaajan is called on when a corporate executive disappears. Think locked room mystery, with dozens of people standing outside the door.

Add the culture clash between the above ground City of Cries and the Undercity and this was a fantastic page turner.

The story walks a careful line, endeavoring to foreshadow without telegraphing, keeping characters real, with believable flaws and struggles. Stereotypes and prejudices are also a major factor in the lives of these characters.

[Henry Lazarus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Catherine Asaro returns to the dying planet Raylicon where the city of Cries sits next to The Banished Seas (hard from Baen) This time Major Bhaajan, a P.I. who grew up in the undercity, and served in the Skolian Army, has to find two missing people including one who vanished from a party she was being honored at. Along the way Bhaajan is almost murdered and discovers a plot that may involve her sponsors, the power Majda family. The problem is also related to the ancient starships that brought humans to Raylicon six thousand years ago. Great series.Review printed by Philadelphia Free Press

[Cordelia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this new book in Catherine Asaro's Major Bhaajan series. A great mix of space opera, private detective and romance. It is really nice to see a female in the major role. The book is well written. Good world building. Good rounded characters - we learn more about them in each new book of this series. Full of gripping suspense and fast paced action.

I would certainly recommend this book to any fan of space opera.

Thank you to Edelweiss, the publisher and the author for sending me this ARC.

[Alger Smythe-Hopkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I took my time to think about this one. There is so much that isn't very good about this book, especially the repetition and thick-headed fan service of a lot of the action, but this is one well told story and there is more at stake than the usual McGuffin detective tale. Obvious villains and an overlong arrival at the keystone event in the story when I predicted much earlier were the downsides. But the world is interesting. The characters are well rounded, mostly, and the situation is unique.
I will look for the rest of the tales in this universe.

[John Loyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

The third Major Bhaajan novel. The Majdas ask Bhaaj to investigate the disappearance of Mara Quida. She was at a big celebration gala, went to her bedroom to grab a ceremonial scroll and was never seen again. It almost looked like there had been an explosion, but no trace of Mara Quida and no ransom note. It's a mystery, both how the disappearance happened and who is responsible. It isn't long before someone tries to kill Bhaaj, most likely because she is the one investigator that has ties to the Undercity. A second disappearance with similar circumstances heats things up.

Fun read, mystery, excitement, continuation of the world building of the first two novels (Dust rats, Jak, the Majdas). 4.9 stars. If you liked Undercity and The Bronze Skies you'll like this one

[PresPetunia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not much of a "who donnit" person, but Catherine Asaro drew me in early with the famous matriarchal lines and the mesh. The Vanished Seas did not disappoint. She does not disappoint because it is always more about "how" than "who" and she has built strong and interesting worlds with interesting and NORMAL, yet different inhabitants for me as the story unfolds. And, it is a story, not just a sci-fi or detective story.

[Samuel Lubell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the third book in the Major Bhaajan subseries within her larger Skolian empire series. It is nice to see a different side of the empire from the author's usual focus on the telepathic rulers (although they still enter into the plot).

My full review is at http://www.sfrevu.com/php/Review-id.p...

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

This the one where some idiots boot up ancient, fatally unpredictable alien tech, and it’s another first rate whodunit with equally terrific world building. I’ll admit that I got no further than about a half page into her tutorial on mathematical spaces and related topics at the end...but, happily, understanding all that wasn’t necessary to enjoy the story.

[Tbfrank · Rating 4 out of 5]

While the author's novels are always grounded in scientific principles, this series has moved away from the romance novel elements so apparent in the Skolian novels. Major Bhaajan is a fully realized character with emotions, intelligence, grit, honor, and principles which drive her actions throughout these stories. I eagerly await the next installment.

[Gregory Fergerson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven't read the first two books in the series, but it was an interesting read with badass female protagonist, betrayals, revelations, misdirection, outrageous characters, and social clashes between Cries and Undercity residents.

[Pamela Cutland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing series!!

I snarffled this series down! A most wonderful universe. The main character is so fun, strong and righteous. Money well spent. I hope there are more novels coming in this series with Bhaaj. Endlessly entertaining. Highly recommended!

[Tressa · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Vanished Seas was another enjoyable installment in this series. There is continued depth and development for Major Bhajan, Jak, the Majdas, Max, and the people and culture of Raylicon. It was fascinating and interesting.

[Alayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another excellent sci-fi novel in the Major Bhaajan series, with a mystery which I couldn't solve all the way through! I took off a star for poor proofreading, with the wrong word at times, words left in or out, and too much amount repetition.

[Evelyn Weidig · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the bits of information about the characters that grows with each sequel!

[Susie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this 3rd installation of the Series.

[Clarence · Rating 5 out of 5]

Baj is always fun.

[Dena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Catherine Asaro enthralled me with this latest installment in the Major Bhaajan series. I eagerly await the next book.

[Peter Grimbeek · Rating 3 out of 5]

You just know the female investigator is going to survive various super-villains, she being something of a superhero herself.

[Nicole Luiken · Rating 4 out of 5]

Latest in the Major Bhaajan series. An interesting mystery and the City of Cries setting continues to unfold and intrigue. Good pacing.