#19 – The Final Key: Part two of Triad by Catherine Asaro

339, Science Fiction

After I read Schism (see post #18), I just had to read the final book in the duology. I am still not sure why this was a duology rather than a single book - too long, perhaps? There were quite a few loose ends to be tied up in Schism – what would happen to Althor? Would Shannon go home or not? Was Soz going to finish military school? What the heck was going on with Eldri? Who would Kurj pick as his heir? These and many other questions were abuzz in my mind when I started The Final Key. I’m not exactly sure what I was expecting – it literally began with the last chapter of Schism. Any answers to my questions were not exactly forthcoming.

Even though I had all these burning questions in my mind, it was much more difficult for me to get into The Final Key than it was for me to get into Schism. Perhaps it was because I wanted my questions answered that I initially wasn’t really so interested in the main focus of the story – The Dyad. It could also have been that this was one of the science-y parts of this science fiction novel. In Asaro’s universe, space travel is possible because highly gifted empaths have some degree of control over where they are going. If they are good enough at military school, the chosen empaths are equipped with nano technology that makes them a sort of cyborg. Well, a mechanically assisted being at any rate. They can communicate with their ‘node’, and their node, in turn, can communicate with their space ships, etc to allow space travel.

The most gifted of empaths, the Ruby Pharaoh (Soz’s aunt) and the military leader, Kurj (Soz’s half brother) use special chairs called Dyad chairs to impose their consciousness into the web of space. While using the Dyad chairs, they can sense everything that is going on – Kurj can direct the military while the Ruby Pharaoh can manage communication and other travel through space. As the Skolian society grows, Kurj and the Ruby Pharaoh are increasingly taxed as they are called upon to hold the fraying threads of the net of space together.

As the Cold War style standoff with the Traders finally becomes open war, events are set in motion that forever change the structure of the Dyad into a Triad – with, it appears from the Final Key, alternates who can help lift the burden off of Kurj and the Ruby Pharaoh. I was gratified that my questions were answered, and there were resolutions to the serious issues left open-ended at the end of Schism. Additionally, the introduction of the Triad has certainly piqued my interest in the series as a whole. While I didn’t enjoy The Final Key as much as Schism, it was still satisfying to read. I would give this one a 3.5 out of 5.