The Last Hawk: The Skolian Empire Book 3 by Catherine Asaro

This third novel in the Sage of the Skolian Empire focuses on Kelric-Soz's brother who goes missing-presumed dead-in Primary Inversion and begins about the same time as well. Kelric's Jag fighter ship is damaged during combat forcing him to crash-land on an off-limits planet-Coba. Coba is a rustic civilization-similar to the 1800's america-ruled entirely by women. Coba is a Skolian world but through subterfuge has managed to retain an off-limits status to protect the inhabitants from becoming pawns in the Skolian Empire at large. Coba has a somewhat simple government. The planet is divided into 12 houses, each house is ruled by a "manager" who picks her successor from the girls within her house. Kelric is rescued from the wreck of his plane and nursed back to health by the Cobans-once he begins to recover he realizes that he is in fact being detained indefinetely on Coba. The Cobans will lose their off-limits status if Kelric is able to tell his family or the Skolian Empire what Coba is really like. Men are a protected class on Coba-much like women have been historically in this country. The Houses of Coba once warred incessantly, but it was destroying them, now they all play Quis. Quis is much more than a game-it is politics, enterntainment and news on Coba-to be profficient at it is to be important on Coba-even for a man. Kelric is passed from woman to woman and though his cybernetically enhanced body and brain are not understood by the less advanced Cobans he is valued and appreciated for both his physical beauty and his skill with Quis. Kelric is a complex and easily likeable character. He more than wants to leave Coba-he needs to leave Coba. The food, water and even the air are damaging his cybernetic and physical systems-slowly poisoning him. It is causing him to be ill, malfunction, sleep all of the time and age. Yet, as he comes to live on Coba for 20 years- father 2 children there and become a concubine in many different Houses on Coba-he also comes to love Cobans and their culture and also does not want to see them destroyed upon exposure to the Skolian Empire. Ultimately Kelric escapes-as we know he must. Yet, his leaving is bittersweet for the reader as well as Kelric.
This book was excellent. The culture, the world-building, the characters, very well done. This could easily have been a femi-nazi slanted book, with men relagated to the roles history has often assigned to women-property, coveted, abused, passed along and married off with no say so-losing value due to casual sexual encounters-yet causing wars to be possessed. Asaro handles this story delitcately and never allows to assume a femi-nazi tone.
~~~~Where ever you go, There you are!