Context
In one sense, Spherical Harmonic is a space adventure about the recovery of a civilization from a war that had no winner. On another level, it is about the emotional toll that war exacts on those who survive it, a theme Asaro often explores in the Saga of the Skolian Empire, as exemplified by the subplot in Spherical Harmonic involving the attempts of Selei and her husband to come to terms with his shattering experiences during the war. Both acclaimed and criticized for the complexity of her plotting, world building, and character development, Asaro focuses as much on the human condition as the adventure aspects of the story.
Asaro is also known for the use of mathematics in her novels. Spherical Harmonic involves an imagined universe based on the Hilbert space described by the angular wave functions that solve the Laplace Equation. The spherical harmonics are an orthonormal set of eigenfunctions used in many areas of math and physics, including quantum mechanics and electromagnetics. A theoretical physicist by training, Asaro uses the concepts of the Hilbert space described by the harmonics to create the universe called Kyle Space. By directly applying the rules that define Hilbert spaces, the author invents a universe where "location" is based on mathematical functions rather than position and time. As described in an essay at the end of the book, the properties of that universe and the abstract forms of human interaction there are fictional extrapolations of the mathematical theory.
The novel Spherical Harmonic overlaps with Ascendant Sun which tells the events after the Radiance War from the point of view of new Skolian Imperator Kelric. It also overlaps with the book The Moon's Shadow which centers on Eubian Emperor Jaibriol III and his efforts to initiate peace talks with Skolians after the war.
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