Series:Alien Chronicles

Bibliographic comments on the Alien Chronicles series by.

Series

 * 1) The Golden One (1998) by
 * 2) The Crimson Claw (1998) by
 * 3) The Crystal Eye (1999) by

Printing Notes
To date Ace Books is the only print publisher for this series though The Golden One was also distributed via Boulevard with a new ISBN (done by applying bar code stickers over the Ace bar codes).

It seems there was an announced printing of the series by Turtleback Books, Distributed by Demco Media. It's believed these were an abridged hardcover editions and that they were never released.


 * 1) The Golden One, April 1999 with ISBN 0606158685 / 0-606-15868-5. One site reports this as $14.53 Cover image.
 * 2) The Crimson Claw, April 1999 with ISBN 0606159371 / 0-606-15937-1. One site reports this as $13.41. Cover image.
 * 3) The Crystal Eye, October 1999 with ISBN 0606162763 / 0-606-16276-3. One site reports this as $14.53. Cover image.

Cover Art
The cover artist is not credited nor is a signature visible on any of the three volumes. Many sites credit who confirmed via e-mail (July-2007) that this is his painting and that  (who is also not credited in the publications) did the paintings of the aliens on the back covers.

All three books in the Alien Chronicles series have the same painting though on the front cover the view is panned/stepped a little from, left to right from book to book in the series. It was a large painting and the front cover version reduces this to 2x4 inches meaning it's hard to see the details.

Just inside the front cover is a large panel with volume 1 containing the left-most part of the painting with the building, volume 2 containing the middle of the painting with the waterfall, and it’s assumed volume 3 contains the right hand third of the painting and shows beings coming in from the left carrying torches. My copy of volume 3 was re-bound into a hardcover by the public library. I tried to separate the panel from the front cover and it’s solidly glued meaning I can’t confirm that volume 3’s panel contains the right hand third of the painting.

Summary
Per the author's web site the series was developed by Lucasfilm. Originally there were to be more than three books. For example, the back cover of The Crimson Claw states "Alien Chronicles is a saga that spans generations of a master reptilian race and the slave race it rules." However, the first three books only cover two generations.

All of the characters in this series are alien and there is no mention of any human like beings nor Earth. In summary, the series covers the life of an Aaroun named Ampris from her birth at the beginning of vol. 1 to death at the end of vol 3.


 * Volume 1, The Golden One, covers Ampris' birth, her becoming a pet for and then close friends with Israi, the daughter of the Viis emperor, her getting kicked out of the emeror's household and first sold to another Viis household as a housekeeper and sold again to a gladiator school.
 * Volume 2, The Crimson Claw, covers Ampris' growth into a champion gladiator, getting sold the the Vaas Vess laboratory for experimentation, and at the end she escapes from the laboratory.
 * At the start of Volume 3, The Crystal Eye, Ampris has been on the run in wild for years and her group is near starvation. Ampris ends up going back to the imperial city Vir to make contact with the Mayal in an effort to gain knowledge in how to preserve food. She ends up reigniting the freedom movement of her gladiator days.

As mentioned earlier, there are no humans in this series. The alien races include:
 * The Viis who are reptiles that run a galaxy spanning empire and enslave other races. At the time of the book series the Viis race is in decline because of a shortage of resources, a genetic illness that lowers the birth rate, and that they had become complacent to the point that they rely on their slaves for everything including operation of their space ships and "jump gates." Sahmrahd Kaa is the main Viis character in vol. 1 and is the emperor. His daughter Israi later takes over as both empress and is the main Viis character in  vol. 3.
 * Abiru is a Viis term that means "slave race" and generally means any race other than the Viis. All of the races listed below are abiru.
 * The Aaroun seem to be like very intelligent dogs that walk upright, talk, use tools, etc. The main story character, Ampris, is an Aaroun.
 * The Kelth seem to be of a slightly lower social strata than the Aaroun but are otherwise similar. Ampris' friend Elrabin is a Kelth and also one of the key characters throughout the series.
 * The Mayal remind me of Yoda from Star wars in that they are short and are known for their intellect.
 * The Zhreli have extraordinary minds and run spaceships and star gates. They play important roles in vol. 2 and 3.
 * The Gorlicans run shops and other light industry and appear as background characters throughout the series.
 * The Thoths are thugs used by the Viis to enforce control of the other races.
 * The Phiveans are cephalopods. Only one Phivean appears in the series, in The Crimson Claw on pages 62-71 as a masseur that's able to provide the inside scoop on many details and one other Phivean is mentioned later in same book.
 * The Samparese are fighters used in gladiator combat. They only appear in The Crimson Claw and even then are never major characters.
 * The Skek come up in all three volumes and play an important role in vol. 3. They are classified as a minor race as the Skek seem to be like large rats and loathed by all of the other races.