Ascendant Sun is the direct sequel to The Last Hawk, in which Kelric, heir to the Skolian Empire, crash landed his fighter on the Restricted planet of Coba and was imprisoned by the powerful mistresses of the great estates. After eighteen years of living in their gilded cage, Kelric finally made his escape.

Kelric returns to Skolian space, only to find the Empire in control of the Allied forces of Earth, thanks to the upheaval of the Radiance War. With little more than the clothes on his back and with his family imprisoned by the Allieds, Kelric is forced to take work on a merchant vessel. But when that vessel enters Euban space, Kelric finds his worst nightmare realized: he is auctioned as a slave "provider" to the cruel Aristos, who subject slaves to torture and sex as the ultimate aphrodesiac.