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3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
What an intriguing way to find out the origin story for Ian Cormac. I very much enjoy the Polity Universe.
adventurous
dark
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This book reads very much like the prequel it is. There are many flashbacks into childhood and it reads very much as a character creation story. While I didn't think it was the best book I've ever read for these purposes, it did serve to intrigue me and I look forward to starting the main series for Cormac.
adventurous
dark
tense
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Overall a good story in Asher's Polity universe. However, the backstory on Ian Cormac has too many "miraculous man!" sequences that kept jarring me out of the story. And by the end of the book the rationale for the reasons Cormac reacts in certain ways were letting him evade responsibility for his not great responses in some situations.
This novel is less about the Prador/human war and more about the events that made Ian Cormac who he is in the later novels.
The novel highlights the Prador social hierarchy, and the use of mind control to create slaves both among Prador children and also among human prisoners.
Asher uses that to compare with the practice among humans of editing out memories, both to create more willing warriors and also unwillingly on children to hide unpleasant truths.
This definitely is a more complex novel than one would suspect at the beginning.
Spoiler
The novel highlights the Prador social hierarchy, and the use of mind control to create slaves both among Prador children and also among human prisoners.
Asher uses that to compare with the practice among humans of editing out memories, both to create more willing warriors and also unwillingly on children to hide unpleasant truths.
This definitely is a more complex novel than one would suspect at the beginning.
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
I jumped from Prador Moon to Shadow of the Scorpion, still unsure if I'm fully bought into the Polity Universe enough to read another 10+ novels. This introduction to Agent Cormac is... fine. At its heart is an espionage thriller that happens to be set in the future. Unlike Prador Moon, the galactic scale conflict is at an end and has been replaced with something like Jack Ryan... in space!
Improving on the first book, there is a tight focus on Cormac that introduces the Polity and its ESC organs at a steady pace. There are a number of technologies that Neal Asher builds into the foundation of the Polity which are slowly explained, and knowing these things allows us to keep up with the thriller when the science-fiction elements are critical to the plot. To be perfectly honest, this is a better introduction to the Polity Universe than the previous novel.
However, I've read a lot of thrillers and this is thoroughly in the mediocre camp. There is no sense of mystery and the stakes are never well-expressed (or grounded in things you care about). Cormac is a bore and aside from being excellent at his job, doesn't really stand out from generic soldier-guy. I would suggest the Murderbot Diaries as an example of how personality can really elevate a novel, or refer you to something like Jack Ryan for the thriller-side.
In summary - it's fine. But there's better out there.
That leads to the abrupt ending, which really soured the novel. A good wrap up can do wonders - allowing us to see the devious Polity AIs, the human cost in Cormac (or Golems!), or build suspense in terms of new Separatist plots. Instead, Cormac and Sadist kill Carl and so ends the novel.
Blah.
Improving on the first book, there is a tight focus on Cormac that introduces the Polity and its ESC organs at a steady pace. There are a number of technologies that Neal Asher builds into the foundation of the Polity which are slowly explained, and knowing these things allows us to keep up with the thriller when the science-fiction elements are critical to the plot. To be perfectly honest, this is a better introduction to the Polity Universe than the previous novel.
However, I've read a lot of thrillers and this is thoroughly in the mediocre camp. There is no sense of mystery and the stakes are never well-expressed (or grounded in things you care about). Cormac is a bore and aside from being excellent at his job, doesn't really stand out from generic soldier-guy. I would suggest the Murderbot Diaries as an example of how personality can really elevate a novel, or refer you to something like Jack Ryan for the thriller-side.
In summary - it's fine. But there's better out there.
Spoiler
Within spoiler tags... I was entirely unimpressed with the Scorpion subplot, which ate up a lot of the page count and had no plot impact. It gave us the opportunity to explore excision of memory, which was philosophically interesting when dovetailed with Golems and the declaration that mechanical vs biological sentience was equivalent. But the final reveal was underwhelming: the method of his father's death was irrelevant, the War Drone did not magically team up with Cormac to defeat Carl, and the added backstory wasn't explored because there was no victory lap after Cormac dealt with the antagonist.That leads to the abrupt ending, which really soured the novel. A good wrap up can do wonders - allowing us to see the devious Polity AIs, the human cost in Cormac (or Golems!), or build suspense in terms of new Separatist plots. Instead, Cormac and Sadist kill Carl and so ends the novel.
Blah.
Well-paced for the most part, but a little lacking in flow in the middle section. Felt too much like it was just setting up the character, and not like the story was actually important.
Neal Asher is rapidly becoming one of my favourite authors after reading The Gabble and Other Stories, then Prador Moon and now Shadow of the Scorpion
All are set in some way in the Polity Universe where humans have crossed the universe with computerised help. The Polity is run by Artificial Intelligence. Not one but several varieties all with different functions. You might have thought would be cold and calculating and in some ways they are, especially in Prador Moon but they also instil the avatars they use like the Golems and weapons like the scorpion-like war drone with a wide variety of human emotions.
In Prador Moon we see the first contact between the Polity and Prador and it does not go well. It causes a war on an almost incompressible scale. A war that is still going in the flash-backed childhood of Ian Cormac and its aftermath is explored the present of the story. Cormac is haunted by his childhood memories as the story switches.
In the present we see Cormac going from being an ordinary solider (an Earth Central Security regular) to an ECS Agent through a series of events that pushes him into the sights of superiors. Though its unclear if it’s a case of being the right person at the right time or if the A.I saw something more in him from the start and this was just the push he needed.
Even though there is a war that is killing millions and threatens to turn humanity into nothing more than a food source for the Prador there are still those that see it as an opportunity to break away from the Polity even if it means weakening our defences and destroying us.
This sets Cormac up against someone he knows and gets involved in the terrorist plot of the break up the Polity. At the same time he’s dealing with events of childhood that has him chasing the shadow of a scorpion.
Asher captures in complexity of humanity like asking would you if you could delete your bad memories so you don’t have to deal with them? And what happens when these begin to surface?
Cormac turns out to be an exceptional hero. He has a capacity for extreme violence, he slips into the role of quasi-agent and he has a hero’s journey.
Shadow of the Scorpion explores the foundations of Agent Cormac and as such is a great starting point for those new to the Agent Cormac Series or Neal Asher in general. But not that I have a feeling for long-term fans that there are going to be more than one ah-ha moments.
All are set in some way in the Polity Universe where humans have crossed the universe with computerised help. The Polity is run by Artificial Intelligence. Not one but several varieties all with different functions. You might have thought would be cold and calculating and in some ways they are, especially in Prador Moon but they also instil the avatars they use like the Golems and weapons like the scorpion-like war drone with a wide variety of human emotions.
In Prador Moon we see the first contact between the Polity and Prador and it does not go well. It causes a war on an almost incompressible scale. A war that is still going in the flash-backed childhood of Ian Cormac and its aftermath is explored the present of the story. Cormac is haunted by his childhood memories as the story switches.
In the present we see Cormac going from being an ordinary solider (an Earth Central Security regular) to an ECS Agent through a series of events that pushes him into the sights of superiors. Though its unclear if it’s a case of being the right person at the right time or if the A.I saw something more in him from the start and this was just the push he needed.
Even though there is a war that is killing millions and threatens to turn humanity into nothing more than a food source for the Prador there are still those that see it as an opportunity to break away from the Polity even if it means weakening our defences and destroying us.
This sets Cormac up against someone he knows and gets involved in the terrorist plot of the break up the Polity. At the same time he’s dealing with events of childhood that has him chasing the shadow of a scorpion.
Asher captures in complexity of humanity like asking would you if you could delete your bad memories so you don’t have to deal with them? And what happens when these begin to surface?
Cormac turns out to be an exceptional hero. He has a capacity for extreme violence, he slips into the role of quasi-agent and he has a hero’s journey.
Shadow of the Scorpion explores the foundations of Agent Cormac and as such is a great starting point for those new to the Agent Cormac Series or Neal Asher in general. But not that I have a feeling for long-term fans that there are going to be more than one ah-ha moments.