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superted's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
ianmitchell's review
3.0
Asher has lots of great ideas. This novel is set in his "Polity" universe, which makes me think of an early version of Iain M. Banks' Culture going through growing pains. He has highly imaginative worlds and the plot of the story is reasonably interesting. The reason I can only give this 3 stars though is I found myself just not caring. The characters weren't particularly interesting or well-developed, and while there was nothing particularly wrong with the writing it didn't pull me in to the novel either.
sl0w_reader's review
4.0
Aliens, technology, vast space ships, warfare and politics - this belongs in the guilty pleasure category for me. This is my second Asher novel I think - and while I enjoy the pacy action, multiple plot lines, impossibly cool gadgets and mind-bending extraterrestrial phenomena, it isn't quite up to Iain Banks' genius. In particular, the cast of thousands becomes very difficult to keep track of, and the technologies and concepts are sometimes introduced with little explanation or reminder. And I suppose I'm also starting to want a little more development and depth of character from Asher's hero, Agent Cormac - perhaps that comes in later books in the series. All minor complaints, but they add up to minus one star.
cdeane61's review against another edition
5.0
Can't go on enough about Neal Asher's books. The never cease to amaze, the story is always great, and always seems to be coherent whether you're new to the series, or have just happened in to the middle.
Been a while since i read the first two agent Cormac novels (Gridlinked in 2005 and Brass Man in 2007) but the universe feels familiar, and Cormac an old buddy.
Cant wait to bite into the next one.
Been a while since i read the first two agent Cormac novels (Gridlinked in 2005 and Brass Man in 2007) but the universe feels familiar, and Cormac an old buddy.
Cant wait to bite into the next one.
kodermike's review
4.0
There is a certain ineffable quality to Neal Asher's books. They are first and formost high tech, far future adventure stories. The rare scenes of an idyllic worldscape are usually shattered in moments by explosions, nanomanipulating alien technology, or the occasional AI trying to make the world a safer place. Line of Polity carries that burden well. Following shortly after the events of Gridlinked, Line of Polity continues to follow Ian Cormac, along with a small cast of characters working with and against him. Outlink station Miranda has been destroyed in a way that hints at Dragon, and if anyone is going to go after something related to the moonsized alien, it's Ian Cormac. Asher writes an action packed story well, and this book is no exception. There is a point about 3/4 of the way through that the action began to feel repetitive, but the last 1/4 of the book elevates the crescendo - and the stakes - bringing the book to a most satisfactory conclusion (read: couldn't put the book down for the last 100 pages, really dissapointed it was over).
Beware the gabbleduck, friends.
Beware the gabbleduck, friends.
dainean's review
3.0
3.5 An amusing romp, felt like watching a decent summer action flick that had more of a focus on action and special effects, then trying to instil any message or meaning. Amusing and entertaining, but fairly forgettable afterwards. Heck, I had to double check if this was the book I read
wiseard's review
3.0
A marked improvement over the first book in the series. But still plagued by the same problems. Asher really doesn't like to solve things in a proper manner it seems.
I also disliked Skellor, maybe because I recently read Malazan and every time I read his name all I could think was Kallor. It didn't help that the beasts he was experimenting on had similar names to Kallor either. That aside it was a bit of a cardboard villain, nothing really developed.
We did get some character improvements in this book at least. But the 14 year old who becomes Rambo leaves a sour taste in my mouth.
All in all not enough to change the rating yet.
I also disliked Skellor, maybe because I recently read Malazan and every time I read his name all I could think was Kallor. It didn't help that the beasts he was experimenting on had similar names to Kallor either. That aside it was a bit of a cardboard villain, nothing really developed.
We did get some character improvements in this book at least. But the 14 year old who becomes Rambo leaves a sour taste in my mouth.
All in all not enough to change the rating yet.
namulith's review
3.0
The Cormac story continues and improves. The stakes certainly are higher and I wonder where we'll go from here. Moving on to the Brass Man, which promises the return of an annoying villain.