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3.51 AVERAGE
3.51 AVERAGE
Damn.
This was a good book, however there was something that ruined it for me. I'll list that at the bottom of this review so you can skip it if you haven't read the book yourself or are not familiar with Neal Asher.
Ok, so last year I tried to read one of Asher's other books, The Skinner. There was something about the simplistic writing style that bothered me. I guess it felt amateurish. Since then I found out that Asher has in fact improved a lot so I decided to give him another shot, after all everyone kept mentioning the guy in the same light as Reynolds, Stross and Banks - authors that I admire greatly.
I started reading Cowl and I just couldn't believe it - it was everything I wanted from a book. Futuristic battles, time travel, argumentation, beings so intelligent it makes your own brain hurt just thinking about it, plenty of action and enough clever stuff to make you wonder what's going to happen next. The book got better and better until the end and my only real criticism is that at times it was a little tricky to know what was going on. The book is essentially a time travel story, but set in a sci-fi universe kind of reminiscent to that of the one created by John Scalzi in Old Man's war. There is a strong military theme but it's not too heavy.
Anyway, I was reading the book amazed that I had turned my nose up at such a great author for so long. I decided it deserved an easy 4/5 losing a point because of the occasional lack of clarity and confusion. But then something happened!
SPOILER ALERT!! Do not read past this if you have not read anything by Asher or intend to read plenty more of him!
When I find an author I like, I tend to research them. I found out Reynolds was an astronomer, Stross a pharmacist and computer programmer and Orson Scott Card was a Mormon. A Mormon I can just about put up with - like I suspect with most other sci-fi fans, I am not a religious person but I managed to tolerate the man's lack of logic in his own personal life. I did occasionally get little hints of his religious philosophy poking it's head into his books but I could just about put up with them since on the whole Mormons are a peaceful people. What I didn't like to find out about Asher though is that he is politically very right wing and more than happy to share his views. On his site he has links to the UKIP party, kind of a watered down version of the BNP - Britain's shameful racist party. The UKIP party wants stronger immigration laws, us to leave the EU and basically keep away from foreigners unless we rule them. Many conservative people look at the UKIP party as too extreme, and as a liberal minded person I find that unacceptable. On his blog he goes on and on about it - these pages have been removed presumably at the request of his publishers now but you can still see some of the posts on googles cache. This guy explains it better than me.
Anyway, the book is still a great book and I'm still giving it a 4/5 stars. I just won't be able to read any more books by him knowing what I do now. It's sad really, I know. Try to imagine your favourite book, and then you find out that the person who wrote it was actually Adolf Hitler acting as a ghost writer, this is kind of how I feel. Maybe I should be bigger and better than this, but when I read a book it is like a personal, intellectual connection is made and considering I am unable to tolerate having a pint with a racist, why should I read one of their books? Ah well. Back to my old favourites. :(
This was a good book, however there was something that ruined it for me. I'll list that at the bottom of this review so you can skip it if you haven't read the book yourself or are not familiar with Neal Asher.
Ok, so last year I tried to read one of Asher's other books, The Skinner. There was something about the simplistic writing style that bothered me. I guess it felt amateurish. Since then I found out that Asher has in fact improved a lot so I decided to give him another shot, after all everyone kept mentioning the guy in the same light as Reynolds, Stross and Banks - authors that I admire greatly.
I started reading Cowl and I just couldn't believe it - it was everything I wanted from a book. Futuristic battles, time travel, argumentation, beings so intelligent it makes your own brain hurt just thinking about it, plenty of action and enough clever stuff to make you wonder what's going to happen next. The book got better and better until the end and my only real criticism is that at times it was a little tricky to know what was going on. The book is essentially a time travel story, but set in a sci-fi universe kind of reminiscent to that of the one created by John Scalzi in Old Man's war. There is a strong military theme but it's not too heavy.
Anyway, I was reading the book amazed that I had turned my nose up at such a great author for so long. I decided it deserved an easy 4/5 losing a point because of the occasional lack of clarity and confusion. But then something happened!
SPOILER ALERT!! Do not read past this if you have not read anything by Asher or intend to read plenty more of him!
When I find an author I like, I tend to research them. I found out Reynolds was an astronomer, Stross a pharmacist and computer programmer and Orson Scott Card was a Mormon. A Mormon I can just about put up with - like I suspect with most other sci-fi fans, I am not a religious person but I managed to tolerate the man's lack of logic in his own personal life. I did occasionally get little hints of his religious philosophy poking it's head into his books but I could just about put up with them since on the whole Mormons are a peaceful people. What I didn't like to find out about Asher though is that he is politically very right wing and more than happy to share his views. On his site he has links to the UKIP party, kind of a watered down version of the BNP - Britain's shameful racist party. The UKIP party wants stronger immigration laws, us to leave the EU and basically keep away from foreigners unless we rule them. Many conservative people look at the UKIP party as too extreme, and as a liberal minded person I find that unacceptable. On his blog he goes on and on about it - these pages have been removed presumably at the request of his publishers now but you can still see some of the posts on googles cache. This guy explains it better than me.
Anyway, the book is still a great book and I'm still giving it a 4/5 stars. I just won't be able to read any more books by him knowing what I do now. It's sad really, I know. Try to imagine your favourite book, and then you find out that the person who wrote it was actually Adolf Hitler acting as a ghost writer, this is kind of how I feel. Maybe I should be bigger and better than this, but when I read a book it is like a personal, intellectual connection is made and considering I am unable to tolerate having a pint with a racist, why should I read one of their books? Ah well. Back to my old favourites. :(
Cowl is a very unique novel by [a:Neal Asher|56353|Neal Asher|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1207862001p2/56353.jpg]. It's thrilling and chilling, a travel mostly back in time through dangerous epochs where nobody would like to live. It's not related to Asher's other series.
What starts as something inevitable slowly turns into a nightmare. The last chapters feature again the action-packed fighting scenes, which are the trademark of the author and which I don't enjoy so much, but nevertheless this was one of the best books I read in 2005.
What starts as something inevitable slowly turns into a nightmare. The last chapters feature again the action-packed fighting scenes, which are the trademark of the author and which I don't enjoy so much, but nevertheless this was one of the best books I read in 2005.
I usually am kind of wary of timey wimey stuff, because time travel is a bitch and can absolutely mess up the coolest story, but this is, as usual, nicely done. The book is super fun, the characters (especially the baddies) interesting and I overall had quite a good time - but that's the usual with Asher, right ?
This book is really mind-bending. It deals heavily with alternate timelines and temporal anomalies, but does so as clearly as possible.
The main character's journey back through time engrossed me from the beginning, and the distinctively alien turn it takes at the end was interesting as well. The final fight scene probably encompasses one of the coolest ideas I have seen in writing, and the book is worth reading just for that.
The main character's journey back through time engrossed me from the beginning, and the distinctively alien turn it takes at the end was interesting as well. The final fight scene probably encompasses one of the coolest ideas I have seen in writing, and the book is worth reading just for that.
Whatever incredible vision Neal had in his head when he wrote this, I can only guess at. I'm afraid there was a failure to communicate for me. Already rapidly forgetting what little did register. A bit of a struggle to get through all of the bibble-bobble SF, in the company of muted characters I didn't really care about, culminating in a very unsatisfying ending. Neal Asher is a much better storyteller than this book reveals. Better luck with the next.
The concept behind this book was really unique and involves time travel and human mutation. As a hard Sci-Fi book it was really solid. My only complaint was that Asher uses the word nightmare excessively. The book is overflowing with the phrase, "...she looked up and gazed into the nightmare" or subtle variations on that theme. It happened often enough to annoy be by about 1/3 of the way through the book, but not enough to ruin the book overall. Just seemed like lazy writing/poor editing.
I’m afraid this was a struggle, read for book club and while I enjoy the premise and idea of this I think (for me) it ultimately failed to live up to its promise. To be honest I was confused by the ending and not actually sure who was good and who was bad by the end of it.
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is a hard sci-fi time travel narrative. A bit confusing at times, but an interesting story with multiple shifts in point of view, so maintains interest. Would have been 4 stars if there had been 100 fewer pages.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence
Cowl was gripping from beginning to end. Just when I thought I had a handle on what was coming, the story twisted away in a different direction. I recommend it if you're looking for a fast, fun, intense read.