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angelic712's review against another edition
3.0
It seemed to move a little slow compared to the other books without a feeling of the main characters having accomplished or learned anything by the end of the book which left me a bit disappointed.
sl0w_reader's review against another edition
3.0
Crash, bang, wallop. In space. Big ships and narrow escapes. I need a gridlink to Neil Asher's mind to have any chance of remembering the details of who all the characters and motivations are. But the ride was fun, if confusing and inconclusive. Leading man, Agent Ian Cormac, needs a life. But maybe he's not human after all....
zare_i's review against another edition
5.0
Now this was truly a tour de force. Again this is one of those series that I have started reading from the middle but, momentary confusion aside, story flows without any obstacles in this action packed book and reader can connect the majority of dots.
Polity, future human civilization ruled by benevolent AIs (think of it as a variation on Banks' Culture, another great SF series) is under serious threat by mysterious alien technology that seems to be bestowed on specific personas in the universe by unknown forces, people placed at the very breaking points of Polity civilization. We witness huge armada and scientific effort from the Polity fighting this outbreak, trying to put it under control using almost everything at its disposal.
This is time of advanced humans, cyber implants and in some cases almost entire body replacements, high level of connection between people through grid-link system, AIs controlling small drones but also gargantuan spaceships fighting the alien menace, huge alien sentient machines, planets grind down by powerful weapons to the the very core. Same as with the people these AIs have very different characters, from analytical and cold to action prone, let-me-shoot-pleeeeeasseee combat drones fighting on the ground. It is interesting how AIs actually take themselves to be much more human at this point in time than humans themselves.
This is truly an epic story in which enemy is very smart, its technology so advanced that it borders with magic and in conflicts like these people (and AI) die, they fight bravely but unfortunately when fighting against this type of odds it is very hard to remain alive for long. Book ends with quite a cliffhanger and I cannot wait to see how story develops in the next book in series.
Main characters (both protagonists and antagonists) are given very well (do note that it is not standalone book but part of the series so knowledge of previous events helps - a lot), their doubts and attempts to finally overcome (or come back to) what you might call "base humanity".
Excellent book, In my mind events from Richard K Morgan novels come first, then Asher novels continue to track the humanity's adventures culminating in Banks' Culture civilization, followed by breakdown portrayed in Puzzler series and finalizing in the Horus Heresy series of books (and any book set in pre-Imperial era).
Highly recommended to all fans of hard action-oriented SF (yup, rejoice this genre actually exists :))
Polity, future human civilization ruled by benevolent AIs (think of it as a variation on Banks' Culture, another great SF series) is under serious threat by mysterious alien technology that seems to be bestowed on specific personas in the universe by unknown forces, people placed at the very breaking points of Polity civilization. We witness huge armada and scientific effort from the Polity fighting this outbreak, trying to put it under control using almost everything at its disposal.
This is time of advanced humans, cyber implants and in some cases almost entire body replacements, high level of connection between people through grid-link system, AIs controlling small drones but also gargantuan spaceships fighting the alien menace, huge alien sentient machines, planets grind down by powerful weapons to the the very core. Same as with the people these AIs have very different characters, from analytical and cold to action prone, let-me-shoot-pleeeeeasseee combat drones fighting on the ground. It is interesting how AIs actually take themselves to be much more human at this point in time than humans themselves.
This is truly an epic story in which enemy is very smart, its technology so advanced that it borders with magic and in conflicts like these people (and AI) die, they fight bravely but unfortunately when fighting against this type of odds it is very hard to remain alive for long. Book ends with quite a cliffhanger and I cannot wait to see how story develops in the next book in series.
Main characters (both protagonists and antagonists) are given very well (do note that it is not standalone book but part of the series so knowledge of previous events helps - a lot), their doubts and attempts to finally overcome (or come back to) what you might call "base humanity".
Excellent book, In my mind events from Richard K Morgan novels come first, then Asher novels continue to track the humanity's adventures culminating in Banks' Culture civilization, followed by breakdown portrayed in Puzzler series and finalizing in the Horus Heresy series of books (and any book set in pre-Imperial era).
Highly recommended to all fans of hard action-oriented SF (yup, rejoice this genre actually exists :))
wiseard's review
4.0
Solid improvement of the series and now I'm looking forward to the next one.
One minus is that the backstory for everything doesn't need to be explained. Sometimes less is more because it allows your imagination to fill in the gaps.
One minus is that the backstory for everything doesn't need to be explained. Sometimes less is more because it allows your imagination to fill in the gaps.
gmerrall's review
adventurous
challenging
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
tarsel's review against another edition
5.0
Asher details all his sci-fi moves in a way such that they seem utterly plausible and add great depth to the story. Compelling and great fun.
joosty's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
imitira's review
5.0
Boss level! This series begs comparison to Banks, but I've already made one, so... book by book the scale is shifting towards the epic interstellar space opera end of the continuum, developing further near-omnipotent AI characters whilst wrapping up the merely human - usually by death. I'm starting to find some of the longer-running plot arc developments perplexing, with a feeling that some of the reveals are really retcons. Still a rollicking good read, though.
eisn's review
4.0
Solid improvement of the series and now I'm looking forward to the next one.
One minus is that the backstory for everything doesn't need to be explained. Sometimes less is more because it allows your imagination to fill in the gaps.
One minus is that the backstory for everything doesn't need to be explained. Sometimes less is more because it allows your imagination to fill in the gaps.