heading towards a new age?

love Asher. started with The Skinner, and I was hooked. loved this one too, but scary as thinking about near future.

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Flawed but interesting

Not sure if it was the writing or the narrator that lent most of the female characters such a pathetic status in this book, maybe it was a bit of both. But I must ask the narrator alone why almost every male character was in need of a throat lozenge or two, and why the main antagonist had to sound so ridiculous. Having said that, the story hooked me enough to purchase part 2, and I'm hoping both these complaints feature less.

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Super scary near future history storyline...

Given the state of the world and its descent into right wing populism where the people are actually voting for politicians that continuously do them harm, this trilogy is quite remarkable.

Although the following is a Second World War poem, and the book is about Socialist dictators, this might be very relevant

First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist

Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist

Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist

Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew

Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me

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Action packed, but little else

I’m a fan of Neal Asher’s other works, but this one was too heavy on the action and too light on character and story for my taste. Some fantastic story ideas that were only lightly touched on, but loads of graphic descriptions of violence.

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Not heard of this author before

I bought this as an audible deal of the day and did not know what to expect. I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. I am not used to the "series" style of books, so need to find the next book to listen to. However not sure it's available.

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No going Back

Took a little of effort to get into, possibly because it seemed to get lost in the technicalities in some parts, which I have to confess to fast forwarding.

However, once I arrived, it was a good listen.

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Top Book

Finally, a modern sci-fi author who can actually write. Brilliantly narrated too. What more could you want?

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It's not easy being green ...

Neal Asher draws his ‘Owner’ universe from the darkest, most fevered Eurogeddon nightmares that haunt the most paranoid of UKIP's members, and he finds his characters and their dialogue in the Daily Mail’s Letters pages. As a Science Fiction author, he is to the Libertarian Right what Iain M. Banks was to the Left, and uses his politics to fuel his image of our destiny, but whereas Banks wrote with wit and mischief, Asher writes in blood and brutality. There’s nothing subtle here, and his cynicism (of the State as well as its citizens) saturates the story almost to the point of dystopian satire, except that you know that he means it and that the future he portrays is very plausible - in his mind, at least. But, though my own politics lay way, way to the left of his, I love his novels; from the visceral set-piece battles, to the wonderfully imagined creatures and technologies he brings to life, I can't help but race through his books, and as soon as I've finished listening to this I'll be getting stuck into part two. And the narrator is just brilliant too.

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Excellent trilogy of quality writing and narration

I have just finished the whole trilogy in about 10 days. It's been a while since I had a story as well written and as well narrated as this was. And having said that, I'm not going to pick holes in either as some reviewers do. I just enjoyed the concept, the continuity, the characters and the excellent narration. Best sifi writing I have experienced in a long time. Thanks.

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Asher tells a good story

Neal Asher's tales are sometimes those of freedom seeking libertarians fighting against socialist societies that have gone bad. Think Venezuela on a global scale. He sees totalitarianism as the inevitable consequence of any attempt to create a fair, just and equitable society. His resolution is nearly always a hero fighting against all the odds, occasionally dispensing cod political philosophy and using extreme violence to sort out the bad guys. That's his thing and I really don't mind, despite the obvious propaganda, because he tells a good story. I just wish he'd drop the moral philosophising, because he's not too good at that. Action heroes are usually not very PC, but constantly harping on about socialists bad/freedom good is wearing and not terribly believable. It's also a false dichotomy. Maybe being rich enough to buy your freedom is an ideal to aspire to, but in reality it's only attainable by a select few. I'll probably buy a few more of his books, because I enjoy the action hero stuff, but he can shove his political diatribes where the sun don't shine.

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19 people found this helpful