Gridlinked

Premise was intriguing but did not at all appreciate the grittiness, overt sexual references, foul language, bloodiness/violence. DNF What's even more disheartening is that I'm turned off the whole “Agent Cormac” series. Are the other Polity books similar?

Gridlinked was the first full length Sci Fi book I've read in roughly 4 years. I had forgotten how much you really need to slow down, and absorb the world you're being immersed in. While it took me a little longer to read than I expected, this book definitely reminded me of why I miss Sci Fi in all of its gorgeous, complex glory.

The Polity universe is a thing of beauty. A world rich with myths, legends, and the type of technology that makes you wish you lived there. It took me a bit to firmly seat myself inside this world. I loved the little intros at the beginning of each chapter, pulling background information from books that Polity inhabitants had written. I appreciated the fact that Neal Asher never felt the need for infodumps. There was never a point where I felt buried under information necessary for me to understand the story. Instead, it was laid out slowly and intentionally. While that meant it took me a little longer to settle, it also meant I never wanted to stop reading.

On to Ian Cormac, our main character and a thoroughly fascinating person. Hands down, Cormac was my favorite part of this story. His background was rich, and he felt like a real person to me. Following along as he dealt with his addiction to being gridlinked, watching as he had to relearn how to read social cues, it made him a person I could get behind. Best of all, every other character in this first story was just as detailed. These were characters I could love, or loathe, as the story dictated.

So why the three star rating? Mainly, it's me not the book. I'll admit that there were a few grammatical errors that drove me a little batty, but mainly this is just me getting comfortable with the vast space that is Sci Fi. That being said, those of you who already read this genre will likely love this series. One thing I do know? I'll be going on to the next book! The ending was perfect, but also prompted me to read more. That, is a beautiful thing.

Good modern science fiction in a rather militaristic mould. It's essentially two interwoven tales, one of a special agent investigating a nuclear explosion, and the other about a terrorist trying to get revenge on him - the two stories remain almost entirely separate save at the beginning and end of the book. The former is probably the better of the two, with Arian Pelter being overshadowed as a villain both by Dragon and by his own robotic henchman, Mr Crane. Still, both are good, and Asher successfully racks up the tension, along with the body count.

Asher weaves together an interesting and believable universe, with a lot of detail behind the action scenes. It's well-written, fast paced stuff, with plenty of room for expansion in future books (and, indeed, there are a number). I'm normally not so keen on militaristic SF, but this one works.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. It's in the Bond mode with some similarities to [author:Richard Morgan]'s Takeshi Kovac books.

The plot raced along and contained many twists some were easy to predict, others came out of nowhere. Making Ian Cormac someone who struggled to relate to the world was very helpful in drawing in the reader.