Brass Man

I'm now on Polity Agent, having read the first three books in the Ian Cormac series. Brass Man is the third (of four) books in the series, and another excellent addition. Reviving Mr Crane, the psychotic Golem from Gridlinked, Asher pits bad guys with nano-infused, alien technology against our series heroes in the usual hostile environment of leviathan monsters and AI-led ships racing through u-space overhead. Enjoyable for its dense plotting, imaginative flora & fauna, and action. I've mentally screened it as the last Bond melded with the first Star Wars, throttled up to Tarantino ultraviolence levels.

Schizoid when he controls his impulses; psychopathic as his norm, the maniacal Golem Mr. Crane is an insane killing cyborg machine brought back from the abyss by the deranged Skellor who combines the most amoral human artificial intelligence with the ancient alien Jain bio-technology. Earth Central fears that the Jain destroyed other races and probably itself with their WMD technology so they worry that the lethal Mr. Crane is reported back this time as a more powerful BRASS MAN. Thus top agent Ian Cormac is recalled from dragon hunting to lead an expedition of mostly throwaway AIs whose objectives are to destroy Skellor and eradicate the Jain technology. At about the same time on Cull, Anderson a half-breed Rondure Knight battles the Dragon at the same time Skellor seeks to ally with this Dragon who apparently can safely use Jain technology that is already inside him. As Mr. Crane, his puppeteer Skeller, Cormac, Anderson and Dragon head towards a supernova collision, some of Ian's AIs who reject the notion of being disposable pawns are considering joining the enemy. BRASS MAN, the sequel to the wild GRIDLINKED, is as feral and violent as its predecessor as Neal Asher paints a forbidding dark distant future where violence is as civilized as apple pie in spite of great affluence. Through flashbacks and current events, the two prime rivals, Mr. Crane and Cormac, are fully developed as they head towards a high celestial noon collision with the booty being Dragon. Not easy to read, this novel paints a bleak brutal futuristic science fiction landscape. Harriet Klausner

This book is cracking. Just like the Skinner I thoroughly enjoyed it. Took 3 days to read and that was only because of work food and sleep breaks! Dragon, and Ian Cormac are back... and this makes for some real fun. There's big, bigger, and biggest nasties roaming around, a good splattering (and i use that word with a chuckle) of violent death, a decent amount of sci fi, and a damn good story to boot. The last book I read of his was Cowl and it didn't feel quite like Neal was enjoying himself writing it. This one is different. Mind... if i wrote stuff like this.. i'd enjoy it too. One small note, if your a first time Asher buyer, i'd suggest picking up Line of Polity first. Its not absolutely needed, but it'd certainly give you a good grounding!

Brass Man, the latest book in Neal Asher's Polity series develops into a rip-roaring action-filled dynamo of an SF novel once you get past the initial flashback sequences. There's plenty here to excite - epic space battles, virulent alien nanotechnology, evil baddies and ever larger and more hideous monsters! The flashbacks near the start can be somewhat confusing, also there is not an awful amount of character development, especially since this is now our third encounter with many of these people. Still, the inventive and fast-paced action sequences do more than enough to compensate for these flaws. I loved it!

If you were stunned by "Gridlinked," and left awe-struck by "The Line of Polity," then I guarantee you won't be disappointed with "Brass Man." Picking up almost immediately after the end of Line, it continues the saga of ECS agent Ian Cormac, and weaves narratives for many characters introduced in the previous two novels - plus several fascinating new ones - into an extremely satisfying whole. Best of all, it brings back one of the most unique and enigmatic of all of Asher's creations - the flawed yet noble Golem Twenty-Five, Mr. Crane.