Line War

Best Neal Asher book I've yet to read. Balances intelligent, multi-faceted plot lines with quality, purposeful action. We see Cormac develop skills and newly emerging abilities only hinted at in earlier books. The majority of Asher's other main characters are featured here, too, with Mr. Crane finally fulfilling his potential. A great read that I had a hell of a time putting down.

Wow! I cannot say enough about the books by Neil Asher. This one was especially good because of the full character and plot development that has built up to this from his earlier novels. Pretty much all of the loose ends were tied up in this seamless, techno-action thriller. If you like the Takashi Kovacs novels (Richard Morgan) and the Hyperion books (Dan Simmons) then this will blow you away!! The series progression is great; but, you might want to read Shadow of the Scorpion prior to Gridlinked. Regardless, read them all.

As an old line SF reader (since the '50's) I am awed by Neal Asher. He is (in my opinion) the best new SF author I have seen since Larry Niven's early career in the 1960's. He writes novels about a future culture called the Polity. His novels are complex, engaging, well written and consistently entertaining. Some are quite long, so much the better. If you have just found his work, try to read the Polity novels (plus a collection of Polity short stories) in order, but in any case read them. He sucked me into his future like a singularity (black hole). If better SF is being written I haven't found it, and I am retired and spend most of my time reading SF/Fantasy. I envy those reading this who have not yet started reading Mr. Asher's books. You are in for a real treat if you like good, hard edged Science Fiction. He is writing classics now that will be read and re-read for decades to come! Note that almost all of his novels are linked to the Polity, including his "Prador" and "Spatterjay" novels. Buy them all.

It's Asher, it's brilliant. That's it. This is good space opera. There's not much else to say.

This books ties up all the loose ends of the former polity series and is probably the best SF book I have read, well, since the last Asher book. This guy is now writing the most intelligent action packed space opera of any working author. I like Asher better then Iain Banks, and that takes some writing ability. In this book nothing you previously thought was true is necessarily true, the guys who seemed to be good and benevolent may not be necessarily so, how the jain virus actually got into the polity universe, how far Cormack's allegiance extends, what Mr.Crane (who for some reason I don't understand reminds me of the Undertaker, the wrestling fellow - maybe I am losing it), has turned into and who side he is on. If you have read the Asher polity series so far, you are nuts if you don't buy this. I am now reduced to ordering his books from England, making his new books the most expensive SF books I've bought. But, by God, I loved this novel.