Neal Asher was born in Billericay, Essex, and divides his time between the UK and Crete. The majority of his novels are set within one future history, known as the Polity universe which encompasses many classic science fiction tropes including world-ruling artificial intelligences, androids, hive minds and aliens. His full-length novels include Gridlinked, The Skinner, The Line of Polity, Cowl, Brass Man, The Voyage of the Sable Keech, Hilldiggers, Prador Moon, Line War, Shadow of the Scorpion, Orbus and The Technician. His Owner series novels include The Departure, Zero Point and Jupiter War.
In a far-distant future, the Heliothane Dominion has defeated the Umbrathane and rules the galaxy, but one of the enemy, a destructive killer known as Cowl, has survived to wreak havoc across the universe. Dragged into the future by the torbeast, Cowl's vicious "pet," vat-grown government killer Tack heads for a momentous meeting with the future's greatest threat. Asher's third novel (after Gridlinked and The Skinner) delivers a rapid-fire sf adventure that hurtles between past, present, and future with the precision of a runaway roller coaster. Fans of techno-military sf should find this tale satisfying. For large sf collections. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Like "Kage Baker on steroids," says David Hartwell in his promotional letter, and indeed Asher's latest SF novel (after 2004's The Skinner) bears definite similarities to Baker's popular tales of the Company. Both involve near-immortal time travelers who pursue complex, often mysterious objectives. But where Baker tends toward the literary and satirical, Asher prefers over-the-top violence and pyrotechnic super-science. In the near-future, Polly, a prostitute, and Tack, a government-programmed killer, get caught up in a war fought by superhuman antagonists from the future, the Heliothane and the Umbrathane. Neither side is particularly sympathetic, but the latter group is allied with the monstrous Cowl, an even more advanced being that threatens all human life. Cowl has let loose the torbeast, a ravening interdimensional creature the size of a small planet, and the Heliothane have reprogrammed Tack to go back in time and assassinate the monster. Well-done battle sequences, serviceable characters and an old-fashioned sense of wonder help offset a sometimes overly byzantine plot and a too-abstract depiction of time travel. Overall, this is an excellent read and should increase the author's growing reputation. (May 18) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
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