However in his latest book “ Line War”, Neal Asher brings one of his storylines to an end, specifically the Ian Cormac sequence that began in 2001’s “ Gridlinked”…Īn ECS (Earth Central Security) agent, Ian Cormac first burst onto the scene in “ Gridlinked” as a character who had lost touch with humanity and over the next three books- The Line of Polity, Brass Man and Polity Agent-readers got to see this character evolve emotionally and physically while Ian was engaged in one Polity-threatening mission after another including confrontations with psychopathic golems, rogue AIs, monstrous fauna, and a species-eradicating alien technology created by the Jain. Of course the author doesn’t accomplish all of this in one book and even after several novels, short stories and novellas set in the Polity milieu, Neal is still elaborating on and exploring many different aspects of this universe. What’s fascinating about this universe is how much effort and detail has been put towards its construction from developing several technological concepts- runcibles, U-space (underspace) travel, augs, gridlinks, chainglass, haimans (a human partially combined with an AI), golems, war drones, chameleonware, CTD imploders, DIGRAWs (directed gravity weapon)-complete with their own argot, to establishing a rich backstory and ensuring that each individual planet has its own distinctive ecosystem. Martin’s Westeros, Jacqueline Carey’s Kushiel series and Steven Erikson’s Malazan novels which are some of my favorites :) Another world that has quickly become a favorite of mine is the Polity universe by Neal Asher, a futuristic setting where mankind has expanded throughout a galaxy of planets and is governed by artificial intelligences. One of the best things about reading speculative fiction in my opinion is finding your self transported to this whole other world that feels as real as our own like Tolkien’s Middle Earth, George R.

Winners of the Jim Butcher/Small Favor Giveaway!!!.

'Paper Cities' edited by Ekaterina Sedia.

Winners of the Neal Asher/Line War Giveaway!!!.'The Resurrectionist' by Jack O'Connell.'Iron Man: Beneath the Armor' by Andy Mangels.Winners of the Kate Elliott/Crossroads Giveaway +.The Sharing Knife: Passage by Lois McMaster Bujold.Winners of the William Dietrich & Lois McMaster Bu.'Death's Head: Maximum Offense' by David Gunn.Winners of the Scott Sigler/Infected Giveaway! Fre.Line War is where the Cormac novels have been heading. Asher is brilliant at conveying the vastness of deep space, the strangeness of alien life forms and the sweep of planetary horizons – not to mention the vast sweep of the novel itself.

Line war neal asher