Title: Orbus
Author: Neal Asher
Publisher: Tor UK
Format: Hardback
Pages: 448
Release Date: September 4th 2009
The first thing i will say is that i read this book in one sitting. Over the course of those 6 1/2 hours or so i went through an amazing journey encompassing two alien civilisations - including the worst and best characters and behaviours in both, as well as a pretty unsympathetic lead and a particularly resourceful AI from our (postulated) future society acting as our lens into this universe.
For anyone that doesn't know, this is the "Polity" universe - created by the author in his original Cormac series - a far future of humanity ruled by Artificial Intelligences, with wondrous technologies, massive weaponry, no let up in conflict from now (only we do it with other races, too) and some pretty nasty people, to boot.
The title takes it's name for the titular hero - who isn't much of one, really. having recently regained a great deal of his sanity after the fallout from recent prador actions on his adopted homeworld of Spatterjay (after losing it completely during the first Prador war because of what he did to survive then), and being many centuries old and an "old captain" (basically unkillable as his body has been mutated by the Spatterjay virus who's sole purpose seem to be to make the host survive almost anything, but not always intact), Orbus swapped his erstwhile sailing vessel for a starship in order to fully regain his humanity. the other, perhaps more standard "hero" character, would be the Polity war drone, sniper whom initially stows away on Orbus' ship before he can be "examined" by more senior polity AIs after his own involvement in the latest actions on Spatterjay. They head into the "graveyard" - the area of space decimated by the Prador/Polity war years before, unaware they have been manipulated by the Polity AIs to undermine recent Prador activity there.
Whilst this forms the crux of the book, perhaps the majority of the events and focus is on the Prador themselves - especially the "king" of their kingdom, and the newly-mutated Vrell. in some ways this is disappointing because it destroys some of their mystique as alien reatures, but given the changes wrought by the ubiquitous virus upon the King himself and Vrell perhaps not so after all (the prador kingdoms before the introduction of the virus were quite... different). Another Prador character becomes quite prominent amongst the Kings hunt to exterminate the apparent threat Vrell represents - that of the golgoloth, an ancient Prador legend, but one well-realised, though given their nature, personally i would have doubted the character's survival and power, even given it's apparent intelligence.
The last factor in the book are the Jain. The jain were a race that actually went extinct 5 million years ago, but the true nature of the Spatterjay virus reveals a rather surprising return, with disastrous consequences for some of those involved.
Needless to say, the book quickly builds to a massive climax with those who have a penchant for massive space-battles, exotic weaponry and aliens very well-catered for, as always. and the whole thing is written so wonderfully everything springs vividly to life in your mind as you read it. I loved this book - the only downside to me was the actual lack of Polity-side action (i love their AIs - especially their warships and Jerusalem), although the focus on the prador and their respective hardware was cool, and the insight to their society an excellent one.
Orbus as a hero doesn't quite work for me - it is easy to see why physically, at least, he was an excellent choice (as nobody else would survive what he went through) but the very nature of the character made him a bit impersonal, to me. One of his companions for most of the book, also seems a complete waste and didn't really add anything, either.
Very clever was the subtle hand of the Polity in all of the machinations - you were aware that they knew far more about most things that were happening than anyone else, especially regarding the Spatterjay virus, the Prador and the Jain (though given the way the eventual threat emerges, their direct inaction becomes even more puzzling), and perhaps were capable of stepping in at any moment. this also throws up an interesting question - is the Polity so benevolent after all?
The answer to that question may become a very good book in the future.
Author: Neal Asher
Publisher: Tor UK
Format: Hardback
Pages: 448
Release Date: September 4th 2009
The first thing i will say is that i read this book in one sitting. Over the course of those 6 1/2 hours or so i went through an amazing journey encompassing two alien civilisations - including the worst and best characters and behaviours in both, as well as a pretty unsympathetic lead and a particularly resourceful AI from our (postulated) future society acting as our lens into this universe.
For anyone that doesn't know, this is the "Polity" universe - created by the author in his original Cormac series - a far future of humanity ruled by Artificial Intelligences, with wondrous technologies, massive weaponry, no let up in conflict from now (only we do it with other races, too) and some pretty nasty people, to boot.
The title takes it's name for the titular hero - who isn't much of one, really. having recently regained a great deal of his sanity after the fallout from recent prador actions on his adopted homeworld of Spatterjay (after losing it completely during the first Prador war because of what he did to survive then), and being many centuries old and an "old captain" (basically unkillable as his body has been mutated by the Spatterjay virus who's sole purpose seem to be to make the host survive almost anything, but not always intact), Orbus swapped his erstwhile sailing vessel for a starship in order to fully regain his humanity. the other, perhaps more standard "hero" character, would be the Polity war drone, sniper whom initially stows away on Orbus' ship before he can be "examined" by more senior polity AIs after his own involvement in the latest actions on Spatterjay. They head into the "graveyard" - the area of space decimated by the Prador/Polity war years before, unaware they have been manipulated by the Polity AIs to undermine recent Prador activity there.
Whilst this forms the crux of the book, perhaps the majority of the events and focus is on the Prador themselves - especially the "king" of their kingdom, and the newly-mutated Vrell. in some ways this is disappointing because it destroys some of their mystique as alien reatures, but given the changes wrought by the ubiquitous virus upon the King himself and Vrell perhaps not so after all (the prador kingdoms before the introduction of the virus were quite... different). Another Prador character becomes quite prominent amongst the Kings hunt to exterminate the apparent threat Vrell represents - that of the golgoloth, an ancient Prador legend, but one well-realised, though given their nature, personally i would have doubted the character's survival and power, even given it's apparent intelligence.
The last factor in the book are the Jain. The jain were a race that actually went extinct 5 million years ago, but the true nature of the Spatterjay virus reveals a rather surprising return, with disastrous consequences for some of those involved.
Needless to say, the book quickly builds to a massive climax with those who have a penchant for massive space-battles, exotic weaponry and aliens very well-catered for, as always. and the whole thing is written so wonderfully everything springs vividly to life in your mind as you read it. I loved this book - the only downside to me was the actual lack of Polity-side action (i love their AIs - especially their warships and Jerusalem), although the focus on the prador and their respective hardware was cool, and the insight to their society an excellent one.
Orbus as a hero doesn't quite work for me - it is easy to see why physically, at least, he was an excellent choice (as nobody else would survive what he went through) but the very nature of the character made him a bit impersonal, to me. One of his companions for most of the book, also seems a complete waste and didn't really add anything, either.
Very clever was the subtle hand of the Polity in all of the machinations - you were aware that they knew far more about most things that were happening than anyone else, especially regarding the Spatterjay virus, the Prador and the Jain (though given the way the eventual threat emerges, their direct inaction becomes even more puzzling), and perhaps were capable of stepping in at any moment. this also throws up an interesting question - is the Polity so benevolent after all?
The answer to that question may become a very good book in the future.
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