Brass Man (Ian Cormac, Book 3)
by Neal Asher
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Book Summary Information
Author: Neal AsherEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-01-23
ISBN: 0765317311
Number of pages: 496
Publisher: Tor Books
Book Reviews of Brass Man (Ian Cormac, Book 3)
Book Review: More of Asher's same... getting lame.
Summary: 3 Stars
This is the third book in the Cormac series and my 7th Asher novel to date, so I have a bit of expertise in the area of Asher. His novels tend to blend a variety of unique styles, plots and ideas. This custom blending is better implemented in the Spatterjay novels (The Skinner and The Voyage of Sable Keech). In these novels we see the romance of piracy, the horror of nightmarish life-forms and the tyranny of dictatorship which has made for entertaining reading. However, this cross-blending doesn't fare well in the Cormac series. I find that it distracts from the police-criminal pursuit which is more cleverly done in Hamilton's Commonwealth series (Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained). In Brass Man, we catch a different twist of piracy, horror and dictatorship. Instead, we get the expected horror along with something like medieval dragon quest, a dash of cyberpunk with a flare of western from the description of Mr. Crane's outfit. Hmm.
The first two books of the Cormac series (Gridlinked and Line of Polity) failed to impress me. I was, however, baited by the galactic police-criminal pursuit and thought it could be explored more fully. But Asher seems rooted in his penned tradition, hesitant to stray far from his comfortable norm (as I also said in my review of Line of Polity). Reading a few Asher novels may be entertaining, but reading novel after novel of the same hash, one can begin to accurately predict plot twists, outcomes and even character deaths. Brass Man is no different. But don't be misled by the title. Yes, Mr. Crane does make a reappearance in this novel and his history is probed to a much better extent than was done in Gridlinked. However, this coming-of-age for Mr. Crane does not take center stage and is buried behind the downy plot of when horror and weapons meet head-on.
Typical of Asher's continued Cormac series (and the Spatterjay series, to an extent), Brass Man envelopes the essence of alien fauna horror, awesome Polity weaponry, Golem superiority, planet-hopping tracking and AI antics (to a lesser extent that Banks' Culture novels). If you consider these five traits to be on par with your idea of an excellent sci-fi novel or Asher novel, then look no further than Brass Man! But, the old rigmarole has become just that- old, worn and tedious. I will continue to read the Cormac series to see if Asher's writing matures at all, but it seems after three Cormac novels that he feels secure in his ways. Perhaps the rest of the series will continue on this juvenile action-movie-in-a-book sequence (minus the car chases) or maybe he will break the mold and create a shorter but more thought provoking book... one of these days.
Summary of Brass Man (Ian Cormac, Book 3)
From the Philip K. Dick Award nominee author of Cowl, an adrenaline-powered new SF adventure: Brass Man. Neal Asher returns to his trademark Polity future setting, in a sequel to Gridlinked, which SFRevu.com called "brilliant and audacious work, chock-full of cutting-edge ideas."
Ian Cormac, a legendary Earth Central Security agent, the James Bond of a wealthy future, is hunting an interstellar dragon, little knowing that, far away, his competition has resurrected an horrific killing machine named "Mr. Crane" to assist in a similar hunt, ecompassing whole star systems. Mr. Crane, the insane indestructible artificial man now in a new metal body, seeks to escape a bloody past he can neither forget nor truly remember. And he is on a collision course with Ian Cormac.
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