Polity Agent (Ian Cormac, Book 4)
by Neal Asher
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Book Summary Information
Author: Neal AsherEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-10-31
ISBN: 0330441523
Number of pages: 562
Publisher: Trans-Atlantic Publications, Inc.
Book Reviews of Polity Agent (Ian Cormac, Book 4)
Book Review: Best Cormac novel since GRIDLINKED
Summary: 4 Stars
In Neal Asher's second and third Ian Cormac novels, mad scientist/evil genius Skellor becomes infested with alien technology granting him immense powers. This technology, apparently left behind by the extinct Jain civilization, is rumored to be a weapon designed to detect and destroy advanced intelligent species. The Polity, a human star federation ruled by a benign dictatorship of artificial intelligences, ultimately defeats Skellor and neutralizes the threat he poses. Jain tech is still out there, however, so the next task for the Polity and its agent Ian Cormac is to find Skellor's source and eliminate it. When an outbreak of Jain tech on planet Coloron threatens the lives billions of people, the urgency of Cormac's mission increases.
POLITY AGENT is filled with familiar characters, including Polity agent Ian Cormac and his sort-of supervisor Horace Blegg, the Sparkind supertrooper Thorn, the incomprehensible alien ship/being Dragon, the laconic dragoman Scar, the free-thinking ship/AI Jerusalem, which hosts the most advanced research on Jain tech, and the irreverent ship/AI Jack Ketch, now entwined with another mind and rechristened "Not Entirely Jack". Adding to the cast are several potential bad guys including "haiman" (human/AI hybrid) engineer Orlandine, who kills her lover in order to hide her secret cache of Jain tech, an android called "the Legate", who travels the stars spreading the joy of Jain tech, and a secretive entity called Erebus.
Repeat readers will probably be pleased to learn that POLITY AGENT features the same mix of invention, action, mystery, suspense, and lurid violence as earlier novels. They will also be pleasantly surprised at the number of secrets Asher reveals, including the true nature of apparent immortal Horace Blegg. Those enamored of contemporary Left-leaning Brit-SF, however, will continue to be distressed by Asher's elitist and authoritarian tendencies; Asher is the Tory version of Iain Banks. Some readers will complain that POLITY AGENT is not a complete novel, but I disagree; while much is left unresolved, the ending is not a cliffhanger, only a promise of more story to come. While hardly perfect, POLITY AGENT is Asher's best and most engaging Cormac novel since GRIDLINKED and possibly his third-best novel overall after THE SKINNER and GRIDLINKED.
N.B. POLITY AGENT continues a story in progress and doesn't do a great job of orienting new readers, or even assisting repeat readers who don't have a clear memory of the previous volume; new readers should begin with GRIDLINKED.
Summary of Polity Agent (Ian Cormac, Book 4)
From eight hundred years in the future, a runcible gate is opened into the Polity and those coming through it have been sent specially to take the alien maker back to its home civilization in the Small Magellanic cloud. Once these refugees are safely through, the gate itself is rapidly shut downbecause something alien is pursuing them. The gate is then dumped into a nearby sun. From those refugees who get through, agent Cormac learns that the Maker civilization has been destroyed by pernicious virus known as the Jain technology. This, of course, raises questions: why was Dragon, a massive biocontruct of the Makers, really sent to the Polity; why did a Jain node suddenly end up in the hands of someone who could do the most damage with it? Meanwhile an entity called the Legate is distributing pernicious Jain nodes and a renegade attack ship, The King of Hearts, has encountered something very nasty outside the Polity itself.Literature & Fiction Books
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