Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #18224 in Books
• Published on: 2007-07-06
• Binding: Paperback
• 562 pages

Synopsis
From 800 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 down - because 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, raised questions: Why was Dragon, a massive biocontruct of the Makers, really sent to the Polity? And, 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.

Customer Reviews

Infuriating but so good
The last book I have read of ASHERS whilst waiting for the next to be delivered. Killing off some favourite characters - nice when an author has the guts to do this. Some very interesting revelations about BLEGG and JAIN tech goes nuts as does ASHERS brain to have written this. Gripping and action packed just how I like them. Such is the description you can vsualise pretty much everything. What a way to end though without the next one in my hand waiting. Buy it

Polity Agent

As Asher's "Cormac" series of space opera novels continues, his scope of Polity space and the outlying worlds widens, drawing us further into the universe that he has created. A history begins to take shape that, seeded in the previous novel, soon begins to reinstate itself. This fourth volume, "Polity Agent", draws upon the framework that Asher had already laid without falling into the trap of continually throwing in new elements to keep things "fresh".

The story is fine, although it is not a complete story. It's evident that Asher has probably signed a multi-book deal with his publisher as he's clearly holding back on any real conclusion; the book has no ending, merely ending with a significant event in what is clearly on ongoing storyline. It's a shame that Asher felt the need to do this, plant the seeds of the next novel so thickly that there's too much story to tell in a single volume. Hopefully the freshly-released fifth book with provide a satisfactory conclusion to an average, but open-ended novel.

5/10

Space fighting men, machines & others
A book set in the far future where AIs run many aspects of civilization (from Earth Central down through planetary systems to ships and drones), c.f., I.M.Banks. The main theme concerns a menace whose seeds were sown millions of years ago by the long dead Jain civilization.

Starts well but we are soon drawn into one battle after another, told in loving detail. I cannot recall a book with a higher percentage of pages dedicated to fighting, in this case with esoteric weapons - so if you are into this sort of thing read this.

There's no real ending: the book gives the impression of fizzling out because the requisite length has been reached. Still, Asher writes well enough for you to become quite fond of a number of his characters - don't, there's a fair amount of culling.