Product Description

On the primitive world of Cull, a knight errant called Anderson is hunting a dragon, little knowing that far away someone else (now more technology than human flesh) has resurrected a brass killing machine called 'Mr Crane' to assist in a similar hunt encompassing star systems. When agent Cormac learns that this old enemy still lives, he sets out in pursuit aboard the attack ship Jack Ketch ...whilst scientist Mika begins discovering the horrifying truth about that ancient technology ostensibly produced by the alien Jain. Meanwhile, for the people of Cull, each day proves a struggle to survive on a planet roamed by ferocious insectile monsters, while they slowly construct the industrial base that may enable them to escape to their forefathers' starship - still orbiting far above them. But an entity with questionable motives, calling itself Dragon, assists them with genetic by-blows created out of humans and the hideous local monsters. And now the planet itself, for millennia geologically inactive, is increasingly suffering earthquakes ...'Compelling reading ...Asher has become a resounding and distinctive voice in British SF' - "SFRevu".

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5638 in Books
• Published on: 2006-02-17
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 568 pages

About the Author
Neal Asher was born in Billericay, Essex, and still lives nearby. He had many stories and novellas published before embarking on a sequence of full-length novels: Gridlinked, The Skinner, The Line of Polity and Cowl.

Customer Reviews

Brass Man
This is a superb book. It is fast paced with great characterisation and enough origional ideas for a dozen other books.
There are psycopathic androids, silicon demigods, parasitic biological technologies and horrific indigeonous lifeforms. The action scenes cover battles across solar systems between AI ships down to individuals fighting in ways both physical and mental.
The book contains several plot threads which twist together to form a satisfying ending with just enough loose ends to make me eager for the next one.
This is the third Cormac book, although it could be read alone knowing the backstory makes for a better read.
If you like SF you should give this a go.

Good, but not quite Iain Banks yet...
Good, but incredibly dense. He's obviously wanted to have the Iain M. Banks style multiple plots running, but unlike Banks, he doesn't quite pull it off. Not enough about Cormac, and not enough about Mr Crane to be quite honest.

There was a lot of digression into stuff that never quite seemed important - the fate of the human colonists - I never really cared that much about them, because they were never really developed as characters. Putting them then in peril didn't really grab me that much.

But some excellent technology, and for the first time he explores the motivations of the various AI denizens of his universe, although the Polity is starting to resemble the Culture quite markedly - not bad thing in some ways, but Banks skirts the border of Deus Ex Machine very closely at times, and not many authors could do that without stepping over the line.

This book is at its best when in the hard science mode - some of the technology ideas are excellent and could be explained even further.

Overall an enjoyable read, but not up to the standard of 'Consider Phlebas', or even Asher's early 'Gridlinked'.

Excellent Asher stuff
Another excellent book from Neal Asher. I'd had it a while and only just got round to reading it over hte holidays, so I've forgotten something of the previous stories it's based upon, but that didn't detract at all. The ideas about AI and VR technology and how it will effect human life in the future are intriguing and, for me at least, philosophically sound even if still science fiction. Asher has some strong characters in the excellent Mr. Crane, on whom the book is based and about which the story finally unfolds, Ian Cormac and his team. But I really enjoyed the more "low tech" stories of Anderson and the fantastically imaginative fauna from his world. Dragon also seemed far more plausible than in the past. Really good stuff. Much better put together and easier to read than Cowl. Highly recommended.