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Line War (Agent Cormac #5)
by
Neal Asher (Goodreads Author)
The Polity is under attack from a 'melded' AI entity with control of the lethal Jain technology, yet the attack seems to have no coherence. When one of Erebus's wormships kills millions on the world of Klurhammon, a high-tech agricultural world of no real tactical significance, agent Ian Cormac is sent to investigate, though he is secretly struggling to control a new abili...more
Mass Market Paperback, 566 pages
Published
2009
by Tor Books
(first published April 2008)
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Meh... I don't know. I absolutely loved 'Gridlinked' and 'The Line of Polity' but this one didn't really hit the spot I thought. The plot is great, of course, the final showdown between Polity and Erebus couldn't be anything but. Also, Mr Crane. You can't miss with a character like that.
I think the reason this book didn't sit so well with me was because, in an attempt to suspend my disbelief, Asher constantly managed to do the opposite, by means of over-explanation. I haven't got the book to han...more
I think the reason this book didn't sit so well with me was because, in an attempt to suspend my disbelief, Asher constantly managed to do the opposite, by means of over-explanation. I haven't got the book to han...more
Enjoyed, but not as much as previous books in the series.
I found the first half of the book to be bogged down by so many explanations of what things look like, how the AIs transmit information and the intricacies of battle. In the prior volumes Asher had managed to give me feel of these things without it being whole swaths of passages just describing things. Found Orlandine and Cormac more cold and remote than before and less easy to connect with as characters. Luckily the AI characters filled...more
I found the first half of the book to be bogged down by so many explanations of what things look like, how the AIs transmit information and the intricacies of battle. In the prior volumes Asher had managed to give me feel of these things without it being whole swaths of passages just describing things. Found Orlandine and Cormac more cold and remote than before and less easy to connect with as characters. Luckily the AI characters filled...more
A good finale to the Ian Cormac series. A thoroughly fast-paced tale with the final showdown with rogue AI Erebus and its Jain-enhanced army. The puzzling entity that is Dragon is also pursuing its own agenda and Mr. Crane is finally pushed too far. In the middle of all of this is Ian Cormac, a "man" with new abilities...maybe, he's still not sure.
Wonderful almost the whole way through. The scenes with Azroc on Jerusalem I could have done without, mostly, but the rest of the book is lovely. It started off slow, but the slow start gave the action a nice build to where stuff blows up. Because it wouldn't be an Ian Cormac book without stuff going out with an almighty bang. And then, just for some balance, there's a bit of creepy, quiet death and really old bodies, floating silently in their envirosuits through the cold dark vacuum...shudder...more
The triumphant yet somewhat mysterious conclusion to this plot arc, as tight scripting gives way to inadequately justified motivations, strange reversals, and, most vexingly, no real justification of what was so unusual or significant about the particular characters that became so special. The entire book smells a little like a hunt for a sufficiently grand conclusion to wrap the story up; methinks Asher got a little tired of this particular series. Worth reading if you're attached to the charac...more
A worthy conclusion to the Ian Cormac series. Asher has grown a lot through this, the series started as a campy-but-fun Culture-meets-007 romp with a pinch of military SF added (ticking all if my guilty pleasure boxes), but in Line War it finishes on a truly epic note, asking the kind of questions on humanity and the implications of advanced to godlike technology which make SF into such an interesting genre, while ramping up the badassery of the earlier books to unseen levels. Seriously, the Cor...more
The first two Cormac books, although linked, stand on their own. The other three, however, are tightly connected, forming a whole set. Thankfully the last one closes down most threads and although open-ended, gives a reasonable conclusion, and hints that the series stops here.
I confess I was relieved when it ended, as the series had become bloated and a bit unwieldy, with some scenes and imaginative settings, but padded with too much pointless description and repetition.
In this book happen many...more
I confess I was relieved when it ended, as the series had become bloated and a bit unwieldy, with some scenes and imaginative settings, but padded with too much pointless description and repetition.
In this book happen many...more
1 like · like · see review
Finally I've come to the last Agent Cormac book, Line War, and up to now it's been a ride of ups and downs. The first two books, Gridlinked and The Line of Polity, were rather enjoyable, but they did have their issues. After that came Brass Man and Polity Agent, both of which upped the stakes and delivered some really great sci-fi. Now with Line War the story comes to a conclusion, and while it ends the series as a whole I always had that niggle of a doubt in my mind that it might not be as spec...more
May 06, 2008
Guy
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
science-fiction-and-fantasy
Neil Asher's "Line War" is a solid conclusion to a brilliant series, but don't read it until you have read the previous four books in what should be (but isn't) called the "Ian Cormac" series. Asher tries to fill in the background for the reader who hasn't read the other books, but frankly he does not succeed and it doesn't work particularly well as a stand-alone story.
On the other hand,"Line War" is a great success as the final book in a series, nicely tying off many story lines and largely pro...more
On the other hand,"Line War" is a great success as the final book in a series, nicely tying off many story lines and largely pro...more
So, finally an end of the Cormac's saga?
I hope so. If this is so, it has come as a relieved to me. For the last books of the saga it has used up most of the originality and most of the possibility of surprising you with something new as it repeats itself once and again. Besides, I have been enjoying much more those parts of the story where Cormac does not appear.
About the story... well it is not bad as it closes many of the open points left unresolved in the previous books. And also it gives yo...more
I hope so. If this is so, it has come as a relieved to me. For the last books of the saga it has used up most of the originality and most of the possibility of surprising you with something new as it repeats itself once and again. Besides, I have been enjoying much more those parts of the story where Cormac does not appear.
About the story... well it is not bad as it closes many of the open points left unresolved in the previous books. And also it gives yo...more
Neal Asher ties together many threads in Line War - and what starts as just another Ian Cormac novel explodes in a galaxy spanning space opera. This entry in the Polity saga is one of the strongest novels yet. There are lots of answers to unresolved questions from previous novels, and action feature mega-battles across the line of the Polity. This is a must read.
Oo! Released slowly and out of order in the U.S.--start with Gridlinked, if you're interested--a few more of British SF author Neal Asher's books have recently turned up in the Kindle store. I was stoked to get ahold of the conclusion to the Agent Cormac series. I was surprised by how it wrapped up!
Okay, this is not a story that I'd willingly pick up but I'm reviewing it for one of the dailies, so I gave it a good shot. As a friend of mine told me, "Think Pirates of the Caribbean" set in space...and so long as I shoved my brain into neutral, I went along for the ride.
Plenty of big explosions and super-violence... and some memorable characters, like Orlandine and Mr Crane... and the not-so-cute but huggable Arach... but I couldn't help but feel that the characters were somehow dragged along...more
Plenty of big explosions and super-violence... and some memorable characters, like Orlandine and Mr Crane... and the not-so-cute but huggable Arach... but I couldn't help but feel that the characters were somehow dragged along...more
I'm a reasonably smart guy, but half the time while reading this, I didn't have a clue what was going on. In this case, at least, Asher's not a patch on Iain Banks, whom he's clearly attempting to emulate (some might say "rip off"). Inferior.
EPIC!
A tour de force of post cyber punk space opera.
Ian Cormac is an ECS agent, the James Bond of the future, only with balls of solid ceramal.
Great to see Vulture and Mr Crane(The Brass Man) make a welcome appearence in the last of the Cormac series.
The real threat to the Polity is not what it seems.
A tour de force of post cyber punk space opera.
Ian Cormac is an ECS agent, the James Bond of the future, only with balls of solid ceramal.
Great to see Vulture and Mr Crane(The Brass Man) make a welcome appearence in the last of the Cormac series.
The real threat to the Polity is not what it seems.
Another in the Cormac series, read more for my completionist agenda than anything. Where I enjoyed the new concepts in The Skinner and Gridlinked this title was just more of the same from the rest of the series.
Continues in the Polity series, and raises quite a few questions about the way AIs are running things.
I think it opens up a whole new avenue of stories for future books. And I am looking forward to them.
I think it opens up a whole new avenue of stories for future books. And I am looking forward to them.
Jan 15, 2013
Mike Franklin
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
science-fiction,
all-read
Whilst the story, characters and plot were, as usual, excellent, the storytelling itself seemed rather muddled. There were a lot of POV's sometimes with large gaps between visiting them leaving you wondering what that POV was up to last time it was active. The latter part of the book, as they all come together, was less muddled and built up to an excellent, if by then rather predictable, ending.
Even though I began this book not realising that this was book 3 in the trilogy, it still made sense which was good. I really liked the character of Ian Cormac & would have liked more on him. I found the had scifi aspect hard to follow when I was tired, but I did enjoy the story as a whole.
A good ending to the series. Unless you've read the other books, this one won't be that enjoyable.
Apparent conclusion to the Ian Cormac polity series. The technology power creep is literally out of control in this one and Cormac goes through some fundamental shifts.
This is a good ending to the Ian Cormac set.
A fitting finishing for a series of very good books! Mr Asher has a pace of writing that makes it enjoyable and a universe very well constructed. Also de development of characters like Cormac and Dragon and very interesting!!!
Solid conclusion to a decent series. Not the best writing or ideas, but interesting nonetheless. Worth reading if you are in between inspirations.
Focused more on plot since characters are already developed in the series. Still more to come.
MIGHT review soon.
Best book of the series by far! Excellently written with fascinating characters and action galore!
Oct 07, 2008
Inchy
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Any hard sci-fi fans.
The best of the Ian Cormac series so far for me.
Neal Asher expands and fleshes out all the unique and wonderful characters he has created since Gridlinked with care, creating a wonderful story in the process.
Long live Mr Crane!
Neal Asher expands and fleshes out all the unique and wonderful characters he has created since Gridlinked with care, creating a wonderful story in the process.
Long live Mr Crane!
Enjoyed it. Asher sure knows how to write a page turner.
Over prosaic. Too wordy.
But other than that, the over arching plot I found fantastic. Love the idea of Cormac being the bogeyman now. Somebody needs to watch over EC [ie, Skynet] and keep it honest ;-)
But other than that, the over arching plot I found fantastic. Love the idea of Cormac being the bogeyman now. Somebody needs to watch over EC [ie, Skynet] and keep it honest ;-)
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I’ve been an engineer, barman, skip lorry driver, coalman, boat window manufacturer, contract grass cutter and builder. Now I write science fiction books, and am slowly getting over the feeling that someone is going to find me out, and can call myself a writer without wincing and ducking my head. As professions go, I prefer this one: I don’t have to clock-in, change my clothes after work, nor scru...more
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Feb 09, 2013 04:19am