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Gridlinked
(Agent Cormac #1)
by
Gridlinked is a science fiction adventure in the classic, fast-paced, action-packed tradition of Harry Harrison and Poul Anderson, with a dash of cyberpunk and a splash of Ian Fleming added to spice the mix.
Cormac is a legendary Earth Central Security agent, the James Bond of a wealthy future where "runcibles" (matter transmitters controlled by AIs) allow interstellar trav ...more
Cormac is a legendary Earth Central Security agent, the James Bond of a wealthy future where "runcibles" (matter transmitters controlled by AIs) allow interstellar trav ...more
Get A Copy
Paperback, 423 pages
Published
September 1st 2004
by Tor Science Fiction
(first published March 23rd 2001)
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Start your review of Gridlinked (Agent Cormac #1, Polity Universe #3)
The entry point of another great, complex space-opera series, Asher´s Polity universe, offers everything a Sci-Fi fan can wish for.
Like the behemoths of the genre Hamilton, Scalzi, Banks, Reynolds, Simmons, etc., Asher has created an authentic, complex world, bursting with fresh, creative Sci-Fi ideas.
Especially interesting is the idea of the influence of human and alien AIs that are not just entities of their own, but may be open or even dependent on a second kind of evolution. They may, para ...more
Like the behemoths of the genre Hamilton, Scalzi, Banks, Reynolds, Simmons, etc., Asher has created an authentic, complex world, bursting with fresh, creative Sci-Fi ideas.
Especially interesting is the idea of the influence of human and alien AIs that are not just entities of their own, but may be open or even dependent on a second kind of evolution. They may, para ...more
It had a solid setup, which it did not deliver on whatsoever. Painfully boring, terribly inconsistent one dimensional characters, cookie cutter secondary characters, zero resolution. I didn't expect quality writing, but I thought at least it would be fun, or pulpy, or.. just anything at all.
...more
Catadapts, ophidapts and lots of other weird stuff.
Q:
A blue snow was falling on the roof of the embarkation lounge, where it melted and snaked across the glass in inky rivulets. ...
On Samarkand it was raining Dragon scales. (c)
Q:
He saw the weapon.
'You made love like a machine,' ... (c)
Q:
Typical well-hugger trying to look like a member of the runcible culture, he thought. The vogue slick-pants and corsair shirt told him all he needed to know. The Sensic augmentation behind the man's left ear told ...more
Q:
A blue snow was falling on the roof of the embarkation lounge, where it melted and snaked across the glass in inky rivulets. ...
On Samarkand it was raining Dragon scales. (c)
Q:
He saw the weapon.
'You made love like a machine,' ... (c)
Q:
Typical well-hugger trying to look like a member of the runcible culture, he thought. The vogue slick-pants and corsair shirt told him all he needed to know. The Sensic augmentation behind the man's left ear told ...more
I'm working myself up to flying through the Polity Universe, having already read a bit of Asher already, and while I kinda expected something worse from the general consensus of this particular novel in the full continuity, I did not get frozen eyeballs after being exposed to cold vacuum.
Yay!
That being said, I did rather enjoy the spy stuff, the high-tech stuff, and the *ideas* of the super-AIs, the investigation of the planetary disaster, the BIG ALIENS, and, as a matter of course, the very coo ...more
Yay!
That being said, I did rather enjoy the spy stuff, the high-tech stuff, and the *ideas* of the super-AIs, the investigation of the planetary disaster, the BIG ALIENS, and, as a matter of course, the very coo ...more
Taking a break from fantasy/romance/mystery, i picked this book up because my brother recommended it. And it was TOTALLY worth it! If you read a lot of my reviews you know I adore Iain Banks' work, and this book felt like a cousin of his work. Basically we're dealing with a deep future society depended on vast machines, and an overarching mystery of a sabateur, a James-Bond-like main character, and a side-plot of a psychopath's ruthless need for revenge at any cost. I dunno how to describe it mu
...more
Nov 19, 2016
Deborah Ideiosepius
rated it
it was ok
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
science-fiction,
2016-reading-challenge
Oh dear. For pure reading experience this probably deserves a one star, or even negative stars.
The world building is great, absolutely fascinating and if some of the concepts are not entirely new, well they are certainly freshly presented. The book would probably be improved by knocking 200 pages off it because I have no idea why it takes up 522 when it hurts to read more than a page or two at a time. The characters unfortunately are about as engaging as cold black coffee. Instant coffee.
Inscru ...more
The world building is great, absolutely fascinating and if some of the concepts are not entirely new, well they are certainly freshly presented. The book would probably be improved by knocking 200 pages off it because I have no idea why it takes up 522 when it hurts to read more than a page or two at a time. The characters unfortunately are about as engaging as cold black coffee. Instant coffee.
Inscru ...more
Everybody knows that we are living in a meritocracy and that those in charge are not human. Everybody knows that AIs are running the show. Who would trust a human planetary governor? Who would trust humans with controlling the vast spread of human migration and trade? Certainly not other humans. As that sublime AI, which is referred to as ‘Earth Central,’ once put it, ‘Humans: fast machines that serve the purpose of slow genes.’ Most right-thinking people would agree that we are not to be truste
...more
This book is just bad. Let's list some things:
Interstellar "dragon" that acts as histrionic and pathetic as a chubby junior high goth kid? Check.
Amateurish attempts at creating false tension by using the word "as" (as in "he moved slowly as he pulled out his gun" [my quote, not from the book:])? All over the place.
Use of the word "suddenly?" You betcha.
Horrendously awkward sexual encounters? Of course.
Seemingly random motivations and wild mood swings amongst the protagonist and antagonist? Don't ...more
Interstellar "dragon" that acts as histrionic and pathetic as a chubby junior high goth kid? Check.
Amateurish attempts at creating false tension by using the word "as" (as in "he moved slowly as he pulled out his gun" [my quote, not from the book:])? All over the place.
Use of the word "suddenly?" You betcha.
Horrendously awkward sexual encounters? Of course.
Seemingly random motivations and wild mood swings amongst the protagonist and antagonist? Don't ...more
5.0 stars. Excellent debut novel and a terrific read. Never boring, great characters and even better world-building. Will definitely read more from this author. Recommended!!
4 Stars
My first Neal Asher novel and it did not let me down. I have had his series on my to-read list for far too long.
Sprawling, creative, dark, and dirty space opera. Artificial Intelligence run the Polity universe, a place like ours in the near future. There is plenty of creative science in here and Asher often spends time detailing his creations. Political wars, common enemies, and god like monsters to fear.
Cormac is a good lead protagonist, a high tech 007, who is not afraid to do things h ...more
My first Neal Asher novel and it did not let me down. I have had his series on my to-read list for far too long.
Sprawling, creative, dark, and dirty space opera. Artificial Intelligence run the Polity universe, a place like ours in the near future. There is plenty of creative science in here and Asher often spends time detailing his creations. Political wars, common enemies, and god like monsters to fear.
Cormac is a good lead protagonist, a high tech 007, who is not afraid to do things h ...more
Well well well. Hello Neal Asher a new author (well new for me) who has me completely engrossed in SciFi again. Reading Asher is like reading a story written by Alistair Reynolds and China Mieville. There is your high tech scifi and weird augmentation bits. I think what i like about Asher is he seems to have the best bits of Reynolds and Mieville, great believable advanced technologies with wonderfully descriptive monsters, body improvements and world building.
This story I think is around book t ...more
This story I think is around book t ...more
You could pitch Gridlinked with four words: “James Bond... In SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE!”
That’s simplifying things somewhat, but Asher’s novel at its core is a tale of an interstellar secret agent who gives his licence to kill a serious workout.
This isn’t interstellar Timothy Dalton either, or even Pierce Brosnan. The tone of Gridlinked is down the Daniel Craig end of the Bond spectrum – a Bond who is a little dark, and more inclined to summarily shoot someone in the head than cheesily order a martin ...more
That’s simplifying things somewhat, but Asher’s novel at its core is a tale of an interstellar secret agent who gives his licence to kill a serious workout.
This isn’t interstellar Timothy Dalton either, or even Pierce Brosnan. The tone of Gridlinked is down the Daniel Craig end of the Bond spectrum – a Bond who is a little dark, and more inclined to summarily shoot someone in the head than cheesily order a martin ...more
This was the 3rd Neal Asher book I read. The consensus among fans seems to be to start with the prequel"Prador Moon" and I agree 100%. Prador Moon was a tight, focused, non stop thrill ride. Gridlinked kind of ambled here and there and I found it a little hard to get into or care about.
Even while I was reading it I had a hard time retaining what I had read. Several times I would be reading about a minor character and wonder "who is this person and why am I supposed to care about them again"? The ...more
Even while I was reading it I had a hard time retaining what I had read. Several times I would be reading about a minor character and wonder "who is this person and why am I supposed to care about them again"? The ...more
Disappointingly dull!
Asher's novels have the coolest covers—I was kinda hoping I'd enjoy his writing so that I'd have a tonne of new books to read. Alas despite some cool ideas, it just went on and on, back and forth between hero and villain while almost nothing happened. More and more secondary characters introduced, none of them really distinct enough to get built into my head.
I've also found that, the cooler the book cover, the less the author thinks they need to describe cool stuff in their ...more
Asher's novels have the coolest covers—I was kinda hoping I'd enjoy his writing so that I'd have a tonne of new books to read. Alas despite some cool ideas, it just went on and on, back and forth between hero and villain while almost nothing happened. More and more secondary characters introduced, none of them really distinct enough to get built into my head.
I've also found that, the cooler the book cover, the less the author thinks they need to describe cool stuff in their ...more
Perfectly serviceable mystery-space-op-sci-fantasy. Not up there with Banks or Bear or Watts at their best but if you're after a book where an FTL culture still allegedly lives in a pre-scarcity economy and follows an action-lit plot-line you could do far worse.
Two criticisms I've had to pick out, if only because of the extreme strange-ness, though:
SPOILERS
1. Asher didn't seem to realise that our favourite characters were The Baddest Baddies: Pelter and Mr Crane (in fact, the series titular char ...more
Two criticisms I've had to pick out, if only because of the extreme strange-ness, though:
SPOILERS
1. Asher didn't seem to realise that our favourite characters were The Baddest Baddies: Pelter and Mr Crane (in fact, the series titular char ...more
In my opinion, Gridlinked succeeds at being a smart, well written, engaging sci-fi spy thriller of a page turner. Neal Asher succeeded at what he set out to do on all counts. Gridlinked did not ask or answer any of life's great questions, but it did provide me with hours of great fun, action, humor, and a VERY well done sci-fi world! I love the Polity lore, and can't wait to read more. If Steven Erickson's Malazan is my favorite fantasy world, Polity is it's sci-fi counterpart. Wouldn't it be gr
...more
The first full book from Asher I've read here. Published quite a while back now, it seems to have set the standard for a few of his novels and his style.
Quite a long and good sized book, not space opera but features things like various planets, spaceships, AI and alien species. Like an action-adventure sci-fi movie, it moves along steady, never really slowing down too often. Good interesting lead character and others around him. If this is your kind of sci-fi thing, it probably will not let you ...more
Quite a long and good sized book, not space opera but features things like various planets, spaceships, AI and alien species. Like an action-adventure sci-fi movie, it moves along steady, never really slowing down too often. Good interesting lead character and others around him. If this is your kind of sci-fi thing, it probably will not let you ...more
Full review on my podcast, SFBRP episode #377.
http://www.sfbrp.com/archives/1479
...more
http://www.sfbrp.com/archives/1479
...more
I’ve been trying lately to pin down, in some quantifiable way, how I read books. When I first started my blog I started giving everything a rating. It didn’t make sense after awhile so I abandoned it. I decided that my reviews have to stand on their own. So I’ve been trying to find a way to describe why some books fill me with pure hatred and others with pure glee. For instance I don’t know why I love Robert Jordan’s books but read Dan Brown with the kind of loathing that is actually joy at all
...more
The first three quarter of the book were a very strong 4 stars. Unfortunately, the novel’s end sank down into the two/one star category.
The Good Parts: I loved the world-building and weird universe that Asher created. I liked his quirky AI’s. I enjoyed the grit, gore, action and pace. And once I got use to the slightly choppy writing writing style, I liked that too. It had the feel of a cyberpunk novel, but more readable. (I often find cyberpunk intriguing in concept, but difficult to actually ...more
The Good Parts: I loved the world-building and weird universe that Asher created. I liked his quirky AI’s. I enjoyed the grit, gore, action and pace. And once I got use to the slightly choppy writing writing style, I liked that too. It had the feel of a cyberpunk novel, but more readable. (I often find cyberpunk intriguing in concept, but difficult to actually ...more
I was expecting to read a cross between the grittiness of Neuromancer and the epic storyline of Dune. I can only assume that's what Neal Asher was going for by writing us a cyberpunk plot full of cheap death and shady characters set in a pan-galactic universe where faster-than-light travel is a trivial matter. Unfortunately, the story is terribly rushed. Where Neuromancer and Dune are full of details that add life to those stories Gridlinked glosses over anything that isn't gore or action. Both
...more
About 85% done according to Kindle: a brawny, masculine book about an insensitive super agent. The story is more about action than sense or motivations. Characters are introduced and killed without compassion. A cold book that reminds me of action movies such as Mission Impossible or Captain America, where the entertainment is in the blasting, furious activity, tantalizing the eyes but light on the humanity and eminently forgettable.
I realize that Asher wrote many books in the same universe and ...more
I realize that Asher wrote many books in the same universe and ...more
I found this pretty disappointing. The world didn't make much sense to me, which I think is a pretty bad failure for SF. Why are these people squabbling over petty change when they have energy surpluses large enough to quickly terraform ice planets? Why do the AIs let humans make the important choices? If linking human and AI minds leads to such amazing advances, why has it only been done once? If the main character's antique weapon is so powerful, why doesn't everyone use things like that?
Overl ...more
Overl ...more
Disappointing read. Clunky prose. Inane dialogue. Plodding storyline. Hero worship. Assinine aliens. Faceless characters. Weak women. Dumb henchmen. Anticlimactic ending. Author's freshmen novel. GR reviews state that the sequel THE LINE OF POLITY is much better. I hope!
...more
This book is a fantastic melange between intelligent plot, great action, interesting characters and some very profound questions.
In the prequel to the series, it had been determined that Cormac has an autism spectrum disorder which could be seen in his extreme focus on the knowledge and lack of social skills. Imagine a man like that connected for 30 years to the AI grid. When his performance on the field as an ECS agent starts to suffer because of the lack of empathy and recognition of human emotions, he was given an ultimatum: get off from the grid or resign.
Disconnected from the grid, Cormac has to investigate a potent ...more
Disconnected from the grid, Cormac has to investigate a potent ...more
Aug 21, 2007
Mark
rated it
really liked it
Recommends it for:
fans of cyberpunk and spy novels
Shelves:
britishsci-fi
Yet another of the cadre of great British science-fiction writers (which, I maintain, is where all the best new sci-fi is coming from these days).
This is a spy story. The protagonist is James Bond-ish, but with a critical weakness -- he's been hooked into the AI net for so long that he's lost his connection with his fellow humans. So, the AIs cut him off and he's now forced to do his job -- which involves thwarting the plans of an enigmatic alien -- without his usual advantage. Kind of an intere ...more
This is a spy story. The protagonist is James Bond-ish, but with a critical weakness -- he's been hooked into the AI net for so long that he's lost his connection with his fellow humans. So, the AIs cut him off and he's now forced to do his job -- which involves thwarting the plans of an enigmatic alien -- without his usual advantage. Kind of an intere ...more
The positive side of Gridlinked revolves around the author's ability to create interesting characters, set forth a compelling conflict among those characters and describe the action using descriptions of biology and technology that are almost sufficiently detailed to qualify as "Hard SF". However, in the end, Asher writes Space Operas. Which is fine because that's what I like.
On the negative side, for this novel, the author seems to intoduce a few too many elements (and perhaps characters) into ...more
On the negative side, for this novel, the author seems to intoduce a few too many elements (and perhaps characters) into ...more
I really wanted to like this book. The world-building is spectacular and there are dozens of novels set in the same universe; I was looking forward to them. Unfortunately, I found it a slog to get through, because frankly the plot was boring and predictable and the story was told in a wooden and tiresome manner. The characters were also under-developed, but I don't consider that a huge issue for a sci-fi adventure. It's a shame, I would have loved to read more about the Polity.
...more
Weirdly, bizarrely compelling to me despite its myriad flaws. Warnings for extreme violence, off-screen rape and general cynical grittiness.
There are no likable characters in this. Not a single character is compelling or interesting, despite attempts by the author to make them that way. Agent Cormac himself tries to be interesting with how he's coping with not being "gridlinked" - essentially permanently connected to futuristic AI google - but the awkwardness fades and he becomes flat action her ...more
There are no likable characters in this. Not a single character is compelling or interesting, despite attempts by the author to make them that way. Agent Cormac himself tries to be interesting with how he's coping with not being "gridlinked" - essentially permanently connected to futuristic AI google - but the awkwardness fades and he becomes flat action her ...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I WANT TO JOIN A SECRET OCCULT IN KANO, KASTINA, LAGOS, ABUJA, KADUNA ETC. +2348082251281 | 1 | 1 | Sep 20, 2020 01:04AM | |
| Fantasy Buddy Reads: Gridlinked [July 1, 2018] | 29 | 47 | Jan 25, 2020 01:16PM | |
| Goodreads Librari...: Gridlinked - Neal Asher | 3 | 13 | Aug 08, 2018 04:12PM | |
| Space Opera Fans : Gridlinked by Neal Asher | 27 | 57 | Aug 20, 2015 04:24AM |
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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
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Happy Women's History Month! One of the undisputedly good things about modern scholarship is that women’s history is finally getting its due....
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“Cormac was completely aware that he was being manipulated, but how he could not see. He reckoned that when he did find out, the surprise would be a nasty one. That was how it usually went.”
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