| Categories | | • | Art, Architecture & Photography | | • | Audio CDs | | • | Audio Cassettes | | • | Biography | | • | Business, Finance & Law | | • | Calendars, Diaries, Annuals & More | | • | Childrens Books | | • | Comics & Graphic Novels | | • | Computers & Internet | | • | Crime, Thrillers & Mystery | | • | Fiction | | • | Food & Drink | | • | Health, Family & Lifestyle | | • | History | | • | Home & Garden | | • | Horror | | • | Humour | | • | Languages | | • | Mind, Body & Spirit | | • | Music, Stage & Screen | | • | Poetry, Drams & Criticism | | • | Reference | | • | Religion & Spirituality | | • | Romance | | • | Science & Nature | | • | Science Fiction & Fantasy | | • | Scientific, Technical & Mediacl | | • | Society, Politics & Philosophy | | • | Sports, Hobbies & Games | | • | Study Books | | • | Travel & Holiday | | • | Young Adult | | • | DVD |
|
|
|
|
Gridlinked | 
 enlarge | Author: Neal Asher
Publisher: Tor
Category: Book
List Price: £6.99
Buy New: £2.93
You Save: £4.06 (58%)
New (29) Used (9) from £1.93
Rating:  27 reviews
Sales Rank: 3511
Media: Paperback
Edition: New Ed
Pages: 528
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7 x 4.1 x 1.3
ISBN: 0330484338
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780330484336
ASIN: 0330484338
Publication Date: March 8, 2002
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand new book dispatched from stock in the UK
| |
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk Review
Gridlinked is the talented Neal Asher's first full-length SF novel, an accomplished rapid-action thriller crammed with high technology, obsessed characters, and the glittering boys' toys of advanced weaponry. Cormac is a legendary Earth Central Security agent, the James Bond of a wealthy future where "runcible" transmitters allow interstellar travel in an eye blink. Unfortunately Cormac is nearly burnt out, "gridlinked" to the AI net so long that his humanity has drained away. He has to take the cold turkey cure and shake his addiction to instant online access, even while investigating the unique runcible disaster that's wiped out the entire human colony on planet Samarkand in a 30 megaton explosion ... Hot on Cormac's heels is vengeful terrorist Pelter, backed up by his unstoppable, psychotic android killer "Mr Crane" and a goon squad of mercenaries. Other trouble has been brewing since 27 years earlier, when Cormac was humanity's ambassador to a vast, incomprehensible alien that called itself Dragon. Deep beneath Samarkand's surface there are buried mysteries, fiercely guarded. And is it true that Cormac's enigmatic boss is an immortal who's lived half a millennium and was born in the 20th century? Asher's galaxy is full of colour and sleaze, and his story rattles along at speed. There are surprises, double-crosses, elaborate lies to be seen through, astonishing escapes from certain death, and last-minute reversals. Though the ultimate fates of the lesser villains seem mildly anticlimactic, the true bad guy is dealt with in spectacular style. Sequels are hinted. Fast-moving, edge-of-the-seat entertainment. --David Langford
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 22 more reviews...
 Cracking Read May 8, 2008
Being a varied reader I try lots of genres. Of late Peter Hamilton has gripped me with his astounding story telling and I thought I would risk ASHER to see how different another epic space story could be told. There will always be similarities but what a good read. New ideas and characters. As the obvious first book in a set it takes a while to get to grips with the tech and general way the world works but by the end I'm hooked and have blasted through the others which are equally as good.
Cyber-punk meets Iain Banks in this great piece of sci-fi April 11, 2008
This is an action-packed story but with some very clever cyber-punk concepts as well. There's also a big Iain Banks influence, but what's wrong with that! The story is generally well paced, there are a few lulls but when things get going, they really get going. One of the most enigmatic and scariest characters in this is the robot Mr Crane, not someone/something you want to meet on a dark night and superbly conceptualised by Asher, a must book for sci-fi fans.
gridlinked April 1, 2008
Neal Asher is one of those authors who manages to deliver something that is fast-paced and engaging without feeling like something you wish you'd borrowed from the library instead of buying. To be honest he borders on pulp at time, but in this case it's not a bad thing - "Gridlinked" is a great example of how he counterbalances the pulp factor with comprehensible science and surprising clarity at times, forgoing the fancy narrative and pseudo-poetry that a lot of science-fiction authors go for.
He is concise and compelling for the most part - the downside is that the characters feel like film characters rather than real people, but when you're after this kind of action sci-fi, that is weird and wonderful stories filled with awesome gadgets and creatures, it doesn't matter too much. "Gridlinked" is one of the Agent Cormac novels to feature the brilliant Mr Crane, a bronze android with fearsome strength and almost tangibly intimidating personality. One of the most original characters I've read in sci-fi, he's the character who causes you to tut when his scene ends and grin when his next one begins. Cormac is almost as engaging, a man dehumanised by his integration with technology and his intellectual proximity to the many AIs that govern Earth and other colonised worlds.
It's a fine novel and well worth a read, especially if you haven't read Asher before and want to branch out into new authors.
Action sf on a huge canvas January 16, 2008
Ian Cormac is an Earth Central Security agent undercover with a resistance faction led by Arian Pelter with the help of freelance mercenary John Stanton. All is going well, but they discover his true identity and he kills Arian's sister and injures both Stanton and Pelter as he makes his escape. After being gridlinked for 30 years, ten above recommended maximum, Cormac has started to lose his humanity. It is this that caused the operation to be discovered by the resistance and the reason why he must stop grindlinking, the only way to get his humanity back.
The runcible on Samarkand has been destroyed purposely, with it destroying the current terraforming operation and killing all humans. The evidence points to a creature known as Dragon, an alien consisting of four 1-kilometer wide spheres of flesh. Cormac has met with Dragon many years ago, and although everyone thought he had been destroyed, it is not the case. After arriving at Samarkand a discovery is made, two beings created by Dragon, Dracomen, are found. Along with this there is an unknown object discovered by the scanners buried underground. This object turns out to be an adamantium egg, a prison which held Maker, apparently one of the race that created Dragon. Dragon knew of Maker's escape and tried to destroy it by using the runcible as a devastating bomb.
Cormac must now get to the bottom of Dragon's reappearance, finding out what Maker is and if Dragon can be trusted. Along the way he is pursued by Pelter and Stanton, along with Pelter's psychopathic Golem, Mr Crane.
I found this book to be highly enjoyable, one of the better novels I've read in quite a while. I'm no stranger to Neal's work, having already read The Skinner, Voyage of the Sable Keech and Hilldiggers, all of which are set in the same brilliant universe. As this is Neal's first major novel some of the writing does give away this fact, although it never feels clunky and does flow smoothly enough to enjoy.
The characters are well developed and each have their own feel, especially Pelter and his deranged android, Mr Crane. The character of Mr Crane is an unusual one, an android that is controlled by Pelter but has an underlying personality that is hinted at strongly, but never quite explored enough. Cormac is a typical agent, and after the gridlinking is removed you can almost feel a sympathy with him, not quite knowing what to say or how to behave in some situations. His growth in this story is quite substantial and the character we find at the end of the book is one I look forward to reading more about.
One of Neal's strongest points as a writer is just how well he develops this universe and all its inhabitants, from modified humans to Golem super-androids and then to the AI's that are the obvious ruling power in the human Polity, everything just fits nicely into place as if years were spent inventing and refining this future. I've loved the richness of Spatterjay when I read The Skinner and Voyage of the Sable Keech, and Hilldiggers showed a different side of the coin with political storylines dominating the novel, but now that I've started Neals major piece of work, the Cormac series, I can truly see how talented an author he is and just how widely his imagination reaches. I can only hope that I enjoy the following four Cormac novels as much as this, because action sf on a huge canvas doesn't get much better.
 Science Fiction for the Playstation fan December 18, 2007
Little characterisation, psychotic villains, ultra violence, indestructible heroes, adolescent fantasy women, yup this is a science fiction written by someone who's spent too long playing computer games.
Its not terrible, the plot has a reasonable momentum and there are some entertaining touches, not least the use of Edward Lear, but it doesn't exactly engage the brain. Probably best on a train journey when you don't want to tax too much grey matter. There are better science fiction writers around, for goodness sake even Peter Hamilton has more depth, and he tends towards the shallow end of the learners pool.
When I got to the end I was rather mystified. By all the people who say the end is so mysterious, seems pretty straight forward to me.
|
|
|
| |
|
