World Walkers

Owner Trilogy

by Neal Asher

He can jump between worlds. But can he save his own?

As a totalitarian Inspectorate tightens its grip, one man discovers the power to slip through the gaps and traverse alternate universes. World Walkers by Neal Asher is an exhilarating standalone novel set within the Owner Trilogy.

Ottanger is a rebel and mutant on an Earth governed by a ruthless Committee. But after its Inspectorate experiments on him, Ottanger realizes the mutation allows him to reach alternate worlds. The multiverse is revealed in all its glory and terror – and he understands that he can finally flee his timeline.

Then Ottanger meets the Fenris, an evolved human, visiting his Earth from the far future. He’d engineered the original world walking mutation, so those altered could escape the Committee’s nightmarish regime. Yet this only worked for a few, and millions continued to suffer. And Ottanger sees that that Committee will become unstoppable if not destroyed.

However, the Fenris has drawn yet another threat to Ottanger’s Earth. With the power of its trillion linked minds, it craves world-walking biotech and will do anything to get it. As conflict looms at home, and war threatens the multiverse – the Fenris, Ottanger and his companions must prepare for a galaxy-altering battle

Genres: Science Fiction, Space Opera, Audiobook, Science Fiction Fantasy

670 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 1, 2024

About the author

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 scrub sensitive parts of my body with detergent. I think I’ll hang around.

Source: http://www.blogger.com/profile/139339...

Reviews

[Zozo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m sorry to say this but Mr. Asher’s books are on a sharp decline for me. I’m a great fan but it just doesn’t work for me anymore.

This one was too long with lots of repetitions (like people discovering their new powers and we go through the same experience over and over and over). And the morality! Soooo much morality, oh what should we do, we shouldn’t kill, we shouldn’t obey old human instincts etc. 600 pages of this and absolutely no humor in it.

I struggled the whole time.

[Julie · Rating 2 out of 5]

What a snooze fest. It took me forever to read this book. I does have an interesting take on the multiverse, where instead of just the usual the author had the multiverse set up with nodal worlds where whatever happens on the nodal world spills over down into the worlds beneath it. The first character we meet, The Fenris, is on a nodal world. It is an alien, the last of its kind. The Fenris is long-lived but still young, what we would consider a teenager, so of course he makes rash decisions trying to help another world but there are unintended consequences.

Then we meet some of the humans living on that world, ultimately labeled Committee Earth because it is ruled by The Committee, and how they are struggling to live under a ruthless society of the 1% and the peons (they're called SA and ZA but I could never remember which was which) who live in poverty and in fear of their lives because the militaristic leaders will crack down on anyone they think might be with a resistance group.

The Fenris's people (centuries dead but he has the written history) used to be world walkers who could jaunt (kudos to the author for the Easter Egg) from world to world throughout the multiverse. The Fenris can't jaunt yet because he's still young but he can open a crack to Committee Earth and send a virus that will infect some people with his DNA and eventually after a few generations they will be able to jaunt. So the story shifts to the humans who had Fenris DNA and discover they can jaunt between worlds. However there is something worse than Committee Earth awaiting them if they jaunt too far.

My takeaway from this book is that the author writes better AIs than he does humans. Ugh, some of the small group of humans we follow are just 2D cut-outs. I haven't read all of his books yet but I'd say I've read most of them and I love some of his AI characters. I hope he goes back to writing about AIs in his next book.

[Alun Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slightly laborious but with interesting concepts

For regular Neal Asher readers this book will probably be a bit disappointing as it seems to lack the drive and clarity of narrative usually present in his books.
The central concept of world walking and presentation of moral and ethical questions in using advanced technology to intervene in less advanced societies is interesting and in many ways drives this book. Again this is at odds with the Cormac and Spatterjay novels that have a lot more action (or at least feel like they do).
Still an enjoyable work but I'd probably recommend some of his earlier works as a better introduction to what Neal Asher is capable of.

[Joseph Manes · Rating 5 out of 5]

May the author be immortal and just keep writing

May the author be immortal and just keep writing because Neal Asher just keeps delivery great stories and unique view points and characters!!

May more world to discover is the “Walker” universe

[Margob99 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Laboured.

[Erik Martenson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Long Walk

World Walkers is a stand-alone novel set in the Owner trilogy universe, where a totalitarian government rules, pretty much like the novel 1984. It’s a massive undertaking of 660 pages.

I wonder if the author recently visited Norway, or maybe he read one of my books and got inspired by my country? Because in this novel he uses several Norwegian names. The most noticeable one is Fenris, which is a monster from Norse mythology. There’s also a guy called Stavanger, which is the oil industry capital of Norway, and the similar-sounding Ottanger, which is not a place in Norway, but could’ve been.

I remember liking the Owner trilogy, but for some reason I can’t put my finger on, this book failed to connect with me. Maybe it feels unnecessary long, or maybe I’m just so deeply embedded in the Polity universe, I don’t know. It’s not bad at all, it’s solid workmanship, but still I can’t justify a maximum rating.

I did not spot any mistakes in the text, but the use of the terms «machine pistol» and «machine gun» made me frown. I believe the first should be «submachine gun» like the H&K MP5 or the Thompson «Tommygun» M1928A1. The second term is usually for firearms used by squads of eight men or more, like the German MG42, also in a modern form as the MG3, with a much lower rate of fire. It’s not a personal defense weapon, but rather a heavy belt-fed gun intended for suppressive fire, id est to deny enemy troops the ability to move forward and gain territory. Usually two men are needed for this weapon, one shooter and one loader, and the whole team carries ammo for it. While there are lighter magazine-fed varietes, like the B.A.R. and the British Bren gun, I think «assault rifle» would’ve worked better in the context of this novel.

Anyway, that’s just me being a gun nerd. This book gets a solid four star rating, and I hope the next one is back to lethal war drones and killer crabs.

[Corey Florucci · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is clearly inspired by the author's political perspective and the story suffers as a result. It's as if the political metaphor came first and the story was slapped on top as a delivery vessel. Because of this, the story loses what little momentum it has in act 3.

It's basically an anti-communist, pro-individualism strawman. Which is fine, one of the greatest sci-fi novels of all time does the same exact thing. It's anti-homogenization entirely, with a jab at homogenized information and education (probably a parallel to information distribution from AI or Google.) It posits that oppressive authoritarian-communism with a caste system could lead humans to evolve into either a hive-mind of drones whose only purpose is to continue existing, or it can break out of this and become super-human geniuses that live forever and reach the pinnacle of evolution. This has the bones of a great story, but the political point is too heavily referenced. It's stated too often rather than shown. The argument doesn't seem to work well enough on its own without being constantly referred to.

This leads to the story not being compelling. The emotional content is on par with a Christopher Nolan movie. In the midst of torture, oppression on a global scale, genocide, heroic altruism, and loss of bodily autonomy, we get no emotion. The only time someone actually 'feels' something, the author decides to state it as fact, not show it through action or character growth. There are a few attempts but the author clearly lacks the depth to portray it effectively. Whenever something real happens, its simply stated. Leaving the only true descriptions to battles and action. It's as if the author can't bring himself to live his story through his characters, but excels at action.

Asher, stick to your space operas with crabs vs. humans and robots. Stop trying to be the next George Orwell or Aldous Huxley.

[chris cottini · Rating 5 out of 5]

Always good

This author has a way with tales! And words! I was initially very partial to the polity universe works he has done, and while those are still my favorite, I have grown to really enjoy the other stuff he writes. This book is particularly engaging and addresses the deep and compelling questions that attracted me in the first place: what is a human being, and where does that line start or stop? What is morality? Is it absolute or subjective? Anyway, this is a great story and wonderfully crafted.

[R. Andrew Lamonica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Neal Asher remains a solid writer, but World Walkers jumps the shark a little bit by tripling down on every conservative and libertarian meme you can think of and a few he invented for the story. I'm not sure why this one feels like it is full of dog-whistles (about gender roles, microchipping, vaccines, guns, eugenics, the deep state, etc) while the other parts of The Owner Trilogy didn't. Maybe all of this was in the other novels and I just missed it. Maybe Neal Asher's editor toned them down. It doesn't really matter, they still took away from my enjoyment of the story (and the action).

The strange part is that the resolution...
...is significantly less hardline than the rest of the book. At least one of the heroes comes to the conclusion that 100% rugged-individualism is a bit too much and that society need not be 100% evil. This conclusion comes after the heroes try every anti-social action they can think of and justify those actions by saying "better all these people be dead than part of a dystopian society."

I'll probably skip any future Neal Asher books that take place in the near future. They seem too much like cringy social commentary.

[Jochen Potzkoten · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very good read as usual.
Unfortunately I do not like multiverse stories because if everything is possible in the neighbour universe, why should any plot, character and action have relevance in this one?

[Reuben Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve read every single book by this gifted author… and this is the only one that disappointed me.

[Andre · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not Neal's best work.

[Jay Day · Rating 2 out of 5]

Neal Asher writes Novels For Young Men and as I've gotten older, my interest has waned as his well-worn tropes continue to provide the spine to his novels. He follows the same essential premises when constructing his stories:

* Overly in-depth descriptions of body horror, technology, and weapons that can detract from the story or fail to move it forward
* An individual that inherits in-universe god-like powers (i.e. indestructible, ai levels of intelligence, etc.) and their development in inheriting said powers.
* The invincible anti-hero's fight (usually solo) against the enemy, and their disdain for their government, the powers that be, their allies, etc.
* And an ever-increasing arms race culminating in a massive battle that wages on for a huge chunk of the story.

This formula has been used for Jack Four, Gridlinked, Hilldiggers, The Complete Owner Trilogy, War Bodies, and most of his other novels.

That said, his science fiction concepts and ability to create technology and corresponding processes, are fantastic. From augs, to drones, to biological weapons, to alien crabs, to parallel universes, Asher builds incredibly detailed and rich universes. I love this aspect of his writing.

My problem with recent novels, and specifically World Walkers, is that the characters plod through the hints of these rich universes and as a reader, you couldn't care less. The characters are dull, one-dimensional, and emotionally absent, and the Babes in the Wood cliche gets tiresome and unwieldy. These characters are adults, yet have the emotional capacity and decision-making capabilities of pubescent teens. Note: the Fenris is technically a newborn/child/teenager, and Asher attributes mistakes made to this character's lack of maturity, but all of the characters are at the same general level of emotional development.

Besides the lack of characterization, the story didn't go anywhere. The climax was a small hill, and frankly at this point in the story, my interest had fallen off a cliff. By the end of the novel, we've learned nothing and the characters aren't any more interesting. It's frustrating, because there's so much potential here for a really interesting story, but Asher tends to focus on details that ultimately don't move the story along while leaving the character's arcs undeveloped.

And finally, science fiction is political and the creation of things that don't exist is influenced by the author's views of the world. In recent works, Asher has planted political tidbits that feel oddly out of place and don't benefit the story. It's as if he wants you to have no question what his politics are (anti-environmentalism, for example) and is waving a flag to make sure you notice.

All in all, I wouldn't recommend World Walkers. His earlier works are more compelling, or at least I found them more compelling as a young man.

[Steven Latta · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's funny that one of the cover blurbs is written by John Scalzi, because he and Neal could hardly be more different in style. Scalzi tends to be very character driven, with witty and frequently humorous dialogue, and sort of hand waves all the science bits. Neal Asher, in contrast, posits some really interesting ideas about the interface between people and technology and nails the science. Unfortunately, when it comes to plot and characters, that's where he gets hand-wavy, and moreso in this book than his previous ones. These are flat. The dialogue, never Asher's strong point, is atrocious this time around. The book gets 3 stars for the ideas and none for the characters. Honestly, 2 1/2 would be better, but I can't seem to do half stars. C'mon Neal, write dialogue like real people talk. Not everyone with a brain implant needs to talk like a Vulcan. And for the love of all, please stop trying to write sex scenes. Those do not benefit at all from you being great at writing science and not great at writing people.

[Aaron Wiggan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was okay, not as entertaining or immersive as Neal Asher’s other stories. The authors real, thoughts on issues such as a green movement, with the aim of restoring nature takes over the world and becomes what they hate as the committee. And comments like “fish farms receiving run off from solar panel reprocessing plants “ (in the book) were laughably pathetic… I suspect a world denuded of life due to prior generations of human activy would have bigger fish to fry so to speak. It was lazy writing indeed, the same can be said for the characters and the power dynamic. It’s readable, but if there was any book I think could be skipped, this is it. That said, the author returns to form in ‘Dark Dimond’ his next book.

[Wendy Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

It has taken me two months to read this book - I find science fiction takes more concentration than some other types, and I just can't read it all day like I might a 'cosy murder'. I've read 8 other books alongside this one, when my brain needed something a little 'easier' to absorb. But that's not to say it hasn't been a fantastic journey along the way. I haven't read the other books set in this universe (the Owner Trilogy), but that didn't matter; the world is well-described, and I didn't feel like I was missing out on anything - I only discovered it was set in this existing universe as I came to write my review. This is my 3rd Neal Asher book, and I look forward to more.

[Andy Venn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't find this book as easy to read as his others. It's quite a complex book, similar in complexity and length to Peter F Hamilton's later books. But that doesn't stop it being an excellent read. I would compare it to a dirty version of Terry Pratchett's 'The Long Earth' in the same way that Babylon 5 was a dirtier, more gritty version of Star Trek. One is all light and fluffy and Neal's is full of violence and deception.
Sorry Neal, I don't mean to keep comparing you to others but it just seemed appropriate in this case.

[Lucy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The conceit of this book is that a group of 'people' develop the ability to move between parallel worls and with the use of technology modify what is happening in those worlds. The book is written from several different points of view resulting in an unnecessarily confusing narrative, it would have been much tighter and a better novel if it had one or at most 2 protagonists. The number of different future techs though in the end made it all seem a bit magical and hard to engage with the denouement of the plot.

[Mike Smoller · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I did enjoy reading this, I could not give it a full five star rating because the author borrowed too much from other sci-fi which preceded it. Rather than using the term "jaunting" to describe the ability to move by will of mind from one place to another (ie. Alfred Bester - "The Stars My Destination") he could have used some other term such as: Transdimensional Transport. And near the conclusion he also pirated the much abused: with great power comes great responsibility. These diminished the overall effect which the story and plot would have had for me.

[Darren · Rating 2 out of 5]

Full of tech, hard sci-fi, totalitarian politics, aliens(ish - no spoilers here) and multiverses. I don’t know if I have become multiverse weary, but I struggled to have any empathy for the plight of the characters or the universes. Considering empathy is a key theme of the book I found my lack of it ironic. It was an enjoyable read, but for me lacked depth and, ultimately, originality… or perhaps I just have no empathy?!?

[Mike Franklin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good book but it’s also a multiple/splitting universe book and I just really struggle with suspension of disbelief in books with this theme. I mean where does all that mass come from if the universe splits at a decision/choice points; a complete new universe of matter…every time? Really? But that aside it is a very good story but getting into it was way harder than normal with Asher. I found the initial 100 pages or so muddled and confusing.

[Flowers4Algernon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t like books about multiverses and this one hasn’t changed my opinion. It’s like the Magnificent Seven meet the Tomorrow People with a hint of X Men but - and I wouldn’t normally say this about a Neal Asher novel - extremely dull, meandering and muddled. And… Mr Asher best check your sources on what constitutes Genocide.

[Drew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great mix of action, mystery and science fiction. Non-stop action. I could not put it down and ended up reading it in a matter of days. I don't easily give 5 stars. This one deserves it. If you want to experience a classic story filled with non-stop action then this is the one for you.

[Andre · Rating 3 out of 5]

Asher has gone off the boil a bit since the Soldier trilogy. Post pandemic doldrums? this was much harder to wade through than his best, and the ideas are largely cannibalised from other world building exercises. Look forward to seeing a return to form.

[Manohar Singh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written as always

Liked the imagination and the ideas encompassed in the story. But did not rate is as high as earlier work as lacked the character building and the subtle humour. Still a good read.

[Owen Butler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it
another Asher triumph : )

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

It describes the today's world

[Zeke Zimonick · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting idea. An interesting story. It just didn't grab me like other Asher books.

[William Lowell · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 I had a hard time getting through the first 200 or so pages, once things were setup things took off and I enjoyed the book.

[Randy French · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, to put it simply - I 'almost' loved it. So liked it a bunch - enough to give it a 5!
Nice story that grew on me.... Another of my favorites from Asher