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Agent Cormac #3
Brass Man
Ian Cormac, a legendary Earth Central Security agent, the James Bond of a wealthy future, is hunting an interstellar dragon, little knowing that, far away, his competition has resurrected an horrific killing machine named "Mr. Crane" to assist in a similar hunt, ecompassing whole star systems. Mr. Crane, the insane indestructible artificial man now in a new metal body, seeks to escape a bloody past he can neither forget nor truly remember. And he is on a collision course with Ian Cormac.
568 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
205 people are currently reading
2364 people want to read
About the author
Neal Asher
139 books3,062 followersI’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...
Source: http://www.blogger.com/profile/139339...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 207 reviews
June 17, 2018
In a lot of ways, this is primarily a character-driven novel.
It may not seem that way because we're surrounded by more Ship and World-AIs than we can shake a stick at, Jain mushrooms infecting whole civilizations with super-high-tech hacking monstrosities (that are mycelium), androids, cyborgs, messed-up alien ecologies, and alien BDOs that aren't so dumb.
Where's the character-driven stuff? They're now on a tech-race about to turn all the intelligences in the galaxy into greed-monsters inciting war on a REALLY huge scale.
Well, fortunately, the Brass Man, a robot built like a literal tank and so full of split personalities that he's almost become SANE, is a great character. Cormac is great, too, and he definitely gets a powerup here, but mostly the novel is all about the bad guys and these two. :)
Oh, the bad guys get a LOT of time and they're pretty much entirely a Bond-Villain schtick. :) I don't care. It's fun as hell. :)
I will NOT say that this novel was as good as the others in terms of plot or twists, but the ambiance was pretty awesome. :) As a space-opera, I was constantly thinking about how this ranks up to Iain M. Banks and it does, very admirably. Not in the same quality, mind you, but when we're dealing with huge AI-mindships and the whole Polity behaving badly, I had a LOT of great flashbacks. :)
I think I'm going to be having a lot of fun with all these books in the very near future.
It may not seem that way because we're surrounded by more Ship and World-AIs than we can shake a stick at, Jain mushrooms infecting whole civilizations with super-high-tech hacking monstrosities (that are mycelium), androids, cyborgs, messed-up alien ecologies, and alien BDOs that aren't so dumb.
Where's the character-driven stuff? They're now on a tech-race about to turn all the intelligences in the galaxy into greed-monsters inciting war on a REALLY huge scale.
Well, fortunately, the Brass Man, a robot built like a literal tank and so full of split personalities that he's almost become SANE, is a great character. Cormac is great, too, and he definitely gets a powerup here, but mostly the novel is all about the bad guys and these two. :)
Oh, the bad guys get a LOT of time and they're pretty much entirely a Bond-Villain schtick. :) I don't care. It's fun as hell. :)
I will NOT say that this novel was as good as the others in terms of plot or twists, but the ambiance was pretty awesome. :) As a space-opera, I was constantly thinking about how this ranks up to Iain M. Banks and it does, very admirably. Not in the same quality, mind you, but when we're dealing with huge AI-mindships and the whole Polity behaving badly, I had a LOT of great flashbacks. :)
I think I'm going to be having a lot of fun with all these books in the very near future.
February 24, 2022
He felt his mouth suddenly go dry.
This story continues basically where The Line of Polity left off. There is a rather bewildering number of characters. In addition to the characters being carried over from Gridlinked and Line of Polity, there are a number of new names and faces, including quite a few AI ship minds. It is a bit confusing at first, since there are a corresponding number of inter-related (and seemingly unrelated) stories being told, and at least one of them by making use of flashbacks. Hang in there, though, it does come together. Fortunately Neal Asher is predictably dependable with this kind of thing, although this one had me in the dark longer than most.
He felt something tighten in the pit of his stomach.
The third-stager was black against a vertical sandstone cliff, swinging its awful head from side to side, its huge pincers gleaming sharp as obsidian, and its jointed carapace saws scrabbling at the stone, sending pieces of it tumbling down the face of the butte. He watched it move along parallel to the ground, its antlers coiling in and out, then abruptly turn and come half falling, half running down the sandstone face. It landed on its belly in a cloud of dust, came up high with its legs at full extension, and curled its tail segments up over its head, its ovipositor drill visibly revolving.
As with the previous entries, all the story lines converge on a specific place and time. This time in the system of the desert planet Cull. It seems that the narrative structure of the Polity novels is following some sort of template. Like Masada in Line Of Polity, Cull has its own unique eco-system and formidable collection of terrifying critters to contend with: notably higher stage Sleers and a colossal acid-spitting atrocity called a Droon. There is also a metal city… on pillars… which is always a cool feature in any story.
The Golem’s eyes were obsidian in its brass face; its massive hands were capable of tearing a man like tissue paper.
The action is not limited to Cull. There are some impressive space sequences, especially towards the latter chapters of the book, where some AI controlled ships go full tilt at each other, causing remarkable amounts of damage to everything around them. There is quite a bit of focus on the AI minds here, and we get some good insight as to their types, hierarchy, capabilities and motivations, so in that respect (fleshing out the Polity universe and where everything fits in, so to speak) Brass Man succeeds quite well. Might I add that I include the Golems when I refer to AI’s here, and that is actually one of the central themes here, which, given the title of the novel shouldn’t be a large surprise.
This, [he] understood, was a man who could kill without compunction or guilt, in the service of his own conception of right and wrong. He also contained a capacity for great love, and it was full, and his mistress was the Polity.
As for agent Cormac. Chaos and unpredictability obviously favour him, hence his predilection to surround himself with wild cards, or characters who represent an unknown factor of sorts. He is formidable, but he is human (unlike some of the other characters in this book), so he often has to rely on his wits and on his reaction to circumstances to win the day. He flies by the seat of his pants, and considering that his adversary here is basically an all-powerful supervillain, “skin of your teeth” starts taking on a whole new meaning. Speaking of which, I had thought this was dealt with in the previous novel, and having you-know-who with his Jain super-technology as the villain of the piece again was just a bit of a letdown.
The ship did not have time for evasion, but the AI mind inside it had an eternity of nanoseconds to contemplate what was happening to it. There were no real explosions; the beam just took away the ship’s main body, converting it to a plume of plasma many kilometres long.
June 25, 2020
Neal Asher's Polity series just keeps delivering.
From Prador Moon, through the short stories of The Engineer Reconditioned to the Cormac stories in Gridlinked and The Line of Polity Asher keeps up a breakneck pace of action, fantastic technologies and fascinating worlds that has regularly kept me glued to his books into the early hours.
Brass Man is another such late night/early morning read, filled with great action set pieces, diabolical villains and planet-sized starships.
It is however, a little more disjointed than Gridlinked and The Line of Polity. Ian Cormac, while present throughout the story, doesn't feel like he plays a particularly substantial role here, and even the titular Brass Man (The resurrected Mr. Crane from Gridlinked) plays a minimal role in actually influencing the narrative.
Both characters have some interesting adventures, and Mr. Crane in particular is fleshed out in a very interesting and satisfying way, but their impact on the extinction-level threat present in the novel is surprisingly minimal. Instead, the real action is largely dictated by several Polity AIs (reminiscent of the ships in Iain Banks Culture series) and the cyborg agent Fethan, who was introduced in the previous novel.
There are no complaints from me here - anything that reminds me of the high points of Banks' work get double points from this reader, and Asher’s AI’s, while not quite as fun as Banks’ are still pretty cool. Jerusalem, a moon sized AI of godlike intelligence, along with the eccentric attack ship Jack Ketch and several of its warlike fellows are introduced as major characters that I expect will resurface in later novels.
While these and other characters (such as a Don Quixote-esque ‘knight’ who rides a giant crab-creature around a desert world in search of “dragons”) sort out the big problems that face the Polity and human/AI civilisation in general, Cormac chases his (also resurrected) adversary Skellor around the galaxy while learning more about himself and the enigmatic Horace Blum. With his Gridlink somehow spontaneously reactivated, and strange new abilities flickering at the edges of his awareness, Cormac appears close to making a leap in personal (and perhaps even human species-wide) evolution.
Meanwhile, we learn how Mr. Crane came to be the killing machine he is, and see him journey towards his own self-realisation. Some of the backstory for Crane is very cool (if a little horrifying) and we see through his eyes as he murders his way around the galaxy at the behest of a series of psychotic masters.
The usual snippets of info about the broader polity, included as excerpts from encyclopaedias and guides from the Polity universe add to the lore that has built up over the previous three novels, fleshing out even further what already feels like a vibrant, living universe.
It all makes for entertaining reading, however, this focus away from Cormac gives the book the feel of being a middle novel in a series - the one where important backstory and development of major characters happens while events rage on elsewhere, preparing them for the big fight/villain/endgame etc. Looking at Goodreads there are several further novels in the Ian Cormac series, so I suspect that this is the case. Knowing there are further books ahead made me fine with this structure, but had I read it when the book was first published, with no novels ahead to look forward to I might have been a little disappointed.
Considering Brass Man as part of series, however this is a fairly minor quibble. This is a breakneck race of a novel, filled with great action set pieces, cool tech, and engaging characters. It sets things up nicely for the continuation of what has become one of my favourite series in SF.
Four seemingly un-killable adversaries out of five.
From Prador Moon, through the short stories of The Engineer Reconditioned to the Cormac stories in Gridlinked and The Line of Polity Asher keeps up a breakneck pace of action, fantastic technologies and fascinating worlds that has regularly kept me glued to his books into the early hours.
Brass Man is another such late night/early morning read, filled with great action set pieces, diabolical villains and planet-sized starships.
It is however, a little more disjointed than Gridlinked and The Line of Polity. Ian Cormac, while present throughout the story, doesn't feel like he plays a particularly substantial role here, and even the titular Brass Man (The resurrected Mr. Crane from Gridlinked) plays a minimal role in actually influencing the narrative.
Both characters have some interesting adventures, and Mr. Crane in particular is fleshed out in a very interesting and satisfying way, but their impact on the extinction-level threat present in the novel is surprisingly minimal. Instead, the real action is largely dictated by several Polity AIs (reminiscent of the ships in Iain Banks Culture series) and the cyborg agent Fethan, who was introduced in the previous novel.
There are no complaints from me here - anything that reminds me of the high points of Banks' work get double points from this reader, and Asher’s AI’s, while not quite as fun as Banks’ are still pretty cool. Jerusalem, a moon sized AI of godlike intelligence, along with the eccentric attack ship Jack Ketch and several of its warlike fellows are introduced as major characters that I expect will resurface in later novels.
While these and other characters (such as a Don Quixote-esque ‘knight’ who rides a giant crab-creature around a desert world in search of “dragons”) sort out the big problems that face the Polity and human/AI civilisation in general, Cormac chases his (also resurrected) adversary Skellor around the galaxy while learning more about himself and the enigmatic Horace Blum. With his Gridlink somehow spontaneously reactivated, and strange new abilities flickering at the edges of his awareness, Cormac appears close to making a leap in personal (and perhaps even human species-wide) evolution.
Meanwhile, we learn how Mr. Crane came to be the killing machine he is, and see him journey towards his own self-realisation. Some of the backstory for Crane is very cool (if a little horrifying) and we see through his eyes as he murders his way around the galaxy at the behest of a series of psychotic masters.
The usual snippets of info about the broader polity, included as excerpts from encyclopaedias and guides from the Polity universe add to the lore that has built up over the previous three novels, fleshing out even further what already feels like a vibrant, living universe.
It all makes for entertaining reading, however, this focus away from Cormac gives the book the feel of being a middle novel in a series - the one where important backstory and development of major characters happens while events rage on elsewhere, preparing them for the big fight/villain/endgame etc. Looking at Goodreads there are several further novels in the Ian Cormac series, so I suspect that this is the case. Knowing there are further books ahead made me fine with this structure, but had I read it when the book was first published, with no novels ahead to look forward to I might have been a little disappointed.
Considering Brass Man as part of series, however this is a fairly minor quibble. This is a breakneck race of a novel, filled with great action set pieces, cool tech, and engaging characters. It sets things up nicely for the continuation of what has become one of my favourite series in SF.
Four seemingly un-killable adversaries out of five.
August 19, 2016
I always forget how much I trust Neal Asher. There are times during his books, of which I've now read six, that I find myself thoroughly confused. There are tons of characters usually spread out over like seven or eight different worlds with multiple plot lines being the norm. However, Mr. Asher never leaves you hanging but he also does not pander to the lowest common denominator. So at the beginning of chapters when I scratch my head and am saying, "huh?", I forget that by the end of the chapters I'm always like, "ooohhhh that's what he meant by that" or "oh shit, that is the coolest explanation ever". I love these books and I trust this author to entertain and surprise. Another solid five star read from the Polity Universe.
p.s. this guy makes microsecond computer program vs. virus battles exciting as hell!
p.s. this guy makes microsecond computer program vs. virus battles exciting as hell!
October 11, 2011
Brass Man continues my reading (and catch-up) of Neal Asher's Ian Cormac series. I'm a big fan of Neal's work and my one reading resolution for this year was to get up-to-date on his releases. I'm in the fortunate position of having the whole series sitting on my shelf ready for back-to-back reads so I can fully appreciate the overall story he's telling, and after recently reading both the second in the series, The Line of Polity, and now Brass Man I'm still gobsmacked that I haven't read them sooner. Brass Man is the third book in the series and picks up the characters following the conclusion of the previous book, with all the headaches that entails for Cormac and company!
After the events of The Line of Polity and the apparent destruction of Skellor and the deadly Jain technology he discovered and used, Masada and all those that were in contact with the technology are quarantined. Jerusalem, the vast AI starship whose sole job it is to monitor, study and restrict Jain technology, is now involved in the clean up from the fall out, but not all is back to normal. When a salvage ship discovers the bridge of the Occam Razor it's clear that Skellor and the Jain tech were not destroyed, and this one find leads events to Cull, to Dragon, and the resurecction of a dangerous brass Golem known as Mr Crane.
Brass Man is very much the second half of the story started in The Line of Polity, and while this is part of a five book series, tLoP and BM feel like a self-contained duology. This is good as there were some interesting things left over from the previous book that cried out for further development. The whole idea of the Jain tech is a deep rooted part of the story, and something that is so advanced really needed more exploration on how it works, what it can do and just how much a danger it poses. Asher does a good job of taking these details forward, looking at the possibilities of Jain technology and adding some new and dangerous aspects to it. As not too much has been discussed about the Jain tech in previous novels it works well to further explore it and show just how lethal it is, while also adding more to the worldbuilding of the Polity universe and its history.
The plot threads we follow range from the continuation of Cormac, Mika and Thorn's story from The Line of Polity, and also that of Skellor in his quest to track down Dragon. We also follow Anderson and Tergal on the planet of Cull, new characters who introduce us to the planet that houses one of the two remaining Dragon spheres. Each of the characters, both new and returning, help drive this story forward and allows Asher to dig deeper into the various aspects he's introduced in past novels: Dragon, Jain tech, and the way that AI rule the Polity. While we also meet Jerusalem, the huge AI ship dedicated to Jain tech study (and a really good addition to the story for all the information we learn through these threads), it was the re-introduction of Mr Crane that was my highlight.
Mr Crane is, essentially, a psychotic Golem. Destroyed at the end of Gridlinked, Skellor tracks down his remains and uses Jain tech to brng him back to life stronger than before with the use of Jain technology. Asher adds further depth to this character by showing us flashbacks of how Mr Crane became what he is. He also explores this to great effect, slowly but surely bringing the character from the one-minded killing machine to something.... more.
What is most enjoyable about Brass Man is the sheer feeling of threat that faces the Polity. While we only see this through the events on and around Cull, the implications of these events have far reaching effects. The story unfolds well, not too quickly and not with too much detail at the start, but once various aspects are in place it turns into a rollicking adventure, with action and exposition equally pushing the story forward. I knew Asher could write some of the best action sequences in the genre from all the previous novels I've read, but the building blocks he's put in place in previous novels are now unfolding nicely, adding to a large canvas in ways that I'm thoroughly enjoying.
Bottom line: if you've read anything by Neal Asher before then you're in for a treat with Brass Man, and if you haven't I can't recommend him highly enough. It's worth pushing through the two early novels just to see the pay off that is starting to come into play. For sheer entertainment value you'd be hard pushed to find another author writing in the genre that can match Neal Asher.
After the events of The Line of Polity and the apparent destruction of Skellor and the deadly Jain technology he discovered and used, Masada and all those that were in contact with the technology are quarantined. Jerusalem, the vast AI starship whose sole job it is to monitor, study and restrict Jain technology, is now involved in the clean up from the fall out, but not all is back to normal. When a salvage ship discovers the bridge of the Occam Razor it's clear that Skellor and the Jain tech were not destroyed, and this one find leads events to Cull, to Dragon, and the resurecction of a dangerous brass Golem known as Mr Crane.
Brass Man is very much the second half of the story started in The Line of Polity, and while this is part of a five book series, tLoP and BM feel like a self-contained duology. This is good as there were some interesting things left over from the previous book that cried out for further development. The whole idea of the Jain tech is a deep rooted part of the story, and something that is so advanced really needed more exploration on how it works, what it can do and just how much a danger it poses. Asher does a good job of taking these details forward, looking at the possibilities of Jain technology and adding some new and dangerous aspects to it. As not too much has been discussed about the Jain tech in previous novels it works well to further explore it and show just how lethal it is, while also adding more to the worldbuilding of the Polity universe and its history.
The plot threads we follow range from the continuation of Cormac, Mika and Thorn's story from The Line of Polity, and also that of Skellor in his quest to track down Dragon. We also follow Anderson and Tergal on the planet of Cull, new characters who introduce us to the planet that houses one of the two remaining Dragon spheres. Each of the characters, both new and returning, help drive this story forward and allows Asher to dig deeper into the various aspects he's introduced in past novels: Dragon, Jain tech, and the way that AI rule the Polity. While we also meet Jerusalem, the huge AI ship dedicated to Jain tech study (and a really good addition to the story for all the information we learn through these threads), it was the re-introduction of Mr Crane that was my highlight.
Mr Crane is, essentially, a psychotic Golem. Destroyed at the end of Gridlinked, Skellor tracks down his remains and uses Jain tech to brng him back to life stronger than before with the use of Jain technology. Asher adds further depth to this character by showing us flashbacks of how Mr Crane became what he is. He also explores this to great effect, slowly but surely bringing the character from the one-minded killing machine to something.... more.
What is most enjoyable about Brass Man is the sheer feeling of threat that faces the Polity. While we only see this through the events on and around Cull, the implications of these events have far reaching effects. The story unfolds well, not too quickly and not with too much detail at the start, but once various aspects are in place it turns into a rollicking adventure, with action and exposition equally pushing the story forward. I knew Asher could write some of the best action sequences in the genre from all the previous novels I've read, but the building blocks he's put in place in previous novels are now unfolding nicely, adding to a large canvas in ways that I'm thoroughly enjoying.
Bottom line: if you've read anything by Neal Asher before then you're in for a treat with Brass Man, and if you haven't I can't recommend him highly enough. It's worth pushing through the two early novels just to see the pay off that is starting to come into play. For sheer entertainment value you'd be hard pushed to find another author writing in the genre that can match Neal Asher.
March 24, 2015
The previous novel and the story collection were exceptional. In this one, though, Asher lost the grip on his narration. Too many plot lines coupled with some complex concepts (as is always the case with AIs and aliens) that remain confusing and some heavy handed parts (Mr. Crane's memories) made the story less enjoyable. This reads as a set-up novel to something bigger and, basically, the story has an unfinished feel.
That being said, like always, Asher's imagination is vast and often cheeky - what to say about the armored knight on the quest to slay a dragon in the middle of the sci-fi novel? The mystery of Cormac new abilities throws some shade on the Polity and the AIs' motivations. We'll see what happens next.
That being said, like always, Asher's imagination is vast and often cheeky - what to say about the armored knight on the quest to slay a dragon in the middle of the sci-fi novel? The mystery of Cormac new abilities throws some shade on the Polity and the AIs' motivations. We'll see what happens next.
July 22, 2015
3.5 to be accurate. Lots of imaginative stuff and some good characters, but I found I had to slog through it, and I kept losing the narrative thread.
June 21, 2018
Neal Asher is a favourite of mine but I struggled to finish this, as evidenced by the fact I started it in August 2017 and completed it in June 2018. I was about 1/3 of the way through it at the start of the year but restarted it after having trouble recalling what I had already read. I had to read this as a paper book since it was the one novel in the Polity series I didn't have audio for. Ironically it took me so long to read there is now an audiobook available on Audible for it.
I love the polity universe, the truly incredible Jain technology, the bizarre alien entity "Dragon", the complicated AI's, the golems, the nasty beasties (droons and sleers) all of this is awesome. I particularly enjoyed the new characters, the Rondor Knight and his apprentice. The problem I had was there was way, way too much much going on. Dozens of "retroact" flashbacks for Mr Crane and an absolute host of minor characters I could barely recall. I would frequently have 1-2 weeks off in between reading sessions so by the time I got back to Apis or the crew of one of the AI ships I barely remembered what they were doing. This often led me to go back 50 pages and re-read what I had missed but there must be at least 20 point of view characters in this story and for me that was just too much to wrap my head around.
In the end I did grasp the plot although I probably missed some of the subtleties. It was mostly my fault but I imagine this would have been a lot more enjoyable with less characters to attempt keep track of. I am looking forward to ploughing through the rest of the series now in audio format as Asher is an absolute genius at world building and convincing aliens.
I love the polity universe, the truly incredible Jain technology, the bizarre alien entity "Dragon", the complicated AI's, the golems, the nasty beasties (droons and sleers) all of this is awesome. I particularly enjoyed the new characters, the Rondor Knight and his apprentice. The problem I had was there was way, way too much much going on. Dozens of "retroact" flashbacks for Mr Crane and an absolute host of minor characters I could barely recall. I would frequently have 1-2 weeks off in between reading sessions so by the time I got back to Apis or the crew of one of the AI ships I barely remembered what they were doing. This often led me to go back 50 pages and re-read what I had missed but there must be at least 20 point of view characters in this story and for me that was just too much to wrap my head around.
In the end I did grasp the plot although I probably missed some of the subtleties. It was mostly my fault but I imagine this would have been a lot more enjoyable with less characters to attempt keep track of. I am looking forward to ploughing through the rest of the series now in audio format as Asher is an absolute genius at world building and convincing aliens.
October 30, 2023
Neal Asher is certainly finding his stride by the time he gets to Brass Man. Although I'm reading the Polity novels in chronological order and not publishing order, I've been enjoying each one more than the last. Brass Man takes a step forward in the character department as I found myself caring more about them and their eventual fates. Of course, when you are dealing often with AI golems that technically can't 'die' in the existential sense, it's hard to have raised stakes. Now, on the flip side of that, you would think the human characters would have the reader care by the very nature of their mortality but that hasn't been the case until now.
The main difference is with the side story of Rondure knight Anderson Endrik and his reluctant sidekick Tergal. They bring a level of humanity and feeling to the story in their journey across the planet Cull that rivals any scifi story I've ever seen or read. Their creepy alien foes just keep getting bigger and more terrifying until the wonderful climactic battle. Where a lot of the AI golems seem to have plastic personalities, Anderson and Tergal bring about characters you feel for and want to see live. Asher is brilliant at coming up with the most horrifying aliens that would haunt any person's nightmares for years. The fantastically campy Star Wars quote, "There's always a bigger fish" never applied more than in this book.
Of course, the Cull storyline takes a back seat when it comes to the true villain and return of another in the form of the Brass Man. Mr. Crane is downright terrifying himself and yet, somehow Neal Asher got me to root for him by the end. The reader gets a healthy dose of flashback scenes to show his origin as well as POV scenes to show his utter madness. I won't mention the other villains name for fear of spoilers, but the amount of dread I felt in reading their POV scenes was palpable and it served the story well in never having the reader feel the heroes are safe.
The chess match between the numerous AI ship minds are well done and intriguing. His choice to virtualize virus attacks into virtual reality was well done and gave a more fun visual for the most mundane of technology warfare. Brass Man certainly opens up game changing implications for the series here with rogue AI and the temptations of Jain technology. I'm not sure where this will go, but I do know one thing. It will be brutal for the universe and humanity. Another decision I can appreciate is that Agent Cormac, while essentially being James Bond, is more like the Daniel Craig version here where he is far from invincible. Again, the implications at the end have me excited for where the series may go next. I feel like I've been on a slowly ascending roller coaster heading to a massive hill at the end and the descent will be thrilling and horrifying.
Polity Universe
Prador Moon - 7.5/10
Shadow of the Scorpion - 7.0/10
Polity Universe
Prador Moon - 7.5/10
Shadow of the Scorpion - 7.0/10
The Technician - 8.0/10
Agent Cormac
Gridlinked - 7.5/10
The Line of Polity - 8.0/10
Brass Man - 8.5/10
Polity Agent - 9.0/10
Line War - 10/10
The main difference is with the side story of Rondure knight Anderson Endrik and his reluctant sidekick Tergal. They bring a level of humanity and feeling to the story in their journey across the planet Cull that rivals any scifi story I've ever seen or read. Their creepy alien foes just keep getting bigger and more terrifying until the wonderful climactic battle. Where a lot of the AI golems seem to have plastic personalities, Anderson and Tergal bring about characters you feel for and want to see live. Asher is brilliant at coming up with the most horrifying aliens that would haunt any person's nightmares for years. The fantastically campy Star Wars quote, "There's always a bigger fish" never applied more than in this book.
Of course, the Cull storyline takes a back seat when it comes to the true villain and return of another in the form of the Brass Man. Mr. Crane is downright terrifying himself and yet, somehow Neal Asher got me to root for him by the end. The reader gets a healthy dose of flashback scenes to show his origin as well as POV scenes to show his utter madness. I won't mention the other villains name for fear of spoilers, but the amount of dread I felt in reading their POV scenes was palpable and it served the story well in never having the reader feel the heroes are safe.
The chess match between the numerous AI ship minds are well done and intriguing. His choice to virtualize virus attacks into virtual reality was well done and gave a more fun visual for the most mundane of technology warfare. Brass Man certainly opens up game changing implications for the series here with rogue AI and the temptations of Jain technology. I'm not sure where this will go, but I do know one thing. It will be brutal for the universe and humanity. Another decision I can appreciate is that Agent Cormac, while essentially being James Bond, is more like the Daniel Craig version here where he is far from invincible. Again, the implications at the end have me excited for where the series may go next. I feel like I've been on a slowly ascending roller coaster heading to a massive hill at the end and the descent will be thrilling and horrifying.
Polity Universe
Prador Moon - 7.5/10
Shadow of the Scorpion - 7.0/10
Polity Universe
Prador Moon - 7.5/10
Shadow of the Scorpion - 7.0/10
The Technician - 8.0/10
Agent Cormac
Gridlinked - 7.5/10
The Line of Polity - 8.0/10
Brass Man - 8.5/10
Polity Agent - 9.0/10
Line War - 10/10
March 23, 2025
The Agent Cormac series reads as one long novel, with each installment picking up from where the last left off. Yes, we have denouements along the way that wrap up some loose ends, but Cormac always seems to be in the thick of things and the action never really stops.
In the forward here, Asher recalls how so many of his readers loved the Brass Man (actually a 'subverted' Golem) as a character, so he decided to bring him back for an encore here; he really does not add much to the tale, but he is a great character! The antagonist, Skellor, returns as well. In the previous novel, Skellor's massive battleship got turns into cinders by some foundry station's massive mirrors. Yet, it seems he lived after all, somehow escaping in the bridge pod and then later being found by a prospector, who quickly fell to his Jain infected self. What does Skellor want now, besides some payback for Cormac?
Just as the previous installment introduced the planet Masada and several characters from that world, here Asher gives us Cull, a colonized world outside of the Polity. The folks here really, really want their high tech back as they found themselves stranded there. Lots of mean and nasty flora and fauna of course there as well.
Just from the brief sitrep here, you can see that this series has become a tad formulaic. Jain tech, from the very few artifacts the Polity has discovered, originated some 6 million years ago. What is this stuff? Smart people and AIs have been working on it for decades. Likely guess? The tempting tech seems to be some seed of destruction designed to kill civilizations. Once someone begins playing with it, thinking they have mastered it, it takes them over and grows and grows, with each growth producing 'seeds' that can start the entire process again. Then we have Dragon, the enigmatic alien biobeing that has been around the Polity for 50 years or so. Friend or foe? Up in the air. Yet, it always seems to be in the think of things, just like Cormac.
I loved this series when it first came out and enjoy the reread, but a little of the glamor has worn off, largely in part to the formulaic aspects. Still, what an adrenaline packed thrill ride! 4 brassy stars.
In the forward here, Asher recalls how so many of his readers loved the Brass Man (actually a 'subverted' Golem) as a character, so he decided to bring him back for an encore here; he really does not add much to the tale, but he is a great character! The antagonist, Skellor, returns as well. In the previous novel, Skellor's massive battleship got turns into cinders by some foundry station's massive mirrors. Yet, it seems he lived after all, somehow escaping in the bridge pod and then later being found by a prospector, who quickly fell to his Jain infected self. What does Skellor want now, besides some payback for Cormac?
Just as the previous installment introduced the planet Masada and several characters from that world, here Asher gives us Cull, a colonized world outside of the Polity. The folks here really, really want their high tech back as they found themselves stranded there. Lots of mean and nasty flora and fauna of course there as well.
Just from the brief sitrep here, you can see that this series has become a tad formulaic. Jain tech, from the very few artifacts the Polity has discovered, originated some 6 million years ago. What is this stuff? Smart people and AIs have been working on it for decades. Likely guess? The tempting tech seems to be some seed of destruction designed to kill civilizations. Once someone begins playing with it, thinking they have mastered it, it takes them over and grows and grows, with each growth producing 'seeds' that can start the entire process again. Then we have Dragon, the enigmatic alien biobeing that has been around the Polity for 50 years or so. Friend or foe? Up in the air. Yet, it always seems to be in the think of things, just like Cormac.
I loved this series when it first came out and enjoy the reread, but a little of the glamor has worn off, largely in part to the formulaic aspects. Still, what an adrenaline packed thrill ride! 4 brassy stars.
May 9, 2014
Brass Man felt like a poor man's Culture novel. The book suffers from numerous issues, including way too many irrelevant side stories, uninteresting characters and buildup to an ending that turns out to be a big disappointment.
August 18, 2018
5 Stars
Brass Man (Agent Cormac #3) by Neal Asher is an action packed science fiction thriller that really has it all. Asher might arguably be the best writer of action based science fiction. I love his writing, his style, his imagination, and his science. Brass Man is a spectacular continuation of the Cormac series.
I loved it.
Brass Man (Agent Cormac #3) by Neal Asher is an action packed science fiction thriller that really has it all. Asher might arguably be the best writer of action based science fiction. I love his writing, his style, his imagination, and his science. Brass Man is a spectacular continuation of the Cormac series.
I loved it.
June 12, 2011
Brass Man is Neal Asher's third book in his "Ian Cormac" series and I enjoyed it more than its predecessors. These books are part Iain Banks' Culture novels, part Ian Fleming's James Bond and then a varied mix of ultra-tech, ultra-violence and beyond-the-pale bio-engineering.
Mr. Asher's greatest strength is in creating interesting creatures and technologies, more often than not of a sort to kill humans in many and varied ways. Brass Man and the other Asher books I've read could only be turned into movies if they were toned down or slapped with an NC-17 rating, and that's despite the fact that there is really no sex or "adult situations."
I think one of the things I liked about this book was the exploration of the eponymous character "Mr. Crane," the "Brass Man" of the title. A highly advanced android or "Golem" as they are known in this "Polity" universe, we had seen Mr. Crane in the first Ian Cormac novel, Gridlinked. A large chunk of Brass Man is spent explaining and exploring various facets of the android's past and present. For the most part, I thought this was well done.
Among the failings of the book was a relative dearth of new ideas. Ian Cormac, who was the main character in the previous books but relatively scarce in this one, doesn't develop much, doesn't change much, doesn't use many cool new toys. Instead he uses the old ones again mostly. Several of the other characters are survivors of carnage from previous novels. There are new ideas here, and new characters, but not as much as maybe I'd have liked to have seen.
Nonetheless this is a good book. If you're looking for good, escapist fiction and like space opera, read it.
Mr. Asher's greatest strength is in creating interesting creatures and technologies, more often than not of a sort to kill humans in many and varied ways. Brass Man and the other Asher books I've read could only be turned into movies if they were toned down or slapped with an NC-17 rating, and that's despite the fact that there is really no sex or "adult situations."
I think one of the things I liked about this book was the exploration of the eponymous character "Mr. Crane," the "Brass Man" of the title. A highly advanced android or "Golem" as they are known in this "Polity" universe, we had seen Mr. Crane in the first Ian Cormac novel, Gridlinked. A large chunk of Brass Man is spent explaining and exploring various facets of the android's past and present. For the most part, I thought this was well done.
Among the failings of the book was a relative dearth of new ideas. Ian Cormac, who was the main character in the previous books but relatively scarce in this one, doesn't develop much, doesn't change much, doesn't use many cool new toys. Instead he uses the old ones again mostly. Several of the other characters are survivors of carnage from previous novels. There are new ideas here, and new characters, but not as much as maybe I'd have liked to have seen.
Nonetheless this is a good book. If you're looking for good, escapist fiction and like space opera, read it.
January 19, 2009
I read this on a plane trip. Tried to like it, but a quarter of the way in it didn't blow my mind with ideas, despite the technically dense prose and intensely alien settings, and there were too many characters involved for me to get drawn into the story. Most of the SF ideas have been done in ways that I found more original and appealing: the recording of consciousness for a virtual life after death is better done by Richard K. Morgan. Artificial Intelligence as the "guardians" of humanity, better done by Iain M. Banks and his Culture novels. Admittedly, this is supposed to be a sequel, and it reads like one, constantly referring to previous events. A sequel that can't stand on its own, but isn't clearly part of a series, sacrifices casual and new readers in favor of a small loyal fan-group.
November 5, 2009
I liked Gridlinked, and this book takes place within the same universe. I enjoyed the book, despite it taking a while to put the various storylines together along with digesting the universe-specific technical aspects. I generally like authors that don't spoonfeed you info, but there is an art to letting it unfold.
What I love about these books is that set in a space faring universe, civilization uncovers artifacts from a few different ancient and extremely technological advanced races that mysteriously vanished. The main character is an agent for the governmental body, attempting to run down someone that has used some of that ancient technology and become something much powerful than human. Sort of an adventure, space cowboy/future warrior type genre.
What I love about these books is that set in a space faring universe, civilization uncovers artifacts from a few different ancient and extremely technological advanced races that mysteriously vanished. The main character is an agent for the governmental body, attempting to run down someone that has used some of that ancient technology and become something much powerful than human. Sort of an adventure, space cowboy/future warrior type genre.
June 8, 2020
It's all about different levels of combat. Man vs monster. Robot vs golem. Scout ship vs alien. Super destroyer vs species-level threat.
3.75 stars.
Full review on my podcast, SFBRP episode #423:
http://www.sfbrp.com/archives/1697
3.75 stars.
Full review on my podcast, SFBRP episode #423:
http://www.sfbrp.com/archives/1697
December 20, 2014
‘On the primitive Out-Polity world of Cull, a latter-day knight errant called Anderson is hunting a dragon.
He little knows that, far away, another man – though now more technology than human flesh – has resurrected a brass killing machine called ‘Mr Crane’ to assist in a similar hunt, but one that encompasses star systems. When agentt Cormac realizes that this old enemy still lives, he sets out in pursuit aboard the attack ship Jack Ketch.
For the inhabitants of Cull, each day proves a struggle to survive on a planet roamed by ferocious insectile monsters, but the humans persevere in slowly building an industrial base that may enable them to reach their forefathers’ starship, still orbiting far above them.
They are assisted by an entity calling itself Dragon, but its motives are questionable, having created genetic by-blows out of humans and the hideous local monsters. To make things even worse, the planet itself, for millennia geologically inactive, is increasingly suffering from earthquakes…
Meanwhile, Mr Crane himself doggedly seeks to escape a violent past that he can neither forget nor truly remember. So he continues mindlessly in his search for sanity, which he may discover in the next instant or not for a thousand years…’
Blurb from the 2006 Tor paperback edition
Following on from the events in ‘Line of Polity’, Ian Cormac, and a coterie of AIs are on the trail of Skellor, a scientist fast becoming subsumed by viral Jain technology.
The Jain are an extinct Elder race whose resurrected biotechnology has proven so dangerous that the AIs controlling the Human Polity worlds are prepared to destroy entire Star Systems to contain the threat.
Skellor has fled to a world outside the Polity, colonised by humans who travelled to it in a generation ship. Also making a home for himself on this world is one of the four spheres which once made up the single entity known as Dragon.
Meanwhile, it appears that factions have appeared in AI society and certain artificial minds wish to embrace Jain technology in order to accelerate their evolution.
The central figure in Asher’s characteristically complex tale however, is the Brass Man of the title, Mr Crane, the insane android/golem who first appeared in ‘Gridlinked’. The tale of how Mr Crane came to become a big scary trophy-collecting serial killer is told in sequential flashback throughout the novel.
Crane, thought dismantled and buried, has been resurrected by Skellor to use as a tool to his nefarious ends, although the golem is constantly attempting to reconcile the fragments of his shattered mind in order to become whole and sane.
As always, Asher has produced a page-turning barnstormer of a book set within his Polity universe. Thankfully, the quality of writing and content is being sustained and he clearly leaves us with questions about this civilisation which need to be answered.
I’m also happy to see that we may not have seen the last of Mr Crane, one of my favourite literary creations.
He little knows that, far away, another man – though now more technology than human flesh – has resurrected a brass killing machine called ‘Mr Crane’ to assist in a similar hunt, but one that encompasses star systems. When agentt Cormac realizes that this old enemy still lives, he sets out in pursuit aboard the attack ship Jack Ketch.
For the inhabitants of Cull, each day proves a struggle to survive on a planet roamed by ferocious insectile monsters, but the humans persevere in slowly building an industrial base that may enable them to reach their forefathers’ starship, still orbiting far above them.
They are assisted by an entity calling itself Dragon, but its motives are questionable, having created genetic by-blows out of humans and the hideous local monsters. To make things even worse, the planet itself, for millennia geologically inactive, is increasingly suffering from earthquakes…
Meanwhile, Mr Crane himself doggedly seeks to escape a violent past that he can neither forget nor truly remember. So he continues mindlessly in his search for sanity, which he may discover in the next instant or not for a thousand years…’
Blurb from the 2006 Tor paperback edition
Following on from the events in ‘Line of Polity’, Ian Cormac, and a coterie of AIs are on the trail of Skellor, a scientist fast becoming subsumed by viral Jain technology.
The Jain are an extinct Elder race whose resurrected biotechnology has proven so dangerous that the AIs controlling the Human Polity worlds are prepared to destroy entire Star Systems to contain the threat.
Skellor has fled to a world outside the Polity, colonised by humans who travelled to it in a generation ship. Also making a home for himself on this world is one of the four spheres which once made up the single entity known as Dragon.
Meanwhile, it appears that factions have appeared in AI society and certain artificial minds wish to embrace Jain technology in order to accelerate their evolution.
The central figure in Asher’s characteristically complex tale however, is the Brass Man of the title, Mr Crane, the insane android/golem who first appeared in ‘Gridlinked’. The tale of how Mr Crane came to become a big scary trophy-collecting serial killer is told in sequential flashback throughout the novel.
Crane, thought dismantled and buried, has been resurrected by Skellor to use as a tool to his nefarious ends, although the golem is constantly attempting to reconcile the fragments of his shattered mind in order to become whole and sane.
As always, Asher has produced a page-turning barnstormer of a book set within his Polity universe. Thankfully, the quality of writing and content is being sustained and he clearly leaves us with questions about this civilisation which need to be answered.
I’m also happy to see that we may not have seen the last of Mr Crane, one of my favourite literary creations.
May 28, 2014
Before I go into the review of this book something has to be said: when choosing a book to read, only an idiot would pick up a later book in a series without having read the earlier ones first. Guess what that makes me?
Keeping the above in mind I think one of the problems that I had with the early part of this novel is the torrent of information I had to absorb. Saying that Asher’s universe is big, does not do it justice it is a masterwork of the imagination - but having to try and come to terms of it was hard going.
This is where not starting at the beginning has an effect. Had I read the first book I am sure everything there would have been a competent lead in to a very well thought out and advanced universe and I would have been able to sail through the books easily. Instead I was thrown in the deep world and had to doggy-paddle as I tried to catch up. Once I had done so though I found myself enjoying the book immensely. Asher has created a universe that is rich in detail and technology that twists the mind with it’s concepts and pure invention. A society ruled my Artificial Intelligences that have as much personality as the humans around them. Humans, if they can be called that, who have the chance to live forever, able to move between bodies, cloned or artificially created things called Golems.
The novel is the home of many characters, but at it’s core there are two characters, Ian Cormac and the titular Brass Man, Mr. Crane. Of course there are others, from some of the incredible AI controlled space ships, characters in their own right Jack Ketch and Jerusalem being two that spring to mind, various living or formally living or artificially living members of the Polity; and I suppose the true villain of the piece Skellor a human now enmeshed with an ancient alien technology.
Crane is fascinating a near unstoppable killing machine apparently made of brass (it’s just his skin really), and unique agent Cormac, someone who appears to be growing into something a lot more than a simple human. The metallic Golem is something that has had his mind broken, turning him into a near unstoppable killing machine. But there is a slim chance that he may be made whole. Again most of the characters have come from earlier books, and perhaps joining the story here diminishes the whole experience.
As a whole the book is a magnificent read, I just wish I had started at the beginning of the series....
Keeping the above in mind I think one of the problems that I had with the early part of this novel is the torrent of information I had to absorb. Saying that Asher’s universe is big, does not do it justice it is a masterwork of the imagination - but having to try and come to terms of it was hard going.
This is where not starting at the beginning has an effect. Had I read the first book I am sure everything there would have been a competent lead in to a very well thought out and advanced universe and I would have been able to sail through the books easily. Instead I was thrown in the deep world and had to doggy-paddle as I tried to catch up. Once I had done so though I found myself enjoying the book immensely. Asher has created a universe that is rich in detail and technology that twists the mind with it’s concepts and pure invention. A society ruled my Artificial Intelligences that have as much personality as the humans around them. Humans, if they can be called that, who have the chance to live forever, able to move between bodies, cloned or artificially created things called Golems.
The novel is the home of many characters, but at it’s core there are two characters, Ian Cormac and the titular Brass Man, Mr. Crane. Of course there are others, from some of the incredible AI controlled space ships, characters in their own right Jack Ketch and Jerusalem being two that spring to mind, various living or formally living or artificially living members of the Polity; and I suppose the true villain of the piece Skellor a human now enmeshed with an ancient alien technology.
Crane is fascinating a near unstoppable killing machine apparently made of brass (it’s just his skin really), and unique agent Cormac, someone who appears to be growing into something a lot more than a simple human. The metallic Golem is something that has had his mind broken, turning him into a near unstoppable killing machine. But there is a slim chance that he may be made whole. Again most of the characters have come from earlier books, and perhaps joining the story here diminishes the whole experience.
As a whole the book is a magnificent read, I just wish I had started at the beginning of the series....
February 1, 2018
Some end of chapter "cliffhangers" or "smart" lines seem kind of repetitive when used over and over, but I guess they serve their purpose in keeping me shallowly hooked. Best of the first three, honestly, or it may just be my nostalgia speaking. I enjoyed the segments on Cull much more than I did in the past, and I feel that the worldbuilding in this story was more engaging than Line of Polity (it was almost completely absent in Gridlinked in my opinion). The story itself was great, as the reader finally learns a lot more about Mr. Crane and his origins. It also portrayed itself in a way that none of the events that the humans and lesser AIs were affecting really mattered on the grand scale, as it made it seem like the larger AIs were controlling everything behind the scenes. This didn't make the story any less compelling, as the reader is still very invested in what happens to the characters. Cormac seems a lot more human now, so that aspect of character development was a big success on Asher's part, but he still seems inhumanly infallible at many points (like when he's hiding info from his companions). Ultimately, though, the AIs still are able to manipulate him like any other human. The story climaxes, to me, in an interesting way, where we know the inevitability of Skellor 'losing,' but he still controls the population of Golgoth as well as Cormac's fate. If I remember correctly, Anderson's duel with the droon was told first, which makes sense because that scene isn't as important to me as the 'real' events that Cormac and the others are fighting through. All in all, even better than I remembered it from when I was younger.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 20, 2014
The third in the Agent Cormac series. I'm trying to read them in proper sequence. I found this one to plod a bit compared to the first two. Some of the same characters, except fot the Knight Errant riding a giant bug and his not so faithful squire (Sancho Panza he's not). His quest is, of course, to slay the dragon. but the dragon in Asher's book is much more than a windmill. so the story of this character constitutes more comic relief than anything else.
Agent Cormac acquits himself well, as usual, with or without the aid of his Shuriken weapon, but ultimately we don't have much more to show for all the adventure than the status quo. The title character struggles with the task of finding himself, but in the end,we are left to speculate on what might happen in the next novel, Polity Agent. I can live with it, but will likely read The Gabble in between.
Agent Cormac acquits himself well, as usual, with or without the aid of his Shuriken weapon, but ultimately we don't have much more to show for all the adventure than the status quo. The title character struggles with the task of finding himself, but in the end,we are left to speculate on what might happen in the next novel, Polity Agent. I can live with it, but will likely read The Gabble in between.
April 16, 2021
So awesome to re-read the Agent Cormac novels again and to rediscover the complexities of the Brass Man!
September 3, 2019
The back cover of this book tells us that Earth Central Security agent Ian Cormac is the "James Bond of a wealthy future" but let me throw out this question, when you think of James Bond (if you think of him at all) what traits jump out at you? That he's debonair, resourceful, smooth with the ladies, useful in a fight, maybe has a little bit of a sense of humor? Looks good in a suit? Has neat gadgets and fast cars? I've maybe seen one Bond movie all the way through (a Daniel Craig one so maybe the "sense of humor" part wasn't so prominent) but at least through degree of cultural osmosis I have some feeling for who he was.
Two books with the Bond of this wealthy future and I can't tell you really much about him at all except that he's good at shooting at stuff. Which he likes to do when he gets the chance. Which is often and yet, not often enough.
Being shooty in itself isn't a detriment in my book . . . Richard K Morgan's Takeshi Kovacs novels are basically wall to wall violence for people who thought themselves inured to violence but at least the main character has enough of a personality to make it entertaining. Cormac, in contrast, doesn't have much of a discernable personality at all, which wouldn't be much of a problem except that he's the star of the series and thus presumably the reason for you to keep reading.
The first book in this series "Gridlinked" was also apparently Asher's first novel and our introduction to the Secret Agent of the Stars, who at the time had literally taken himself off the cybernetic grid due to fears of a prolonged connection to it making him less human. It had no real effect on his demeanor that I could tell but being it was Asher's first you could give him a little rope as maybe he was still finding his footing. But having seen him do better work (in "The Skinner") and, frankly, worse, I'm starting to think it comes down to this series isn't very interesting.
Its billed as a sequel to "Gridlinked" which is technically true and probably the reason I bought this. What I didn't realize was that an entire novel "The Line of Polity" comes in between them and while parts of the book seem to continue on directly from "Gridlinked" there's also a fair chunk of action that I think I missed along the way. So I guess factor that in when you weigh how well I'm reviewing this.
The basics I remember from "Gridlinked": Cormac is boring (and somehow becomes magically linked to the grid again), boss Horace Blegg is mysterious but thankfully doesn't mumble as much this time (and is also mercifully absent for most of the book), the entity Dragon is still lurking about causing trouble, homicidal golem Mr Crane is out smashing heads together, other golems are still helping Cormac as well as various other AIs and intelligent ships.
This time out the wrinkles seem to come when Skellor gets hold of technology from the departed Jain race and starts using it to take over stuff. His antics seem to be driving the central conflict in the novel but its hard to tell because there's just so much going on around it that it almost seems lost in the midst of everything else. There's a sort of knight and thief traveling around to slay something in a pseudo-fantasy setting, there's golems investigating stuff, there's AIs arguing over stuff, people in virtual reality making bad discoveries . . . everyone seems to be in their own subplot that you hope will vaguely connect to everything that's going on (and at nearly five hundred pages he's got the room) but like that joke math equation your teacher taunted you with about the bullet that halves its distance with every second of traveling after a while it just seems like its never going to reach you.
Oh, and we gets lots of flashbacks to Mr Crane's creation while Skellor uses him in the exact fashion the psycho in the first book did, to graphically slaughter people. And while the mental image of a nattily dressed android that never speaks ripping people to pieces is . . . something, he's never much of a fear instilling presence. Maybe if he killed someone I cared about in the book but that leads us to the bigger problem . . . I don't care about these people. At all.
While I don't need Cormac to be a Spider-Man level quip-machine I'd like at least something beyond "steely determination" and "determined resolution". But that problem extends to most of the cast, of whom there are quite a few people. Imagine you accidentally promised your entire town a part in the next community play, only to realize you're putting on "Waiting for Godot" and have to make some quick alterations to fit everyone in. This feels like that in that a lot of people are talking and doing stuff but its hard to tell how relevant any of it is (again, I did miss the second book but I couldn't even pick up the threads). What makes it worse is that not a single one stands out at all . . . they show up, fulfill whatever the plot requires of them and then the book moves onto the next scene while they patiently wait until the book comes back to them. The best you should say is that some of the ships are snarky but out of five hundred pages there isn't one memorable line of dialogue I can recall.
Asher does do action well and when ships are jousting or people are shooting at each other the book attains a level of kinetics that makes the book feel a little less overstuffed. But to me it seemed like a book based around hot secret agent space action shouldn't feel so . . . bloated. The plotting never feels anything but rote and its hard to tell what's at stake anyway beyond people you don't care about not getting killed. Maybe traits like tension or suspense are in the eye of the beholder but I suspect my vague feeling of mild curiosity as I turned pages isn't what Asher was shooting for. If you're going to serve me a plate of flat characters at least garnish it with some meaningful twists and turns, for goodness sake!
It just never feels grounded in anything. The Polity sounds like an interesting concept in theory but after two books I can't even pin down what its supposed to be all about so all we're left with is people in cool spaceships with cool weapons saying threats to each other before the shooting starts. It ends much like "Gridlinked" in huge explosions that at least this time seem to resolve the immediate problem but at the end you're not quite sure what was accomplished, with more of the same promised to come. Unless you're really invested with what happens to Kill-o-bot there isn't a compelling reason to keep going. I know Asher is trying here (and he's definitely capable of better, unless the one book I did like was a fluke) but maybe he needs to slow down his output and refine his craft slightly or when I finish that last Iain Banks' Culture novel I'm going to be pretty depressed looking at a store's bookshelf and realizing that stuff like this is all I have to look forward to now.
Two books with the Bond of this wealthy future and I can't tell you really much about him at all except that he's good at shooting at stuff. Which he likes to do when he gets the chance. Which is often and yet, not often enough.
Being shooty in itself isn't a detriment in my book . . . Richard K Morgan's Takeshi Kovacs novels are basically wall to wall violence for people who thought themselves inured to violence but at least the main character has enough of a personality to make it entertaining. Cormac, in contrast, doesn't have much of a discernable personality at all, which wouldn't be much of a problem except that he's the star of the series and thus presumably the reason for you to keep reading.
The first book in this series "Gridlinked" was also apparently Asher's first novel and our introduction to the Secret Agent of the Stars, who at the time had literally taken himself off the cybernetic grid due to fears of a prolonged connection to it making him less human. It had no real effect on his demeanor that I could tell but being it was Asher's first you could give him a little rope as maybe he was still finding his footing. But having seen him do better work (in "The Skinner") and, frankly, worse, I'm starting to think it comes down to this series isn't very interesting.
Its billed as a sequel to "Gridlinked" which is technically true and probably the reason I bought this. What I didn't realize was that an entire novel "The Line of Polity" comes in between them and while parts of the book seem to continue on directly from "Gridlinked" there's also a fair chunk of action that I think I missed along the way. So I guess factor that in when you weigh how well I'm reviewing this.
The basics I remember from "Gridlinked": Cormac is boring (and somehow becomes magically linked to the grid again), boss Horace Blegg is mysterious but thankfully doesn't mumble as much this time (and is also mercifully absent for most of the book), the entity Dragon is still lurking about causing trouble, homicidal golem Mr Crane is out smashing heads together, other golems are still helping Cormac as well as various other AIs and intelligent ships.
This time out the wrinkles seem to come when Skellor gets hold of technology from the departed Jain race and starts using it to take over stuff. His antics seem to be driving the central conflict in the novel but its hard to tell because there's just so much going on around it that it almost seems lost in the midst of everything else. There's a sort of knight and thief traveling around to slay something in a pseudo-fantasy setting, there's golems investigating stuff, there's AIs arguing over stuff, people in virtual reality making bad discoveries . . . everyone seems to be in their own subplot that you hope will vaguely connect to everything that's going on (and at nearly five hundred pages he's got the room) but like that joke math equation your teacher taunted you with about the bullet that halves its distance with every second of traveling after a while it just seems like its never going to reach you.
Oh, and we gets lots of flashbacks to Mr Crane's creation while Skellor uses him in the exact fashion the psycho in the first book did, to graphically slaughter people. And while the mental image of a nattily dressed android that never speaks ripping people to pieces is . . . something, he's never much of a fear instilling presence. Maybe if he killed someone I cared about in the book but that leads us to the bigger problem . . . I don't care about these people. At all.
While I don't need Cormac to be a Spider-Man level quip-machine I'd like at least something beyond "steely determination" and "determined resolution". But that problem extends to most of the cast, of whom there are quite a few people. Imagine you accidentally promised your entire town a part in the next community play, only to realize you're putting on "Waiting for Godot" and have to make some quick alterations to fit everyone in. This feels like that in that a lot of people are talking and doing stuff but its hard to tell how relevant any of it is (again, I did miss the second book but I couldn't even pick up the threads). What makes it worse is that not a single one stands out at all . . . they show up, fulfill whatever the plot requires of them and then the book moves onto the next scene while they patiently wait until the book comes back to them. The best you should say is that some of the ships are snarky but out of five hundred pages there isn't one memorable line of dialogue I can recall.
Asher does do action well and when ships are jousting or people are shooting at each other the book attains a level of kinetics that makes the book feel a little less overstuffed. But to me it seemed like a book based around hot secret agent space action shouldn't feel so . . . bloated. The plotting never feels anything but rote and its hard to tell what's at stake anyway beyond people you don't care about not getting killed. Maybe traits like tension or suspense are in the eye of the beholder but I suspect my vague feeling of mild curiosity as I turned pages isn't what Asher was shooting for. If you're going to serve me a plate of flat characters at least garnish it with some meaningful twists and turns, for goodness sake!
It just never feels grounded in anything. The Polity sounds like an interesting concept in theory but after two books I can't even pin down what its supposed to be all about so all we're left with is people in cool spaceships with cool weapons saying threats to each other before the shooting starts. It ends much like "Gridlinked" in huge explosions that at least this time seem to resolve the immediate problem but at the end you're not quite sure what was accomplished, with more of the same promised to come. Unless you're really invested with what happens to Kill-o-bot there isn't a compelling reason to keep going. I know Asher is trying here (and he's definitely capable of better, unless the one book I did like was a fluke) but maybe he needs to slow down his output and refine his craft slightly or when I finish that last Iain Banks' Culture novel I'm going to be pretty depressed looking at a store's bookshelf and realizing that stuff like this is all I have to look forward to now.
April 8, 2022
It entertained me and made me feel happy inside.
January 20, 2014
I read the book “The Brassman”, the third in the Ian Cormac series, I found this book like the first book very interesting and a great read. In this book Ian is on a dragon hunt but this dragon is not like the ones described in medieval times.
As for main characters there is Ian Cormac, the protagonist, and there are three antagonists. One is Skellor, an average man in possession of Jain Technology. Mr. Crane, the broken golem from the first book that is resurrected to help in Skellor’s hunt for Dragon, and Dragon, a being that is made up of four spheres over 100 meters across. Ian Cormac still without his gridlink is on the hunt for Dragon and locates him on a planet called Cull.
The main setting is on the planet Cull, this is a back water planet that is not under polity control. This planet has a very western feel to it. It has a nonexistent planetary government and very little town or city government. The time setting is the same as the first book; it takes place in the far future.
The main plot for this book is Ian Cormac looking for Dragon but there are a lot of side plots. One example of this is when Skellor is looking Mr. Crane. This is a face paced book that keeps a good plot and does change its character perspective a lot. A few chapters might be in Ian point of view, then the next few might be in Skellor’s.
One main theme in “Brassman” is rebirth because all three of the antagonists were thought to be dead in the previous book or the first book.
I would recommend this book to kids my age or older that are interested in a fast paced space opera. My over all thoughts on this book is that it is a great read that leaves you begging for more.
As for main characters there is Ian Cormac, the protagonist, and there are three antagonists. One is Skellor, an average man in possession of Jain Technology. Mr. Crane, the broken golem from the first book that is resurrected to help in Skellor’s hunt for Dragon, and Dragon, a being that is made up of four spheres over 100 meters across. Ian Cormac still without his gridlink is on the hunt for Dragon and locates him on a planet called Cull.
The main setting is on the planet Cull, this is a back water planet that is not under polity control. This planet has a very western feel to it. It has a nonexistent planetary government and very little town or city government. The time setting is the same as the first book; it takes place in the far future.
The main plot for this book is Ian Cormac looking for Dragon but there are a lot of side plots. One example of this is when Skellor is looking Mr. Crane. This is a face paced book that keeps a good plot and does change its character perspective a lot. A few chapters might be in Ian point of view, then the next few might be in Skellor’s.
One main theme in “Brassman” is rebirth because all three of the antagonists were thought to be dead in the previous book or the first book.
I would recommend this book to kids my age or older that are interested in a fast paced space opera. My over all thoughts on this book is that it is a great read that leaves you begging for more.
October 2, 2007
Very good and solid science fiction, though the writing style distracted me. Too many jumps between interweaving plots allowed me to put the book down several times. However, Asher has created a rich universe with interesting characters and all the elements you need to keep a series going. A Galactic super-agent with special mental abilities, omniscient artificial intelligence controls everything, threats to civilization (both from the past and outside the known galaxy,) and plenty of enemies to chase. The more I read, the more I appreciated the complexity of the novel. I would certainly recommend this book to anyone looking to expand in a new sci-fi direction.
March 9, 2015
Congratulations, Asher: you swindled me of $8.99 and a precious hour of my life.
I quit reading somewhere between the mention of a corporation named "Cybercorp" (seriously, Asher? this is your A-game?) and a page-long infodump written in all italics. There was plenty more to hate in between -- the shitty, boring dialogue, the lazily-sketched non-characters, the tell-not-show prose style that went beyond merely ham-fisted and became a reading experience akin to being pummeled to death with a whole barnyard of live pigs launched out of a catapult.
Asher's not the worst SF author, and not the most overrated, but he's certainly terrible, and the people who endorsed him are people whose opinions I will never trust again.
I quit reading somewhere between the mention of a corporation named "Cybercorp" (seriously, Asher? this is your A-game?) and a page-long infodump written in all italics. There was plenty more to hate in between -- the shitty, boring dialogue, the lazily-sketched non-characters, the tell-not-show prose style that went beyond merely ham-fisted and became a reading experience akin to being pummeled to death with a whole barnyard of live pigs launched out of a catapult.
Asher's not the worst SF author, and not the most overrated, but he's certainly terrible, and the people who endorsed him are people whose opinions I will never trust again.
June 8, 2016
For some reason I didn't enjoy this nearly as much as the previous two books. I actually found it rather boring in comparison, and had a lot of trouble paying attention. I think the world Asher brought us to here just wasn't as fascinating to me as Masada was in the previous book; it wasn't as well-built or as crucial to the plot here. Also, lots of my favorite characters from the series never even made an appearance here, which was disappointing to say the least. I'm sure lots of people will love this one thought, so I suppose it just comes down to personal preferences. Maybe I just wasn't in the right mood.
September 18, 2016
This is the best scifi I've read in quite a while. Mr. Asher balances a number of interesting ideas, and drops them all around good characters in a very tactile setting. That some of it is a riff off of various western storylines wasn't detracting, and overall, I just loved this book.
Having finished this, I plowed through 'Agent of Polity' in the next 24 hours (just finished), and while that book was good, it doesn't quite compete with this one. Regardless, both entries are much better than the first 2 books in this series. It's always fantastic to see a great author get better!
Having finished this, I plowed through 'Agent of Polity' in the next 24 hours (just finished), and while that book was good, it doesn't quite compete with this one. Regardless, both entries are much better than the first 2 books in this series. It's always fantastic to see a great author get better!
August 18, 2015
Following up plot threads from his first two novels Neil Asher once again delivers another satisfying helping of sci-fi drama.
All his usual elements are in place, super science, snarky AIs, vast alien intelligence's and a huge dollop of body horror and violence.
Never really getting bogged down in super science the Brass man is a fun and easy read despite its rather vomit inducing subject matter at times.
All his usual elements are in place, super science, snarky AIs, vast alien intelligence's and a huge dollop of body horror and violence.
Never really getting bogged down in super science the Brass man is a fun and easy read despite its rather vomit inducing subject matter at times.
November 8, 2017
Disappointed in this series in general. I like many of Neal Asher's books but this series, from Gridlinked to here were not so great. This book is the third in the series and it starts by unpicking the conclusion of the last tow in order to set up the same storyline, same hero same villain same enigmatic alien entity, same tortured metal AI. It even interrupts the story with several 'retroacts' ie retelling of the initial story from book 1.
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