Very entertaining space opera. The setting reminds me of Iain M. Banks' The Culture, but somewhat darker and less utopic. The plot is very dynamic, an action-oriented story about revenge, with antagonistic aliens, brain implants, recent interstellar wars, super-intelligent AIs and all kinds of smugglers and crime syndicates operating in a lawless zone between hostile powers.

This novel is not suited for someone who is not used to reading SF, because it takes from granted some familiarity with concepts like brain augmentation that might be confusing for readers not used to that. However, an average SF reader should have no problem following it, even with no familiarity whatsoever with previous Neal Asher novels set in the same universe (in my case, this is the first novel by this author I have read). There were some references to events that apparently have been described in other books, but nothing that could not be understood by context.

Being the first in a new trilogy, the ending closed many of the storylines but still left some open questions that will be dealt with in the following books. One of the most interesting characters is an antagonist, the rogue AI called Penny Royal, and trying to figure out its motivations provides a lot of the fun. In this novel, however, we only get to understand part of it, and I would have liked a bigger payoff at the end. I guess it's part of the cost of reading SF&F, most novels seem to be part of a series, made worse because in this case I broke my own rule about trying not to read series until they are finished.

To sum up, this is an action-packed story and it's fun to read. I like when we can empathize completely with at least one of the characters, but this is not really that kind of story. It can be enjoyed as a standalone, but I would feel able to judge it more fairly once I have read the whole trilogy. ( )

Clever but not too clever; building on the Asher universe. Good story with exciting arcs and explosions of action, Neal Asher's imagination is let loose to great effect. ( )

Deus ex machina, but it starts out that way, so no false advertising... Decent story. ( )

It was a great reintroduction to the polity universe; already looking forward to the next book in this trilogy. ( )

Wow wow wow. Where do I start.
This book is good .
While reading this I kept seeing a kind of similarity between the relationship and action of the AIs and Humans with mythology . Earth central is Odin or the all father , it seems to know much more about whats going on to the point it was allowing penny royal to what it was doing . And penny royal is the trickster god like loki , on the surface the seem insane and evil but theirs depth to its actions.
All the other characters where awesome . The Ais keep shining in this series .
On to the next book !!! ( )