There aren’t many authors in my library with the distinction of having
been read a dozen different times through a dozen different novels. This
accolade is given to such timeless authors as Poul Anderson (16), Iain Banks
(17), Greg Bear (20), John Brunner (21), Larry Niven (20), Frederik Pohl (15),
Alastair Reynolds (12), and James White (13)… names everyone is familiar with
through experience or reputation. Each of these authors has also shown me that
their talent does not lie in one direction, but they have the ability to cast
about their vision into scenarios which awe the reader and impinge upon the
mind the sense of childhood wonderment. There’s one more author who I have read
fifteen times, yet fails to exhibit the two qualities of diversity and amazement:
Neal Asher. Even outside his Polity novels, The Departure (2011) still
maintained the essence of Asher: weapons, violence, destruction, gore, and
horror. Perhaps it’s time to move on or be labeled a one-trick pony… oops, too
late.
Rear cover synopsis:
“Raised to adulthood during the end of the war between the human Polity
and the vicious arthropoid race the Prador, Ian Cormac is haunted by childhood
memories of a sinister scorpion-shaped war drone and the burden of losses he
doesn’t remember.
In the years following the war he signs up with Earth Central Security,
and is sent out to help either restore or maintain order on worlds devastated
by Prador bombardment. There he discovers that though the old enemy remains as
murderous as ever, they are not anywhere near as perfidious or dangerous as
some of his fellow humans, some closer to him than we would like.
Amidst the ruins by war-time genocide, he discovers in himself a cold
capacity for violence, learns some horrible truths about his own past and, set
upon a course of vengeance, tries to stay alive.”
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A recent recruit with his rough platoon, Cormac is sent to a planet
with a planet-downed Prador ship which is still host to a handful of second-
and third-children. His fellow soldiers are his friends and one is even his
lover. Emotions blur his senses of justice and proportion when the two of them
discover Carl’s clandestine rendezvous with suspected Separatists. When Carl is
gunned down, Cormac is enlisted to perform the cloak and dagger act and
penetrate the Separatist organization.
Cormac is able to sneak the Separatists into the Prador ship but
discover that the Prador have all but left. With casualties on both sides, they
are still able to make off with counter-terrain devices which the Separatists
wish to trade rather than use, but their scruples don’t deter them from
inflicting casualties upon the Earth Central Security.
Carl unsuspectingly rises from his coma and rejoins the Separatists who
capture Cormac and kill his lover. Cormac being Cormac, soon gore spills upon
floors, limbs fling through the wind, and veins gush treasonous rebel blood.
Carl still escapes but Cormac is close on his heels as the two rush to their
destinies upon the same planet Cormac’s father disappeared under mysterious
circumstances.
It are these circumstances surrounding the memories of his father which
have caused him to reminisce about the time when his brother returned home to
Earth to partially erase some painful memories from the war during his time as a
medic. At the same time, Cormac remembers a sinister scorpion-shaped war drone
which stalks him in Wyoming,
under the sea, and even at school. Is it to deliver a massage, protect him, or
one day assassinate him? When Cormac discovers that his own memory has been
partially erased, he contacts his mother and is allowed to revisit the deleted
memories which give answers to his past and possibly his future.
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Much as Cormac is prone to violence, Asher is as prone to action-filled
scenes. Aside from Cormac’s memories which dot the chapters, there’s very
little else which doesn’t include gun blasts, laser streaks, or grenade
concussions. The beginning of the novel is a juicy morsel with Prador ship
investigation, Prador battling, and Separatist incursions, but soon the battle
rigamarole becomes redundant and the reader aches for some early development
rather than a gory rush to the end with its bow-tied gift of conclusion, which
wasn’t bad--a tad predictable and dies in nice with the other Polity novels.
Being a prequel to Grindlinked (2001) and the other Cormac
novels, this novel introduces the reader to two things: the Separatist strife
against Earth Central (though still nebulous as to exactly what their
intentions and influences are), and the early life of Cormac (childhood and new
recruit). I expect a lot of depth from any prequel—succulent detail of the
world, the deeper causes of the universe’s problems (this being Asher’s Polity
universe), and more characterization than plot. I want to see the world behind
the novels, the thread rather than the fabric. Sadly, Asher doesn’t address
this matter to great degree and maintain his typical guns-a-blazin’ cavorting
with a cavalier protagonist.
It’s not entirely yawn worthy because some of the action scenes are
quiet vibrant, but the sheer amount of action diminishes the scenes that are
there. Remember the motto “Less is More”. Two or three whir-bang sequences
would highlight the destruction rather than eight bang-bang-bang battles. When
the battles are Prador vs. human, Prador vs. AI, AI vs. Spatterjay or
Spatterjay vs. human, these sequences are usually worthwhile enough… but the
man vs. man elements are just too typical.
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I’ll stick to the Prador and Spatterjay novels, but hang my hat up for
the Cormac and Departure (2011) novels. There something very rewarding when reading
about crab-like aliens’ guts being splattered and the tortures of the
Spatterjay planet. Outside of these brutalities, the rest of Asher’s
bibliography is a tad too flat for me in retrospect. While I enjoyed the Cormac
novel at first (3-4 stars for each), they didn’t impinge upon my long-term
memory like the Spatterjay novels. I’ve kept Gridlinked in my library, but the
rest of the Cormac series will be finding a new home at the second-hand
bookstore.
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