The Soldier - (Rise of the Jain) by Neal Asher (Paperback)

About the Book

"In a far corner of space, on the very borders between humanity's Polity worlds and the kingdom of the vicious crab-like prador, is an immediate threat to all sentient life: an accretion disc, a solar system designed by the long-dead Jain race and swarming with living technology powerful enough to destroy entire civilizations. Neither the Polity nor the prador want the other in full control of the disc, so they've placed an impartial third party in charge of the weapons platform guarding the technology from escaping into the galaxy: Orlandine, a part-human, part-AI haiman. She's assisted by Dragon, a mysterious, spaceship-sized alien entity who has long been suspicious of Jain technology and who suspects the disc is a trap lying in wait."--Publisher's description.

Book Synopsis

"Neal Asher's books are like an adrenaline shot targeted directly for the brain."--New York Times bestselling author John Scalzi

Humanity, artificial intelligences, and monstrous aliens clash over control of deadly technology in this explosive beginning to Neal Asher's newest Polity series.

In a far corner of space, on the very borders between humanity's Polity worlds and the kingdom of the vicious crab-like prador, is an immediate threat to all sentient life: an accretion disc, a solar system designed by the long-dead Jain race and swarming with living technology powerful enough to destroy entire civilizations.

Neither the Polity or the prador want the other in full control of the disc, so they've placed an impartial third party in charge of the weapons platform guarding the technology from escaping into the galaxy: Orlandine, a part-human, part-AI haiman. She's assisted by Dragon, a mysterious, spaceship-sized alien entity who has long been suspicious of Jain technology and who suspects the disc is a trap lying-in-wait.

Meanwhile, the android Angel is planning an attack on the Polity, and is searching for a terrible weapon to carry out his plans--a Jain super-soldier. But what exactly the super-soldier is, and what it could be used for if it fell into the wrong hands, will bring Angel and Orlandine's missions to a head in a way that could forever change the balance of power in the Polity universe.

In The Soldier, British science fiction writer Neal Asher kicks off another Polity-based trilogy in signature fashion, concocting a mind-melting plot filled with far-future technology, lethal weaponry, and bizarre alien creations.

Review Quotes

"Neal Asher's books are like an adrenaline shot targeted directly for the brain."--New York Times bestselling author John Scalzi

"With mind-blowing complexity, characters, and combat, Asher's work continues to combine the best of advanced cybertech and military SF."--Publishers Weekly, Starred Review

"A richly imagined, exotic world, nonstop action, and unimaginable stakes--I couldn't put The Soldier down."--Yoon Ha Lee, author of Ninefox Gambit

"Neal Asher's coruscating mix of epic space opera, weaponised Darwinism and high-stakes intrigue channels the primal flame of deep-core science fiction." --Paul McAuley, author of Four Hundred Billion Stars

"The Soldier provides everything we demand from Asher: a beautifully complex universe where AIs, aliens and post-humans scheme and struggle--magnificently awesome. Then Asher turns it up to eleven."--Peter F. Hamilton

"I had thought with the Transformation trilogy (Dark Intelligence, War Factory, Infinity Engine) that Asher had maxed out what could be done with the Polity setting--that the near-metaphysical implications of the fate of Penny Royal constituted a kind of narrative event horizon. I think I might have been mistaken."--Russell Letson, Locus

"In addition to elaborate space battles between gigantic warships and spectacular descriptions of technology, Asher excels at "humanizing" his intelligent machines."--Booklist

"Neal Asher just doesn't have the ability to write a book that doesn't have an abundance of complex technology, diverse alien species, mind-bending science, and just flat out entertaining story lines. . . . [he] has gradually become one of the great writers of Space Opera today, right up there with the likes of Peter F. Hamilton and Alastair Reynolds."--Out of this World SFF Reviews

"A mind-blowing start to the Rise of the Jain trilogy. . . . takes all the best elements from the Polity universe and weaves them together into a narrative that makes it feel as if everything that came before was only meant to set up the groundwork for this moment."--Worlds In Ink

About the Author

Neal Asher is a science fiction writer whose work has been nominated for both the Philip K. Dick and the British Fantasy Society awards. He has published more than twenty books, many set within his "Polity" universe, including Gridlinked, The Skinner, and Dark Intelligence. He divides his time between Essex and a home in Crete.