In Shadow of the Scorpion, we get a look back at the childhood and early adult years of our good friend Ian Cormac. Every chapter starts with a few pages of young Ian's life with his mother and brother, then skips to the events that led to Cormac becoming an ECS agent. As always, Asher gives us further depth and detail in describing his Polity universe, and provides not only a well-paced, rousing story but a number of interesting characters and a good bit of insight into Cormac's character itself, during its formative years. The book also fills in some background about Ian Cormac, and answers some questions about how things came to be.

A danger/pitfall in writing prequels is the fact that we have read stories that take place after the events in the prequel, possibly taking away the suspense and fear we might have for the primary character. There is none of this in Shadow of the Scorpion - it's certainly a page turner and a wild ride. My only criticism lies in the obviousness of one of the plot points - something revealed in the last few pages was obvious about a third of the way through the book.

I highly recommend it for any Asher/Ian Cormac fan. I woudn't read it out of sequence - if you're new to the Cormac novels, by all means read them in order of publication.

I truly enjoy all of Asher's novels, and this one was no exception. It lacked, however, the excitement of later Polity novels, like Brass Man; perhaps it was due to the fact that this book is basically a prelude to those novels and Cormac's full interaction with AI's and Golems, etc, hasn't developed yet, since the book introduces us to him when he is eight.

I would still recommend it, though.

Although I'd heard a lot about Neal Asher in the past, I hadn't picked up any of his books until encountering the author himself at a signing in my home town. I picked up Gridlinked, his first novel and also the first in his Agent Cormac series, but hadn't gotten round to reading it before I was sent an ARC of his latest novel, Shadow of the Scorpion. Since Shadow of the Scorpion is a prequel to the other Cormac books, it seemed like a decent place to start.

The setting is many centuries hence, and Earth and its colonies are controlled by the Polity, an AI-controlled political entity. Humanity's attempts to rule itself have not worked out so well, so now control of human affairs has been (partially) ceded to the AIs, with humanity and AI constructs such as drones, androids and 'golems' (robots cloaked in human flesh who are almost impossible to tell from the real thing) working alongside one another in peace.

The Polity is put on the back foot when it encounters a hostile race known as the Prador, and is soon fighting a desperate war for its very survival. The novel follows two separate timelines. In the former, we follow the family crises afflicting ten-year-old Ian Cormac, whose father is fighting on the front lines and whose brother is serving in the medical corps. In the latter, we pick up Cormac's story ten years later as a fresh recruit helping mop up various worlds following the Polity's (costly) victory. The novel flips between the two regularly and the relationship between events in Cormac's childhood and during the events that first attract the notice of the Polity's ECS (Earth Central Security) agency.

The Shadow of the Scorpion is a very solid SF novel with a strong action storyline, but which at heart is more concerned with what drives and motivates Ian Cormac and what he does. Cormac is an interesting character whose family life is very-well defined (and a refreshing change from some other recent SF heroes/antiheroes like Takeshi Kovacs, who are usually loners at heart). There's also a mystery element, as the young Cormac keeps coming across a scorpion-like war drone which seems to be following him around for an unknown reason. As the novel draws to a close, these narrative strands are tied together nicely (but not in too contrived a manner).

Asher's grasp of character is strong, but he also has the needed SF credentials with some great ideas for weapons, spaceships and a good handle on AI characters as well: the Polity could perhaps be called a more primitive version of Banks' Culture in this regard, although that would be doing a disservice to Asher's capacity for invention.

There is a slightly 'bitty' start with the flashbacks to Cormac's childhood not providing a smooth introduction to the story, but once you leap over that hurdle the story progresses much more satisfyingly. As a prequel, it possibly works better if you're already familiar with the Polity universe and its concepts, although I didn't find it too hard to get on board (I had to look up what a 'runcible' was, though).

The Shadow of the Scorpion (****) is available now in the UK from Tor UK and in the USA from Night Shade Books.

This is another excellent book by Neal Asher (who is fast becoming my favorite author). This book is basicly a little biography of Polity Agent Ian Cormac, starting from his childhood and going thru his younger years. It provides some good background of his development into the character we recognize in Gridlinked and Brass Man, with some interesting little sidetracks into other areas of the Polity universe.

If you like other Neal Asher works this should definitely be a good purchase, used to fill in your knowledge of his Polity

When I first purchased Gridlinked, I was barely into the book when I realized that Neal Asher was a force to be reckoned with. The American market was slow to embrace Asher's creativity and to date, I don't see his work getting support in the bookstores that it deserves.

Asher unabashedly drags you into the story assaulting you with amazing imagination, events, people and terminology you are often left having to figure out as you go along. He doesn't patronize the reader by defining every one of his creations, he leaves you to that work...just as you would have to do if you REALLY were dropped off in this alien environment. The man, in my opinion, is a bloody genius.

This book is NOT the first Asher title you should read. You need to start with Gridlinked and follow the development of Ian Cormac in his present state. Only then will this book's amazing ride make sense to you...and you will appreciate it all the more.

I could go on, but won't...Neal, PLEASE keep this sort of thing coming. I haven't enjoyed reading an author's work this much since the days of Frank Herbert.

Buy Asher's books, he'll not disappoint...unless of course you are a SciFi prude.

Enjoy!!!

Cheers,

wordman