Dark Intelligence

By: Neal Asher

Narrated by: Jonathan Yen

One man will transcend death to seek vengeance. One woman will transform herself to gain power. And no one will emerge unscathed....

Thorvald Spear wakes in a hospital to find he's been brought back from the dead. What's more, he died in a human vs. alien war that ended a century ago. Spear had been trapped on a world surrounded by hostile Prador forces, but Penny Royal, the AI inside the rescue ship sent to provide backup, turned rogue, annihilating friendly forces in a frenzy of destruction and killing Spear. One hundred years later the AI is still on the loose, and Spear vows for revenge at any cost.

Isobel Satomi ran a successful crime syndicate, but after competitors attacked she needed power and protection. Negotiating with Penny Royal, she got more than she bargained for: Turning part-AI herself gave Isobel frightening power, but the upgrades hid a horrifying secret, and the dark AI triggered a transformation that has been turning her into something far from human….

Spear hires Isobel to track Penny Royal across worlds to its last known whereabouts. But he cheats her in the process and quickly finds himself in her crosshairs. As Isobel continues to evolve into a monstrous predator, it's clear her rage will eventually win out over reason. Will Spear finish his hunt before he himself becomes the hunted?

Dark Intelligence is the explosive first novel in a brand new trilogy from military SF master Neal Asher and a new chapter in his epic Polity universe.

©2015 Neal Asher (P)2014 Audible Inc.

A good book!

I do not have much experience with hard science-fiction, certainly not much dealing with AI technology, but I really enjoyed listening to ‘Dark Intelligence’. It was at times challenging but overall, a rewarding experience.

The only issue, which was mainly just a personal one and not one I think would always matter to others, is the technical jargon. I have read a few hard science-fiction novels here and there and more often than not, I am capable of keeping up with the “fictional science” that the author is building and writing about. In this one, it was mostly just the very common, technical things that baffled me at times. Some of these sections were also closely lumped together so I did end up losing track here and there of the explanations.

I also have to show some appreciation for the author’s style of writing. Despite not being able to comprehend all the technical lingo, the writing of this novel still maintained its focus on what the story is about more so than the specifics. I don’t often remark on the writing of a science-fiction/fantasy author, mostly because that doesn’t seem of much importance really, but I couldn’t help but notice that despite having trouble understanding some bits of the science, I was still able to understand everything that was going on, as well as be interested enough to continue listening to the book.

To reiterate the writing skills which this author displays, I also loved how the book starts off at a slow, steady pace and matures into something more complex and more exciting. Seeing as how this is a completely different world from ours, the author does an excellent job of building up everything step-by-step to keep the story, along with the characters and the world building, from overwhelming me.

All in all, if you are a hard science-fiction fan, this book won’t disappoint. If you are not, I think this is still a good, enjoyable read. You may or not have trouble with the specifics but I think you’ll still easily be able to enjoy the story for what it’s worth.

[Disclaimer: I received a copy of this audiobook from Audible in exchange for a review. All opinions expressed are my own.]

Great Start - soft landing

This was a pretty good first book. The first part of the book (in fact most of it) is pretty interesting. Good Character development and alot of action. This all kinds of gets soft at the end when the main bad character makes nice nice with all its victims. Seemed very weak in the end.

Asher's best yet

Would you listen to Dark Intelligence again? Why?

I actually would. I usually re-read Asher's books more than once and Yen's reading of this book was so great I think I actually will re-listen to this.

What did you like best about this story?

All of Asher's trademark things that make him one of the best sci fi writers around are here - bizarre alien ecosystems and life forms, hilarious and wise-cracking AI's & drones, intriguing characters, and an exploration of a very interesting unifying theme - transformation. Not to mention Asher's return to a theme he has explored before that I find very interesting - which is insane/fragmented machine consciousnesses.

Have you listened to any of Jonathan Yen’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I haven't listened to any of his other performances but I have to say he knocked it out of the park with this reading. I usually love Asher's books (I pre-order them and sometimes even order them from the UK since they come out sooner over there) but I'm considering waiting until Yen does a performance of the next Asher book on Audible because I liked his reading so much.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Sure....if I had 20 hours straight to sit in one place LOL.

Any additional comments?

Awesome book with terrific performance by Yen. If you haven't ever read (or listened to) any of Asher's other books, you REALLY shouldn't start here though because there are a lot of other books in this universe before this one and you should enjoy those first. Start with Gridlinked.

that's a long way around

i have to be a bit more critical. I give out too many 4 and 5 stars. lots of cool stuff in this book, fun listen but at best a 7/10. but in reality 6/10. I need to think of this as a 10 point scale and round down not up.

Overall it is slightly confusing to listen to but I could follow. I found out I could fall asleep and not miss much. go back listen and find out that I didn't miss anything important. extensive world and characters. if you like tech ideas it is plenty fun.

Much to Do About Nothing?

It feels disjointed through the whole novel. Back and forth from different characters being manipulated by the same Dark AI. Feels like nothing that really matters is happening even though really cool ideas are everywhere in the novel. It's not bad, but I won't be listening to anymore of it.

Maybe the problem is that the characters, while well written, leave you with noone to root for. There isn't really a character to get behind. Starts of feeling like we should get behind the war veterans who is brought back to life. Then it's like the Dark AI Penny is the one to get behind. At times feels like we should be on the side of the crab aliens.

Don't really know. This is the problem. Feels like treading water and not going anywhere with any part of this. Kinda a horror feel with all the genome manipulations.