The Departure

The Owner, Book 1

By: Neal Asher

Narrated by: Steve West, John Mawson

The Argus Space Station looks down on a nightmarish Earth. And from this safe distance, the Committee enforces its despotic rule. There are too many people and too few resources, and they need 12 billion to die before Earth can be stabilised. So corruption is rife, people starve, and the poor are policed by mechanised overseers and identity-reader guns. Citizens already fear the brutal Inspectorate with its pain inducers. But to reach its goals, the Committee will unleash satellite laser weaponry, taking carnage to a new level.

This is the world Alan Saul wakes to, travelling in a crate destined for the Calais incinerator. How he got there he doesn't know, but he remembers pain and his tormentor's face. He also has company: Janus, a rogue intelligence inhabiting forbidden hardware in his skull. As Janus shows Saul an Earth stripped of hope, he resolves to annihilate the Committee and their regime... once he's discovered who he was, and killed his interrogator.

©2013 Neal Asher (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Amazing science fiction saga

Loved it, excellent storytelling, can't wait to listen to book two. Hope its as good as this. Well worth the listen.

hard choices for a harder world.

The descriptions were a little shorter than I normally enjoy but the story was gripping if hard. Facing extinction at the hands of global environmental collapse or at the hands of a government that has decided that near extinction isn't a bad idea as long as they keep power.

Bioborg in the middle of a bureaucracy apocalypse!

The story is so rich I found myself restarting chapters to keep up, which is something I have not done with any other books I have listened to.
as you know it gets monotonous, but not here, and oh boy is the story relatable to current geopolitical situation.

If you want a book about a bioborg in the middle of a bureaucracy caused apocalypse this is the book for you!

!!!!possible spoilers ahead!!!!



first chapter is wild, and there is a big time skip of about a year, the next following chapters are just amazing, and just Ludacris enough to be exciting, but not enough to be absurd in my opinion!

but okay if I do think back there is a literal feed them to the "laser" sharks, moments, of course the villain had to leave is the main character alive in a torture booth, because they wanted their bio enhancements,
but then I come back defending it with, you know they do set up that specific character to be just arrogant and power-hungry enough to be like that, so it's good it works, and it's exciting cuz you know holy m0ly he actually came close to dying, and only writing this do I go to myself relax it's just a book,

This is how much I liked this book!

Realistic, frightening dystopic vision

Neal Asher's The Departure which is the 1st installment in the Owner trilogy, is a frightening realistic dystopic future vision of what may be the eventual outcome of the culmination of a digitally interconnected world that is both powerfully intrusive into individual lives, while at the same time, substantially vulnerable to abuse and corruption. Asher paints a terrifying scenario of a future with a fragile society where the bulk of humanity, referred to a "zero assets" (ZAs) offers nothing of value to an oligarchic government that is seeking a final solution for a sustainable future with their retention of total societal control. Into this mix comes a former genius, since discarded by the power elites, who is both mentally damaged, but also digitally enhanced to challenge the current regime. At the same time,a power struggle for survival is occurring in the fledgling Mars colony that was put on hold, while the Earth issues are sorted out.

The sci-fi elements are pure Asher with the primitive beginnings of artificial intelligence (AI) beginning to emerge and assert itself. There is much in the way of human machine interface that telegraphs Asher's long term perspective on the AI ascendancy. While the space elements are futuristic (a Mars colony, a massive orbital space station, military style laser satellites, etc.), there is nothing overly remarkable or imaginative about their design or utilization. At its heart, this is a tale of prophecy of the potential perils and pitfalls of civilization's expectations for a risk-less and careful future by turning over personal responsibilities to machines and a select group of fallible humans.

The narration is superb with an excellent range of voices, solid pacing, and a tone that perfectly aligns with the delicate, yet tense nature of the action.

Incredible!

This book has absolutely blown my mind. I was deeply enthralled the whole way through.

A Definite recommendation from me