Gridlinked

Agent Cormac, Book 1

De: Neal Asher

Narrado por: Ric Jerrom

The hunter becomes the hunted in Gridlinked, the first sci-fi thriller in Neal Asher's compelling Agent Cormac series.

When a portal to other planets explodes on Samarkand, thousands are killed and a terraforming project is obliterated. Earth Central Security suspects sabotage – and assigns a legendary investigator. But Agent Ian Cormac has his own problems. Years spent mentally linked to the Polity’s AI network have eroded his humanity, and this gridlink has to be severed or he’ll die. Without it, he has only his wits (and Shuriken, a throwing star with a mind of its own) to rely on.

Cormac’s disastrous last mission also haunts him – as a psychopath and a murderous android track him across the galaxy, seeking revenge. Meanwhile, the ice-bound planet of Samarkand hides deadly secrets beneath its surface . . . secrets Cormac is about to disturb.

Gridlinked is followed by The Line of Polity, the second title in the Agent Cormac series.

Runcible AI

Well written and narrated, with really good world building. A gritty sci fi novel set in a very far out future. It's very much hard science but interestingly it's so futuristic some of it is beyond current technology to explain. There's several plots going on at the same time, which are all very captivating. Finishes with some loose ends which I hope get explained in the other books in the series.

Poor characters

Boring and unlikable characters.
The plot is somewhat interesting, but I gave up after a few hours listening

Slower early work, horrible narrator, good grit

I can tell this is one of Asher's earlier attempts at writing a novel. A lot of boring inbetween stuff and filler material that feels like it could just as well have been left out of the book. Not much of the compact, action packed, to the point writing his later work is full of.
Still,at chapter 7 or so the story picks up momentum and I got sucked in anyway. All in all, well worth my time.

The true horror of this audio incarnation of a cyberpunk classic is the narrator. Oh, my, god!! Total amateur.
Not only does he not know how to use proper intonation and accents. He reads sentences in completely alien ways. Quote: "I want THEM watched al all times." thatvis rediculous! Every thrid grader can sense that the ephasis should be on the word "watched" and in my perference also on "all". Like this: "I want them WATCHED at ALL times." this narrator, of whom I refuse to look up the name, just invents random pauses and emphasizes words in a way that rips their meaning completely out of context. The result is that I keep reconstructing half the sentences in my head the way Asher must have meant them so I can understand what is actually meant. Is that horrible narration or what?!
Besides that his voices are unbearable. He lays on the voices in such an exaggerated way that characters just seem rediculous. Does he not understand that he is not the writer? Use voices to serve the story ffs, don't give them so much of your own influence that they can not possibly fit in anymore..
This man truly does not belong in this line of work.

Asher why? Whyyyyyy?!
Thanks for writing some of my favorite science fiction though ;).

What did this novel want to be?

In other reviews I've seen the author being favourably compared to Gibson or Stephenson. I wish I had read the reviews first, I wouldn't have wasted the credit. As it was I listened to the preview and was grabbed by the start. I thought I was in for a seriously interesting sci-fi/mystery.

What I got was badly structured prose trying to describe a future where all of humanity is ruled by AIs. Agent Cormac -- our "hero" -- is part of the ruling polity until he's un-linked because eh's forgotten how to be human. Sadly the more I read about Cormac the less I cared about him. The villains, at least the human ones, were more interesting.