The Soldier

Rise of the Jain, Book 1

By: Neal Asher

Narrated by: David Marantz

Length: 15 hrs and 41 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

©2018 Neal Asher (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

what can I say been hooked on the Polity .

loved it totally the beatscifo out there! and I can't wait to get into infinity engine

Complex....

I have read every book by Neal Asher. I enjoyed all so far....this book is much more complex a read. it's a great book, but you really have to stay engaged ( no mind wondering) otherwise you have will miss some of the plot

Great listen

Finally some major detail on the Jain - can’t wait until book 2. An exciting start to the trilogy

Very underrated

Been a while since i’ve read sci fi book this well put together. It combines many aspects of sci-fi i enjoy. Unusual for me to enjoy “war sci fi” books, but this series is a tasteful balance of character and world building, politics, and conflict. The writing and conveyance of knowledge is concise and clear to an unusual level and the representation of AI and their thinking is not overwhelming yet very convincing. This first book, like all good series in my opinion, is a bit slow to get into due to all the moving parts, though still more action packed than most. The second book begins to really hook me. The third im sure will be fantastic. Haven’t read yet 😋

Neal Asher is the best sci fi writer

No one else describes the aliens like he does, the AI decision making. All the other SF books are more like space opera dramas nowadays, too much talking not enough action. Neal’s book moves from page 1 and doesn’t stop grinding out thrills. And again, NO ONE is as descriptive and thoughtful when describing even the biology of the ETs than Asher. Nobody. Awesome book can’t wait for #2

Absolutely loved it.

Awesome tech, epic scale, detailed world building and a great action packed story.
Loved it.

Great performance and good story - shouldn’t be your first polity book…

However, you really need to have read some of the earlier polity books as they give a foundation for many of the things discussed in this story both technical and cultural. This should not be the first Neal Asher book you read, for that I recommend starting with Gridlinked, the first book in the “Cormac” series and then going from there. It will help settle you into the universe and explain many of the technical concepts such as the Runcible and U space.

disappointing.

disappointing. slow. filled with tons of scientific jargon but not much of a plot.
devoid of any character worth rooting for.
have read almost all of his novels. first one I did not like. would not recommend.

Mish Mash

The author is light years of U space beyond me in technical knowledge and imagination. But his application of those talents has created a mish mash. The characters, none of which are developed into a meaningful whole,
• are a mish mash of organic and inorganic parts,
• are each endowed with a built-in supercomputer and access to an ever more super computers processing infinite streams of data the content of which is never revealed,
• have inherent in their physical beings a mish mash of highly destructive weapons and control over even more potent weapons which they use with abandon.
The plot seems to be that the universe is a nasty and mean place threatened by remnants of a mish mash of “civilizations” present, past and future the only solution to which is blasting away whatever comes along.
The narration is okay except when it comes to the frequent and lengthy dialogues among characters. That is reminiscent of a grade school play with the actors so concerned about remembering their lines that their delivery is a flat monologue.

hard to follow

there is too much intelligible jargon making the storyline hard to follow.
hard to relate to current terminology, and with little explanation.