Customer Reviews

Line of Polity

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Whereas The Skinner jumped ahead several centuries from the time of Gridlinked, Line of Polity returns us to the events immediately following Asher's first full novel, and to his enigmatic protagonist Ian Cormac.

Asher's ingenuity continues to flourish. Line of Polity is a worthy successor to his previous works, and yet for me it lacked something of the power of the preceding novels. Perhaps the ending was just too neat (or too telegraphed?), but I feel my dissatisfaction ran deeper. This may have had something to do with the presence of Ian Cormac. In Gridlinked, he was introduced as an ineffable, almost inhuman operator. His motivations and underlying humanity were gradually revealed as the novel unfolded, and yet much of the man was still left as mystery. One would expect Line of Polity to continue these revelations, yet Cormac's character is left almost undeveloped. He swings through the novel in a rather Bond-like fashion, possessing all the answers, but with no internal conflict to give some depth to the narrative.

Asher has often been comapared favourably (and, I think, fairly) with Iain Banks. There is more than just a thematic similarity; the two authors share a sterling command of the english language and a love of the deviant and bizarre. But one of Banks' strengths is the fearlessness with which he kills off main characters, and the moral ambiguity of his framework, where good does not always triumph. Asher's reluctance to do the same, his affinity with letting the good live and the evil die (often horribly), now leave him in danger of becoming predictable.

Asher is a skillful wordsmith with an unbounded imagination and a genius for intriguing characters and complex plotting. He has it in him to produce works of great liturature, but to do this he will need to break out of his comfort zone and explore new territory.

3.5/5 Continues the series begun in Gridlinked. Glad I took a chance on this after Gridlinked (which I found a bit weak) or I'd have missed out on a very enjoyable series. I went on to read all of Asher's novels.