Gridlinked (2001)
US Tor paperback (left)
423 pages
UK Macmillan trade paperback
cover art by Steve Rawlings / Debut Art
426 pages (right)
Denver Science Fiction & Fantasy Book Club |
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Gridlinked (2001) |
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| Dan | - | Amy | 8 |
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10 Wow! Don't miss it 8-9 Highly recommended 7 Recommended 5-6 Mild recommendation 3-4 Take your chances 1-2 Below average; skip it 0 Get out the flamethrower! U Unfinishable or unreadable - Skipped or no rating given |
| Cheri | 7.5 | Barb | - | ||
| Aaron | 7 | Cynthia | - | ||
| Jackie | 7.5 | Ron | 6 | ||
| Jessica | 7 | Jenn | - | ||
| Alan | 9 |
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Aaron's Commentary
Neal Asher - Gridlinked
This is set in a terrific future universe, with plenty of imaginative detail and hints of an elaborate history that make the place feel very lived in. The action scenes are effective and the novel is well-paced. The protagonist Cormac's struggle to adapt to no longer being gridlinked is a nice metaphor for our need to adjust to information overload in today's society. All this makes Gridlinked well worth reading despite its flaws. In particular, the bad guy Pelter is too thor oughly evil to be very interesting. Asher compensates by fleshing out his sidekick Stanton, but it doesn't entirely work. Better if at least one of Cormac's adversaries had some partially sympathetic motivation. Don't any of them believe in their revolutionary cause, for instance? I also thought Asher needed to do more to convince us of what is at stake in Cormac's mission. Even though Asher carries the story along with flourish, it all feels like a rather minor skirmish in some ill-defined clash between humans, AIs, and aliens. Hopefully the nature of this conflict becomes more apparent in later Polity books. What do you think? Your comments are welcome. Please send them to vanaaron@excite.com |