War Factory
Transformation Book Two
Neal Asher
- 476 Pages
- January 17, 2017
- ISBN: 9781597808828
- Series: Transformation
- Imprint: Night Shade Books
- Trim Size: 6in x 9in x 0in
Description
A berserk AI runs rampant across galaxies in this explosive, fast-paced follow-up to Dark Intelligence, continuing the new Polity series Transformation from UK space opera master Neal Asher.
Thorvald Spear, resurrected from his death over a hundred years earlier, continues to hunt Penny Royal, the rogue AI and dangerous war criminal on the run from Polity forces. Beyond the Graveyard, a lawless and deadly area in deep space, Spear follows the trail of several enemy Prador, the crab-like alien species with a violent history of conflict with humanity.
Sverl, a Prador genetically modified by Penny Royal and slowly becoming human, pursues a fellow Prador harboring deep hatred for the Polity and looking to reignite the dormant war with mankind.
Blite, captain of a bounty-hunting ship, hands over two prisoners and valuable memplants from Penny Royal to the Brockle, a dangerous forensics entity with a keen interest in the corrupted AI and its unclear motives.
Penny Royal meanwhile seeks Factory Station Room 101, a wartime manufacturing space station thought to be destroyed. What does it want with the factory? And will Spear find the rogue AI before it gets there?
War Factory, the second book in the Transformation trilogy, is signature space opera from Neal Asher: breakneck pacing, high-tech science, bizarre alien creatures, and gritty, dangerous far-future worlds.
Skyhorse Publishing, under our Night Shade and Talos imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of titles for readers interested in science fiction (space opera, time travel, hard SF, alien invasion, near-future dystopia), fantasy (grimdark, sword and sorcery, contemporary urban fantasy, steampunk, alternative history), and horror (zombies, vampires, and the occult and supernatural), and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller, a national bestseller, or a Hugo or Nebula award-winner, we are committed to publishing quality books from a diverse group of authors.
Thorvald Spear, resurrected from his death over a hundred years earlier, continues to hunt Penny Royal, the rogue AI and dangerous war criminal on the run from Polity forces. Beyond the Graveyard, a lawless and deadly area in deep space, Spear follows the trail of several enemy Prador, the crab-like alien species with a violent history of conflict with humanity.
Sverl, a Prador genetically modified by Penny Royal and slowly becoming human, pursues a fellow Prador harboring deep hatred for the Polity and looking to reignite the dormant war with mankind.
Blite, captain of a bounty-hunting ship, hands over two prisoners and valuable memplants from Penny Royal to the Brockle, a dangerous forensics entity with a keen interest in the corrupted AI and its unclear motives.
Penny Royal meanwhile seeks Factory Station Room 101, a wartime manufacturing space station thought to be destroyed. What does it want with the factory? And will Spear find the rogue AI before it gets there?
War Factory, the second book in the Transformation trilogy, is signature space opera from Neal Asher: breakneck pacing, high-tech science, bizarre alien creatures, and gritty, dangerous far-future worlds.
Skyhorse Publishing, under our Night Shade and Talos imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of titles for readers interested in science fiction (space opera, time travel, hard SF, alien invasion, near-future dystopia), fantasy (grimdark, sword and sorcery, contemporary urban fantasy, steampunk, alternative history), and horror (zombies, vampires, and the occult and supernatural), and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller, a national bestseller, or a Hugo or Nebula award-winner, we are committed to publishing quality books from a diverse group of authors.
Authors
Neal Asher is a science-fiction writer whose work has been nominated for both the Philip K. Dick and the British Fantasy Society awards. He has published more than fifteen books, many set within his Polity universe, including Gridlinked, The Skinner, and Dark Intelligence. He divides his time between Essex and a home in Crete.
Reviews
Praise for War Factory
“Asher ventures into some terrifying minds and incredible space battles in this tangled but heart-pounding sequel, which achieves a rare success in depicting truly nonhuman forms of intelligence.”
—Publishers Weekly
“War Factory contains everything that is good about Asher’s writing . . . Nobody does science fiction like Neal Asher, and War Factory is yet more proof of that.”
—SFFWorld
“War Factory is the best science fiction book I’ve read this year and the Transformation trilogy is already among my favourite Space Opera series ever. Do I need to say more? Just go and read it!”
—Sense of Wonder
“War Factory is the ultimate space opera and military sci-fi thriller.”
—Manhattan Book Review
“War Factory is full of weird science and space, lots of complex characters, and healthy amounts of body horror. . . . an exercise in trusting the author, and I’m sufficiently impressed enough to continue to do so.”
—Nerds of a Feather
“Through all this violent action run questions of moral responsibility, justice and revenge, nature and nurture, redemption, restitution, collateral damage, and other matters that a mere carnival (or carnivore) ride would not bother to address. (I write this with some trepidation, having just viewed Captain America: Civil War. But, no, Asher does it better.)”
—Locus Magazine
Praise for Dark Intelligence
“Beautifully paced ... does just as well as at slam-bang action scenes as at painting frightening pictures ... This is space opera at a high peak of craftsmanship.”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review
“What Asher delivers here is state-of-the-art SF on so many levels … a compelling, smart read.”
—Paul Di Filippo, Locus
"Blends large portions of horror and mystery into an SF tale of revenge and redemption ... a complex and satisfying work."
—Library Journal, starred review
"An exciting, intricate, and unabashedly futuristic story rife with twists and turns ... Asher returns to his popular far-future series, Polity Universe, with another fast-paced space opera filled with his trademark technological marvels and elaborate world building."
—Booklist
"Hardboiled, fast-paced space opera epic ... Asher’s books are similar to the world of Iain M. Banks’ Culture universe, but the Polity is arguably a much darker and more vicious environment—and all the better for it."
—The Register
"Perpetually on the knife's edge, and this constant tension works wonders for creating a page-turning atmosphere. It's a damningly gripping and infecting book."
—Upcoming4.me
"A superb novel and Asher has an amazing talent for world-building, for writing larger-than-life characters, for weaving gripping plots and for imagining exotic alien races and wonderful technologies. Huge ships! Big weapons! Space battles! Ground battles! Treason! Revenge! This is New Space Opera at its best."
—Sense of Wonder
"One of his best works so far ... Asher is a modern master of sci-fi."
—Starburst magazine
"“[The Polity books] are SF novels that mix early cyberpunk’s insouciance with the widescreen baroque spectacle of space opera and the pacing of an airport action-thriller. But even by Neal Asher’s standards, there’s something particularly grisly about Dark Intelligence.”
—SFX
Praise for Neal Asher
“Asher rocks with XXX adrenaline while delivering a vivid future.”
—David Brin, New York Times-bestselling author of Kiln People
“What has six arms, a large beak, looks like a pyramid, has more eyes than you’d expect, and talks nonsense? If you don’t know the answer to that, then 1) you should and 2) you haven’t been reading Neal Asher (see point 1).”
—Jon Courtenay Grimwood
“Projects the terror-haunted sensibility of our time into a future of limitless brutality . . . Asher displays great virtuosity.”
—The New York Times
“Asher has lit up the sky of science fiction like a new sun.”
—Tanith Lee
“Asher ventures into some terrifying minds and incredible space battles in this tangled but heart-pounding sequel, which achieves a rare success in depicting truly nonhuman forms of intelligence.”
—Publishers Weekly
“War Factory contains everything that is good about Asher’s writing . . . Nobody does science fiction like Neal Asher, and War Factory is yet more proof of that.”
—SFFWorld
“War Factory is the best science fiction book I’ve read this year and the Transformation trilogy is already among my favourite Space Opera series ever. Do I need to say more? Just go and read it!”
—Sense of Wonder
“War Factory is the ultimate space opera and military sci-fi thriller.”
—Manhattan Book Review
“War Factory is full of weird science and space, lots of complex characters, and healthy amounts of body horror. . . . an exercise in trusting the author, and I’m sufficiently impressed enough to continue to do so.”
—Nerds of a Feather
“Through all this violent action run questions of moral responsibility, justice and revenge, nature and nurture, redemption, restitution, collateral damage, and other matters that a mere carnival (or carnivore) ride would not bother to address. (I write this with some trepidation, having just viewed Captain America: Civil War. But, no, Asher does it better.)”
—Locus Magazine
Praise for Dark Intelligence
“Beautifully paced ... does just as well as at slam-bang action scenes as at painting frightening pictures ... This is space opera at a high peak of craftsmanship.”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review
“What Asher delivers here is state-of-the-art SF on so many levels … a compelling, smart read.”
—Paul Di Filippo, Locus
"Blends large portions of horror and mystery into an SF tale of revenge and redemption ... a complex and satisfying work."
—Library Journal, starred review
"An exciting, intricate, and unabashedly futuristic story rife with twists and turns ... Asher returns to his popular far-future series, Polity Universe, with another fast-paced space opera filled with his trademark technological marvels and elaborate world building."
—Booklist
"Hardboiled, fast-paced space opera epic ... Asher’s books are similar to the world of Iain M. Banks’ Culture universe, but the Polity is arguably a much darker and more vicious environment—and all the better for it."
—The Register
"Perpetually on the knife's edge, and this constant tension works wonders for creating a page-turning atmosphere. It's a damningly gripping and infecting book."
—Upcoming4.me
"A superb novel and Asher has an amazing talent for world-building, for writing larger-than-life characters, for weaving gripping plots and for imagining exotic alien races and wonderful technologies. Huge ships! Big weapons! Space battles! Ground battles! Treason! Revenge! This is New Space Opera at its best."
—Sense of Wonder
"One of his best works so far ... Asher is a modern master of sci-fi."
—Starburst magazine
"“[The Polity books] are SF novels that mix early cyberpunk’s insouciance with the widescreen baroque spectacle of space opera and the pacing of an airport action-thriller. But even by Neal Asher’s standards, there’s something particularly grisly about Dark Intelligence.”
—SFX
Praise for Neal Asher
“Asher rocks with XXX adrenaline while delivering a vivid future.”
—David Brin, New York Times-bestselling author of Kiln People
“What has six arms, a large beak, looks like a pyramid, has more eyes than you’d expect, and talks nonsense? If you don’t know the answer to that, then 1) you should and 2) you haven’t been reading Neal Asher (see point 1).”
—Jon Courtenay Grimwood
“Projects the terror-haunted sensibility of our time into a future of limitless brutality . . . Asher displays great virtuosity.”
—The New York Times
“Asher has lit up the sky of science fiction like a new sun.”
—Tanith Lee
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