Zero Point
Owner (2)
by Neal Asher
science fiction
copyright 2012
read in August 2014
rated 7/10: well worth reading
Shades of Doc Smith ! Though the science has been updated. Oh, and Doc Smith would have had his heroes across the galaxy by book two...
And that surprised me...
In Owner book one, the goodies escape from an oppressive Earth. Okay, I thought, book two will have them half way to the next star system... Plenty of baddies already on board. Add a few aliens and there's enough material for an entire book. Or two.
But no. We're still in our own Solar System. With an interesting shift in the politics of still-oppressive Earth.
Because that is a major theme of the Owner books... Politics. Well, politics in the broad sense of, what people will do to maintain the personal power that they get through practical application of political ideas.
Book one slathered on the message, rather too thickly. Book two makes its point just as strongly but more subtly.
Each chapter begins with a pointed message -- presented as an extract from a "current" book, or article, or notes from a meeting. These are outside the story so I read them as being separate from the story. They do not intrude.
Remember Heinlein ? Remember the characters who would spend several pages "discussing" the author's political views ? I find that the pointed messages at the start of each chapter are far less intrusive. And just as powerful.
Oh, and I suppose I could say something about the story itself...
A lot of fun !
Action, adventure, mad despot driving the hasn't-really-got-a-chance threat. Superhero laid low by kryptonite but offers just enough support to help clever assistants to survive the morning -- then superhero returns just on time to save the day... Followed by ridiculously over the top effort to save his only surviving relative.
What I mean is: great fun !
Solid science fiction, boys own adventure, adult level violence.
Not so much "what if". More a book of "why not".
I think I'll enjoy the third Owner book. But I wonder if they'll ever get out of the Solar System...
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25may20: I read it again. Which I didn't realise -- until a gruesome little scene, well into the book. Worth reading again... though I was glad to reach the end. This time round it just didn't match what I was looking for.
I did enjoy the science. Having recently attempted to read a possibly more recent Asher book, this one is ... not realistic... but believable. Still "science fiction"; the other book was mad science that may as well have been fantasy magic.
On this reading I seem more aware of the characters. None of whom are likable. Both hero and villain are -- to my mind -- equally self-centred, self-deluding, up themselves with power. Neither looks for advice. Though the hero does at least pretend to listen. And, at the end, he does feel that he is still somewhat human.
I enjoyed reading it, though less than the first time. At the end I have no urge to seek out book three... but then, I'm now looking for different things in the books that I'm reading.
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Problems ? Solved
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