Infinity Engine / Neal Asher

Infinity Engine

(Transformation #3)

by Neal Asher

science fiction

copyright 2016

half read July 2019

rated 5/10: readable but only if there's nothing else

My rating for this book is low. I rate for *my* enjoyment. There are several factors which make this book less than satisfactory, some are purely situational...

I'm reading Infinity in bits and pieces, this is a book which should be read right through, it is too complex for dipping. It is book three of a series, it would probably make more sense if I had read (recently) books one and two. On the other hand -- there are other books, parts of a series, which are good reading without having read earlier books.

There are half a dozen separate plot threads. They are well separated and identified but it is confusing. There are so many characters and the plots are -- in the first half of this book -- so hard to relate that they may as well be separate short stories. This is my own problem in that I missed the first two books. Also, I guess that the threads will rejoin before this book ends.

Then there is the science. This -- in my opinion -- is a distinct fault with the book. First, the science may as well be magic, there is no explanation. Worse, it varies to fit the situation. Okay, the science comes from various sources, each civilisation and each alien genius will have its own version. Still, it would be nice to have -- for example -- a standard science base for each ... creature. Rather than the unexplained waving of high tech magic wands.

Part of the science is the ability to manipulate minds. What this means is that an intelligence may be thinking thoughts which have been created by another intelligence. So there are no independent characters, just intelligences which may be thinking thoughts created by something else... Or, they may literally change their own minds. All of which means -- there are no real characters, just programmable intelligences.

I am not able to like characters who may, in the previous or next chapter, be completely different characters. There are no heroes to cheer for, no villains to boo. Just a universe full of irresistible forces meeting immovable objects. And beings who may or may not be affected by the results.

I'm only just past halfway through the book. I may continue reading to the end. But only when I have nothing better to do.

====    Dr Nick Lethbridge  /  Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
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"Dogs also bark at what they do not know" … Heraclitus
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dying for you to read my blog: notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com.au :-)
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