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Type of bind: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN num: 9780765349057
ISBN number: 0765349051
Label: Tor Science Fiction
Manufacturer: Tor Science Fiction
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 432
Printing Date: September 01, 2004
Publishing house: Tor Science Fiction
Release Date: August 26, 2004
Sale Popularity Level: 106218
Studio: Tor Science Fiction
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
Gridlinked is a science fiction adventure in the classic, fast-paced, action-packed tradition of Harry Harrison and Poul Anderson, with a dash of cyberpunk and a splash of Ian Fleming added to spice the mix.
Cormac is a legendary Earth Central Security agent, the James Bond of a wealthy future where 'runcibles' (matter transmitters controlled by AIs) allow interstellar travel in an eye blink throughout the settled worlds of the Polity. Unfortunately Cormac is nearly burnt out, 'gridlinked' to the AI net so long that his humanity has begun to drain away. He has to take the cold-turkey cure and shake his addiction to having his brain on the net.
Now he must do without just as he’s sent to investigate the unique runcible disaster that's wiped out the entire human colony on planet Samarkand in a thirty-megaton explosion. With the runcible out, Cormac must get there by ship, but he has incurred the wrath of a vicious psychopath called Arian Pelter, who now follows him across the galaxy with a terrifying psychotic killer android in tow. And deep beneath Samarkand's surface there are buried mysteries, fiercely guarded.
This is fast-moving, edge-of-the-seat entertainment, and a great introduction to the work of one of the most exciting new SF talents in years.
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
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Junked after 80 pages or so. Flickers of interest but a plodding, choppy read, with derivative ideas and lacking sympathetic characters. Not a universe I'd care to inhabit for long. I cut my losses and tossed this kindling material into the communal read bin here in Baghdad. If you're hunting for a fresher voice, read Richard Morgan instead.
Rated by buyers 
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I enjoyed this book. It's fast paced and complex with some very interesting characters. It is often reviewed as a hybrid of 007 and sci-fi world building; but the focus on the book is particularly on the villains.
Deep, interesting villains that have justified motivations is something really lacking in most books. And I applaud Asher for this. If anything the bad guys were more fleshed out than the protagonist.
There were a few plot elements that I disliked.. but I've already ordered more Asher books. I would recommend Iain M. Banks The Player of Games more; but Banks only writes so many books.
Rated by buyers -
Neal Asher is one of those authors who manages to deliver something that is fast-paced and engaging without feeling like something you wish you'd borrowed from the library instead of buying. To be honest he borders on pulp at time, but in this case it's not a bad thing - "Gridlinked" is a great example of how he counterbalances the pulp factor with comprehensible science and surprising clarity at times, forgoing the fancy narrative and pseudo-poetry that a lot of science-fiction authors go for.
He is concise and compelling for the most part - the downside is that the characters feel like film characters rather than real people, but when you're after this kind of action sci-fi, that is weird and wonderful stories filled with awesome gadgets and creatures, it doesn't matter too much. "Gridlinked" is one of the Agent Cormac novels to feature the brilliant Mr Crane, a bronze android with fearsome strength and almost tangibly intimidating personality. One of the most original characters I've read in sci-fi, he's the character who causes you to tut when his scene ends and grin when his subsequent one begins. Cormac is almost as engaging, a man dehumanised by his integration with technology and his intellectual proximity to the many AIs that govern Earth and other colonised worlds.
It's a fine novel and well worth a read, especially if you haven't read Asher before and want to branch out into new authors.
Rated by buyers -
This story has a ton of interesting and fun stuff going on. The technology is pretty good, the future government and culture is plausible enough. And the bad guys are great! Asher has created some very good characters that mesh together well. Mr. Crane, the "broken" android is excellent. Arian Pelter is perfectly despicable and Asher even succeeds in creating a bad guy I was rooting for. A few scenes were rather predictable but not terribly distracting from the overall story.
Now for the not so good. I can't give this book 5 stars for two major reasons. The protagonist is about as interesting as my front lawn and the last 50 pages were dull and convoluted. Asher attempts to pull together his half dozen plot lines and fails. I was less than 10 pages from the end when I got interrupted and didn't even care. That's how ho-hum it gets.
But I don't want to make too much of the bad, I still give it high marks for a very first effort and I'm going to read another one.
Rated by buyers -
"It's not only humans who know how to hate." A tantalizing hook for this Gridlinked novel... yet not much was hammered out regarding the difference between how a human hates or an AI hates. AI characters weren't fully explored as being human or even being sentient. However, the concepts in tech and originality were big pluses, always providing a highlight in between the battles, gore and destruction (three more big pluses!). The only character development seemed to be orbiting around Ian, while the rest of the cast were left merely to interact with him.
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