“A kind of highly technical poetry of war . . . Orbus is definitely a terrific example of contemporary SF & a finely tuned page turner.”—Eclectic Ruckus
“An excellent space opera . . . Neal Asher continues to impress.”—Vast and Cool and Unsympathetic
General Praise for Neal Asher:
“Neal Asher’s books are like an adrenaline shot targeted directly for the brain.” —New York Times bestselling author John Scalzi
“With mind-blowing complexity, characters, and combat, Asher’s work continues to combine the best of advanced cybertech and military SF.” ?Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Asher is a modern master of sci-fi.” —Starburst magazine
“A wide-screen special-effects extravaganza, a space opera featuring gods and monsters . . . Doc Smith and Olaf Stapledon in a blender, turned up to eleven, with the contents splattering across the ceiling.” ?Russell Letson, Locus
“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
“Hardboiled, fast-paced space opera . . . 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
Description
This is a follow-up to The Voyage of the Sable Keech tracing the journey of an Old Captain, Orbus – a sadist in charge of a crew of masochists - to a planetary wasteland called The Graveyard’ lying between the Polity and the Prador Kingdom. An ancient war drone by the name of Sniper has stowed away aboard his spaceship, and the purpose of the journey is not entirely what the captain expected. Also heading in the same direction is the Prador king and the Prador Vrell. Vrell, having been mutated by the Spatterjay virus into something powerful and dangerous, has seized control of a Prador dreadnought, killing much of its crew, and is intent on heading back to the Prador Third Kingdom to exact vengeance on the King of the Prador, who tried to have him killed. All three ships are heading towards a climatic confrontation to The Graveyard, where underlying truths about the virus are revealed and an ancient menace to civilization reappears…
Reviews
“A kind of highly technical poetry of war . . . Orbus is definitely a terrific example of contemporary SF & a finely tuned page turner.”—Eclectic Ruckus
“An excellent space opera . . . Neal Asher continues to impress.”—Vast and Cool and Unsympathetic
General Praise for Neal Asher:
“Neal Asher’s books are like an adrenaline shot targeted directly for the brain.” —New York Times bestselling author John Scalzi
“With mind-blowing complexity, characters, and combat, Asher’s work continues to combine the best of advanced cybertech and military SF.” ?Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Asher is a modern master of sci-fi.” —Starburst magazine
“A wide-screen special-effects extravaganza, a space opera featuring gods and monsters . . . Doc Smith and Olaf Stapledon in a blender, turned up to eleven, with the contents splattering across the ceiling.” ?Russell Letson, Locus
“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
“Hardboiled, fast-paced space opera . . . 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
