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Hilldiggers (Novel of the Polity)
 
 
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Hilldiggers (Novel of the Polity) [Kindle Edition]

Neal Asher (Author)
3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews) |
Digital List Price: £7.16 What's this?
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Product Description

Review

Asher has an axe to grind, but what a shiny, well-honed and beautifully weighted axe it is... He's on top of his game with this one and his confidence entwines a fibrous thread throughout the plot. Multiple narratives occurring in different timeframes, shifts between first-and third-person perspectives, a detailed and convincing description of planetary ecosystems...In lesser hands, a rambling wayward text could well result. What we have instead is a wonderfully rich and complex tale that happily flips between giving the mind something weighty to mull over and pleasing its baser, thrill-seeking desires... Asher's skill is making it all seem wild, wonderful, politically provoking and fresh. --.

The world of the AI-run Polity civilisation has been building to a ferocious level of complexity over Asher's past seven books, but Hilldiggers is an ideal jumping-on point, being relatively sefl-containted, packed full of intrugue, and - most importantly - one of his most ambitious and gripping novels yet...Hilldiggers is both inventive and expertly paced, navigating an incredibly complex story without losing any of the clarity or momentum...if there's a more enjoyable and provocative sci-fi action saga this year, we'll be seriously surprised. --.

One of his most enjoyable novels yet --Starburst

Death Ray

'An excellent tale to Asher's usual exhilarating action standards...'
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Product details

  • Format: Kindle Edition
  • File Size: 833 KB
  • Print Length: 564 pages
  • Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0330441531
  • Publisher: Tor (21 Aug 2009)
  • Sold by: Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.
  • Language English
  • ASIN: B003DWC6PO
  • Text-to-Speech: Enabled
  • Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #21,867 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

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More About the Author

Neal Asher
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
By Ed F TOP 1000 REVIEWER VINE™ VOICE
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Deeply enjoyable, page turner with great characterisation from on of my favorite novelists, but it doesn't get 5 stars from me because I couldn't shake off my nagging concern that this book was shared just a little too many concepts with "Inversions" by Iain M Banks, which isn't that great a book. I know it's ridiculous but my "familiarity" with these narrative devices took the edge of the book for me, even though Asher treats the concepts he shares with Inversions, like the low(er) tech civilisation viewpoint, the hidden agent/observer in a more accessible manner than Banks did but I couldn't help shaking off the feeling of deja-vu as each shared concept clicked into view.
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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful
A very boring book 3 Mar 2008
Format:Hardcover
"Hilldiggers" is very much unlike other Asher's books. It is as if it's written by a different person. It's boring.

I love his "Skinner" and still re-read it every now and then; the "Voyage..." is almost just as good. His Cormac books are also finely written. This one, I could barely finish it. The plot is predictable, all characters are flat and the writing style is extremely boring: page after page of monotonous narrative, irrelevant details and dry dialogs. No sense of humor whatsoever, and in fact very little emotions at all.

Despite his obsession with details, Asher doesn't bother to be consistent with his prior Spatterjay books (one example: in both the "Skinner" and the "Voyage..." hoopers occasionally get dunked into the deadly Spatterjay sea and, while being eaten alive by various creatures, they do keep afloat like any normal human would. In "Hilldiggers", the Hooper character McCrooger is for some reason much denser than normal people and would instantly sink to the bottom). Not to mention the idea of sending the Hooper, twice-infected by conflicting viruses, to make first contact with a paranoid and warlike civilization... Not to mention the silly "tiger-on-the-ball" Tigger drone... Or the four obviously suspicious "worm children" so easily allowed to raise to the top of the society...

If you like Asher and don't want to be disappointed, stick to his earlier Spatterjay books and avoid this one.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
There's something not there in Hilldiggers that Asher's Cormac and Spatterjay books do have. I can't quite put my finger on it, but this book didn't grip me like his others.

The characters were largely not that gripping and the plot wasn't that involving even when the big action scenes got going. I also couldn't help feeling that the infodumps at the start of the book could have been done in a better way. It's still a good book, but it just doesn't get up there with Neal Asher's other works.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Excellent premise tapers off in last half
Hilldiggers is an Asher novel which takes place in his unique Polity universe but does not follow the Cormac series or the Spatterjay series. Read more
Published 7 months ago by M-I-K-E 2theD
Plenty of Polity Politics and Background...
The current fashion for `show, don't tell' that writers keep being nagged to follow by editors has clearly by-passed Asher. Read more
Published 16 months ago by sjhigbee
A bit gutted
As with many others I've a fan and have all Mr Ashers books. I was expecting Csorian or Atheter object. Read more
Published 24 months ago by Mr. G. Finch
Is there an editor in the house?
It's odd, when you consider all the people who get thanked in Asher's books, that he has no-one to tell him how to actually write. Read more
Published on 28 Mar 2010 by John Fletcher
thoroughly enjoyable saga.
A different spin in this from other tales of his,I do see aspects of Iain Banks in Ashers work,coarser and certainly'lesser',but excellent in any case and fun.
Published on 31 July 2009 by ANDY
Oh, dear
I suppose all authors have to turn out a stinker at some point, and this is Neal Asher's. I've really enjoyed all his books up until now, but this was poorly plotted, over-long and... Read more
Published on 12 Mar 2009 by Zumbruk
Average Asher Stuff
I've read worse (currently part 7 of the Saga of Seven Suns; so bad I'm not even going to mention the title or author is the worst book I have bought and have to read). Read more
Published on 2 Feb 2009 by D. Finkenzeller
Did Neal Asher really write this ????
I am a big fan of Neal Asher and have read all his books but this one is his worst by a long way. His books are normally fast moving with strong characters and a story that keeps... Read more
Published on 9 Nov 2008 by Edd
First Neil Asher book
This is the first book of Neil Asher that I have read. I must admit it took a bit of getting into. However, once I had the style sorted out it was a good read. Read more
Published on 7 July 2008 by Wahiba
A great action-packed political space opera
Brumal & Sudoria, two planets in the same system inhabited by adapted humans with a bitter history. A war was fought over many years and 20 years ago Sudoria clenched victory... Read more
Published on 16 Jan 2008 by Mark Chitty
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