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The Soldier

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The Soldier

By: Neal Asher
Narrated by: Peter Noble
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About this listen

The Soldier is the first novel in the no-holds barred Rise of the Jain series, by bestselling science fiction author Neal Asher.

'A beautifully complex universe where AIs, aliens and post-humans scheme and struggle – magnificently awesome.' – Peter F. Hamilton

Her mission is vital. Her failure is unthinkable.

A corner of space swarms with alien technology, a danger to all sentient life. It’s guarded by Orlandine, who must keep it contained – as it could destroy entire civilizations. An alien intelligence shares her vigil. But she doesn’t share everything with Dragon . . .

Orlandine is hatching a plan to obliterate this technology, removing its threat forever. For some will do anything to exploit this ancient weaponry, created by a long-dead race called the Jain. This includes activating a Jain super-soldier, which may breach even Orlandine’s defences.

Meanwhile, humanity and the alien prador empire also watch this sector of space, as neither can allow the other to claim its power. However, things are about to change. The Jain might not be as dead as they seemed and interstellar war is just a heartbeat away.

The action continues in The Warship.

©2018 Neal Asher (P)2018 Macmillan Digital Audio Adventure Fiction Hard Science Fiction Science Fiction Space Opera Cyberpunk Heartfelt Technology War Computer Science

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All stars
Most relevant
Really enjoyed reading this chapter in the Polity universe, it's still hard to grasp the scale of things and the involvement of hooper's and Prador adds a nice addition.

The Soldier

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I’m late in coming to Neal Asher books but I’m glad I did, it has been many years since a book so thoroughly held me that I can’t wait to listen to the next chapter, the narration is top notch too

Excellent book and narration

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This is incomplete .. an interesting snippet, but probably only 1/2 or 1/3rd of a complete tale, and that ignores the backstory elements all the way back to the original 'Gridlinked', which IMO is superior in every way. The whole Asherverse is turning into a space opera with no end in sight,and the lurid prose becomes ever more EE Doc Smith-like, with ever more deadly particle beams coruscating wildly against ever more impenetrable shields (sorry 'hard fields').

The reading is pretty good although there were a couple of occasions where the timing (breaks between clauses) was wrong, or a wrong word was read (but without the printed text it is always possible that the written work was already wrong). I shall not be holding my breath for the next thrilling installment.

The start of something, incomplete. Not his best.

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Asher tells a good story and "The soldier" doesn't disappoint in this respect. It's filled with great characters to which you can attach your emotions as they whirl and dance through a story of immense complexity. Yet despite it's arcane nature, not a moment of this audiobook leaves me feeling unsatisfied.

Complex, gripping and exciting

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another superb glimpse into the polarity, masterly crafted, descriptive and exciting, awaiting more as ever

Neal Asher again superb

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