Shadow of the Scorpion

Shadow of the Scorpion is a standalone prequel to Neal Asher’s explosive Agent Cormac series.Some secrets are too hard to bear . . . Following the human vs prador war, Ian Cormac signs up with Earth Central Security. He’s sent out to restore order on worlds devastated by alien bombardment. But he learns humanity can be far more dangerous – even those closest to him. Amidst the tragic ruins left by wartime atrocities, Cormac discovers in himself the cold capacity for violence. It’s a quality that’ll make him one of Earth’s top agents. Haunted by childhood memories of a sinister scorpion-shaped war drone, and the burden of losses he doesn’t remember, he’ll discover some hard truths. These will set him on a course of vengeance, where he’ll have to use all his hard-won skills just to stay alive.

The Shadow of the Scorpion skillfully combines graphic action and sensitive characterisation and is Asher's most accomplished novel to date, A powerhouse cocktail of lurid violence, evocative world-building and typically grotesque monsters, but it’s amazing how much emotion he’s also layered into what could have been a simplistic SF potboiler. Asking difficult questions while still delivering plenty of full-tilt adventure and widescreen action, this is top-notch stuff from an author well and truly at the top of his game, Ian Cormac is, it seems, here to stay in the collective consciousness of sci-fi literature… Thoroughly enjoyable stuff, Full of giant explosions on alien worlds. It's also a well-plotted exploration of the way violence destroys everything, even memory, The novel manages to raise some interesting points about what it means to be human in a society where the lines between man and machine have blurred: robots are capable of emulating emotions and humans may be technologically augmented and live indefinitely. When it is possible to have traumatic memories erased from the human brain, the novel questions the wisdom of doing so and suggests that memories and pain shape our psyche

Neal Asher divides his time between Essex and Crete, mostly at a keyboard and mentally light-years away. His full-length novels are as follows. First is the Agent Cormac series: Gridlinked, The Line of Polity, Brass Man, Polity Agent and Line War. Next comes the Spatterjay series: The Skinner, The Voyage of the Sable Keech and Orbus. Also set in the same world of the Polity are these standalone novels: Hilldiggers, Prador Moon, Shadow of the Scorpion and The Technician. The Transformation trilogy is also based in the Polity: Dark Intelligence, War Factory and Infinity Engine. Set in a dystopian future are: The Departure, Zero Point and Jupiter War, while Cowl takes us across time. Neal Asher divides his time between Essex and Crete, mostly at a keyboard and mentally light-years away. His full-length novels are as follows. First is the Agent Cormac series: Gridlinked, The Line of Polity, Brass Man, Polity Agent and Line War. Next comes the Spatterjay series: The Skinner, The Voyage of the Sable Keech and Orbus. Also set in the same world of the Polity are these standalone novels: Hilldiggers, Prador Moon, Shadow of the Scorpion and The Technician. The Transformation trilogy is also based in the Polity: Dark Intelligence, War Factory and Infinity Engine. Set in a dystopian future are: The Departure, Zero Point and Jupiter War, while Cowl takes us across time. Following that is the Rise of the Jain series.