Prador Moon by Neal Asher
Published by Tor in paperback 17 Oct 2008
Prador Moon is my second piece of Neal Asher and it’s a nice slice too. Actually it’s more than a slice. More like a thick chunk being 222 pages long. The story revolves around The Polity Collective’s first contact with an alien species – The Prador. This is a special occasion and one that doesn’t go well. The crab-like carnivore Prador make their intentions quite clear in the first meeting where they also discover quite quickly that they also like human flesh.
Neal Asher brings together several threads in order to tell this story. You have Jebel, the hero, in direct assault with the Prador. Moira, who got more than she paid for, and the Prador themselves.
Asher is trying to tell a very big story in such a slim volume but at no point do you feel short changed. It’s pack with titbits that I’m hoping will be pulled and explored at in other stories.
At the heart of Prador Moon is the threat of the Prador as they set about to destroy The Polity. The Polity with its A.I. and advanced technology seem stronger. But the Prador have more than one trick that the Polity doesn’t. It’s quite disturbing really especially when they try to convert their human prisons to the same purpose. Asher has a vivid, logical and scientific imagination but this doesn’t detract from the emotional drama.
He invests the Prador with completely alien traits but also a level of humanity. He does the same with A.I Golem George. You get to get to see humanity from all sides. Which is the point really of most stories.
I might be pumping this up a little too much but I greatly enjoyed Prador Moon as you can tell. Asher mixes his three, well four, if you include Occam Razor… storylines and gives each a piece of a the puzzle that comes together in an explosive conclusion.
Asher writes thoughtful and engaging sci-fi and I’m eager to try more.
Very glad to hear you enjoyed this one Gav, you really should look into either The Skinner or Shadow of the Scorpion next as they are easy jumping on places. I'm getting the Asher urge again so I may try and get Line of Polity and then Brass Man done in the near future
You'll enjoy that one for sure
I've tried to finish Line of Polity before but just couldn't get into it
I'll probably speed read the rest of it and go on to Brass Man – looking forward to catching up with Mr Crane again!
I agree about speed reading, but I just want to get the book done so I can go on to the other three I have waiting. I hate doing it, but after getting about 2/3 through I think it's the only way to go – plus I know the ending from other stuff that I've read from Asher.
If you're a Neal Asher fan, you'll want to get your greedy little hands on The Skinner pronto. I'm going to read that one again.
[...] is rapidly becoming one of my favourite authors after reading The Gabble and Other Stories, then Prador Moon and now Shadow of the [...]
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I have a bound copy of Shadow of the Scorpion ready and waiting! So really looking forward to that.
Looking forward to see what you end up choosing out of Line of Pility of Brass Man.
Speed reading books? Gah – I do when at the can I be arsed to read more stage and need to see a chapter or two ahead but if I start doing that the magic is usually over.
Hope the Brass Man makes it