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Visit our Neal Asher page,
for a Neal Asher biography, Neal Asher bibliography, Neal Asher short
stories, and interviews |
Ian Cormac is sent to Aster Colora to converse with the
leviathan that calls itself 'Dragon' as the ambassador for humanity. In
his baggage is a contra terrene device, whilst Dragon keeps a fellow leviathan
- 'Monitor' - on a very loose leash; Ian battles his wits against Dragon,
but this is not easy when Dragon talks in riddles, and has the power to crush
his opponent as easily as his dracoman crushes the pawns on the chessboard (a
scene reminiscent of The Seventh Seal).
This is the one Runcible Tale that
should be familiar to most Neal Asher readers, as it is incorporated
word-for-word into Gridlinked (Chapter
11). There is no holodrama 'The Dragon in the Flower' - not yet,
anyhow. There are several things that are noteworthy in this
introductory encounter between Ian Cormac and Dragon. Firstly, this
story reveals that several of the technological advances in the Asher universe
are quite new - contra terrene devices have not been around that long.
The first Dyson sphere is under construction, with the aid of a contra terrene
device. Dragon says that humanity will have the intergalactic runcible
within the next century (Ian Cormac's time). Cormac's conclusion is that
Dragon is intergalactic itself. This is why Horace Blegg (not mentioned
in this story) wants humanity to be united so much - as he says in The Line of
Polity - "Soon we'll be playing grown-up games" (Chapter 6)
- so the anticipation is that Neal Asherr could be aiming to create quite a long
story-arc. Like “The Line of Polity”, Dragon speaks in Biblical riddles -
"I have seen every Sparrow fall" - didn't Mary Doria Russell name her
debut novel 'The Sparrow' from the same Biblical quote? Could Dragon be
subtly claiming to be God? Dragon certainly seems to be behaving like The
Owner in The Engineer when
he sets the "rule of no machinery larger than a man within a two kilometre
radius". Dragon's actions here could have been precipitated by the
knowledge that the human polity had developed the contra terrene device, a very
destructive weapon that can come in very small packages. All in all, this
is a very intriguing first encounter with Dragon. Since Dragon talks and
acts in riddles, its motivations and actions will always appear to be
enigmatic.
Authortrek Rating:
10/10
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for a Neal Asher biography, Neal Asher bibliography, Neal Asher short
stories, and interviews |
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