[intensityxx]

I enjoyed the podcast interview with Rick Kleffel, and so bought Gridlinked, Skinner, and Cowl. Does anyone have any thoughts on which one I should read first?

[Hobbit]

As a relatively recent convert too, Intensity, I would go for Gridlinked. As well as being Neal's 'breakthrough' novel, this also sets up lots of Polity stories later - more buying! :D

Hobbit

[Skaidon]

I'd definately go in chronological order, you'll enjoy them all!

[nealasher]

Though being a bit paranoid, I would say don't be put off by Gridlinked. It's my first major book and I'll admit to it having some faults. The Skinner is the one most applauded and Cowl is the one on which opinions seem to be most divided.

[intensityxx]

Thanks! Maybe Skinner, then.

[Lowerprofile]

I nearly picked up Cowl yesterday. But there were several factors against it. It was the only Asher title in the store, which is a huge, national bookstore. Is that usually the case?

Also, I'd just read the forward to Ursula K. LeGuin's The Left Hand of Darkness. So that's what I bought. Can you blame me?

[homosap]

Having read Gridlinked a couple of times I decided to branch out and so bought:-

The Skinner - now read
The Voyage of the Sable Keech - now read
Cowl
The Line of Polity - now read
Brass Man - reading
Polity Agent

So far so good but I do have a couple of niggles. Firstly I really struggled to find information on correct reading order. Tried the Neal Asher website, searches on here and various other places. nothing is made clear and, as it arrived first, I began reading Brass Man before The Line of Polity. I quickly realised that there must be a previous book and so stopped. However this was not clear from the information available to me prior to commencing reading. Personally I felt Brass Man should have had something along the lines of 'the follow up/sequel to Line of Polity, on the cover.

My second grumble relates to recapping and I felt that Neal was bordering on padding the books out with uneccessary repetition. If anyone wants to see where this habit can end up then try reading horror books by Brian Lumley.

That said I have really enjoyed the books, good ideas, plenty going on and humerous AI's. Being a fan of the Culture novels the last always appeals to me.

[Hobbit]

Firstly I really struggled to find information on correct reading order. Tried the Neal Asher website, searches on here and various other places. nothing is made clear. Did you try the bibliography? (http://www.sffworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12844)

THIS SITE (http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/a/neal-l-asher/) also helps.

The only thing I would question there would be to put Line of Polity as a Cormac book.

My second grumble relates to recapping and I felt that Neal was bordering on padding the books out with uneccessary repetition. There's a fine balance between telling what has gone before in a series and letting the new story unfold. You could read the books as stand alone, though there are references that make more sense when you've read them in order. Polity Agent, for example, makes more sense if you've read the earlier books, but you don't necessarily have to. Sometimes the old story needs repetition for new readers, so to speak.

Hobbit

[nealasher]

"The only thing I would question there would be to put Line of Polity as a Cormac book."

But it is a Cormac book. 1. Gridlinked 2.The Line of Polity 3. Brass Man 4. Polity Agent 5. Line War.

"There's a fine balance between telling what has gone before in a series and letting the new story unfold."

This is very true. It's also true that it ain't easy to get your publisher to fess-up that you're writing a series. They want single complete books to drag in new readers, which really is only sensible. Plenty of people have now come to my books by reading something later on, like Brass Man, then tracked down the backlist. In fact, that's how I started on some of my favourites like Julian May's Many Coloured Land, Zelazny's Princes in Amber and many others besides.

It's only on Polity Agent that you'll now find 'The fourth agent Cormac novel' written on the cover. There's been some talk of going for a new cover design for the older books and maybe then they'll do the same thing for them. Then again, they did so with Brass Man (check the difference between the hardcover and the paperback) and it didn't have 'The third agent Cormac novel' on it. Byzantine are the ways of publishers.

[Hobbit]

Thanks Neal for making that clearer.

I must work on my clarity too: my point was that I thought Line of Polity is a Cormac book, whereas on that internet link it wasn't.

I do like the new covers, btw: think the Polity Agent cover is excellent.

Hobbit