I finished my second Neal Asher (and here) book (and his second published in the US I believe), Cowl, Saturday. Like the other Asher I’ve read (The Skinner) Cowl is a fast-paced hard scifi novel that did not disappoint.
For some reason I had it in my head that Cowl was set in the same universe as The Skinner, which I was very much looking forward to, but this wasn’t the case. However, I found the setting even more fascinating than that of The Skinner.
Basically, Asher tells an epic story of war stretching from the beginnings of life on Earth to the distant future. The war is not just across time, but about controlling time, or at least which timeline stays atop the probability curve – and thus is most likely to survive.
Interestingly, there are not an infinitely number of parallel universes, they are only created when someone goes back in time and changes something. Probably not coincidentally, this neatly fixes any paradoxes that might otherwise arise. The paradoxical universe is created in a branch far down the probability slope, effectively cutting it off from the main trunk – distance along the slope correlates with the amount of energy needed to travel back between to time lines.
Although th scope, story and setting are all quite different from The Skinner, Asher’s style is the same – fast paced, and interesting and multifaceted characters. He also (obviously from the above paragraphs) is able to come up with some very original takes on even tried and true themes, such as time travel.
The story follows three characters: Polly, a prostitute from our near future; Tack, a genetically engineered and grown programmable assassin; and Saphothere (who, despite his name is neither a poet or a lesbian) one of the Heliothane (the ‘good’ guys) from the distant future and an accomplished hunter of the Umbrathane (yes, you guessed it, the ‘bad’ guys).
I thought the development of these three characters was particularly nice. All the major characters develop in a believable and satisfying (at least to me) way. Polly, through contact with technology and information from the future, becomes an amazing resourceful survivor (albeit with some nasty eating habits). Tack, after being reprogrammed by Saphothere a couple of times, finally is given some free will and develops a bit of a conscience (though not too much of one). Even the disdainful and cold Saphothere comes to develop some respect for his ancestors.
The technology Asher introduces is epic as well, and while it’s an important part of the story, it doesn’t overwhelm it and someone less into that aspect of scifi will should not be detered from reading Cowl.
Really, no scifi fan should be detered from reading Cowl, it’s an excellent read, and if he continues to be as good as he has been thus far Asher will end being one of my favorite scifi authors. Of course the fact that he thanked me in my blog for the review of The Skinner helps too. 
Nice one – thanks for that.
Neal,
It’s my pleasure. It was a great read!
[...] If you’ve read my other reviews of Asher’s books (The Skinner and Cowl) you know I’ve his books a great deal. While I didn’t find Grindlinked as good as those first two, it’s still an excellent read. Gridlinked is set in the same universe as The Skinner (which I will call the ‘Polity’ universe) but shares none of the latter’s characters. The story is two pronged. Both start and end (more or less) with Earth Central Security agent Ian Cormac. The Cormac character figures into both but for the middle 3/4 of the book he is only in one of the branches. The Cormac branch deals with his investigation into the explosion of a runcible (think an interstellar gate a la Stargate but not near so baroque). The other branch deals with Separatist/terrorist Arian Pelter’s quest for vengeance for Cormac’s slaying of his sister in the openning scene of the book. [...]