The Departure
Sep 2011 · Owner series Book 1 · Pan Macmillan
4.1star
80 reviewsreport
Ebook
352
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About this ebook
In a world devoid of hope, is revenge the only way out?
The Argus Space Station looks down on a nightmarish Earth. And from here, the Committee enforces its despotic rule. It governs a corrupt world, where the poor are starving – and are policed by mechanized overseers wielding identity-reader guns. There are also too many people and too few resources, so the Committee has decided twelve billion people must die. So they prepare to unleash the full power of their Station’s weaponry to make this happen.
Alan Saul wakes to this world, confined in a crate bound for a Calais incinerator. He doesn’t know why he’s there; he only remembers pain and his tormentor’s face. And he has company: Janus, a rogue intelligence, who is inhabiting forbidden hardware in his skull. As Janus shows his host a damaged Earth, Saul resolves to discover who he was – and kill his interrogator. Next he will take on the Committee and topple their debased regime.
The Departure is the first fast-paced book in the Owner trilogy by acclaimed science fiction author Neal Asher.
'Delivers plenty of thrills' – SFX
'Fast, dramatic stuff . . . rapid pace, great action, messy consequences' – SFFWorld
'I had an absolute blast with this book . . . his work really does get better and better' – FalcataTimes
The Argus Space Station looks down on a nightmarish Earth. And from here, the Committee enforces its despotic rule. It governs a corrupt world, where the poor are starving – and are policed by mechanized overseers wielding identity-reader guns. There are also too many people and too few resources, so the Committee has decided twelve billion people must die. So they prepare to unleash the full power of their Station’s weaponry to make this happen.
Alan Saul wakes to this world, confined in a crate bound for a Calais incinerator. He doesn’t know why he’s there; he only remembers pain and his tormentor’s face. And he has company: Janus, a rogue intelligence, who is inhabiting forbidden hardware in his skull. As Janus shows his host a damaged Earth, Saul resolves to discover who he was – and kill his interrogator. Next he will take on the Committee and topple their debased regime.
The Departure is the first fast-paced book in the Owner trilogy by acclaimed science fiction author Neal Asher.
'Delivers plenty of thrills' – SFX
'Fast, dramatic stuff . . . rapid pace, great action, messy consequences' – SFFWorld
'I had an absolute blast with this book . . . his work really does get better and better' – FalcataTimes
Ratings and reviews
4.1
80 reviews
Richard Connor
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April 17, 2013
Interesting story that gets a bit convoluted at times, with some language that appears out of place or unnatural somehow, and therefore removes you from the story. Saul gets a bit much in places, and the further he drifts from humanity the less I care about him. I'm fairly sure I want to see what happens in book 2, but I'll wait for a price drop with easy patience.
2 people found this review helpful
M S
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July 17, 2016
This is almost non-stop hectic 'just get there alive quickly!' from start to finish. Great setting and back story, would make a great action movie.
Chris Milnes
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June 4, 2015
Just finished this and it was a great read. Lots of action and post human/cyberpunk themes as usual. Now I'm going to buy the rest of the series.
1 person found this review helpful
About the author
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. The Warship is the second book in the Rise of the Jain series, following The Soldier, and is set in the Polity universe.
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