Neal L. Asher Knihy

A high-octane space opera from a master of the genre. We'll learn of a long- buried alien secret, which could hold the key to humanity's survival. But only one man knows the truth - and some want him dead.

In this explosive conclusion to Neal Asher's Transformation trilogy, one man's quest for vengeance across the galaxy comes to a head. Humans, aliens and AI clash in this cutthroat struggle for survival - but will Thorvold Spear finally have his revenge?

Neal Asher ramps up the action in this second book in his Rise of the Jain trilogy. Expect epic conflicts in space, extraordinary aliens and impossible choices . . .

One man will transcend death to seek vengeance. One woman will transform herself to gain power. And no one will emerge unscathed. Thorvald Spear has been brought back from the dead. Killed a century earlier by Penny Royal, an unstable AI who turned rogue in the middle of a human versus alien war, the resurrected Spear has one thing on his mind: revenge. Crime lord Isobel Satomi got more than she bargained for when she struck a deal with Penny Royal. Turning part-AI herself gave her frightening power, but the upgrade came with horrifying repercussions—and it’s turning Isobel into something far from human. Spear hires Isobel to track down Penny Royal, but as she continues her metamorphosis, it’s clear that Isobel’s monstrous transformations will eventually become uncontrollable. Will Spear finish his hunt before becoming the hunted? Skyhorse Publishing, under our Night Shade and Talos imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of titles for readers interested in science fiction (space opera, time travel, hard SF, alien invasion, near-future dystopia), fantasy (grimdark, sword and sorcery, contemporary urban fantasy, steampunk, alternative history), and horror (zombies, vampires, and the occult and supernatural), and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller, a national bestseller, or a Hugo or Nebula award-winner, we are committed to publishing quality books from a diverse group of authors.

From eight hundred years in the future, a runcible gate is opened into the Polity and those coming through it have been sent specially to take the alien maker back to its home civilization in the Small Magellanic cloud. Once these refugees are safely through, the gate itself is rapidly shut downbecause something alien is pursuing them. The gate is then dumped into a nearby sun. From those refugees who get through, agent Cormac learns that the Maker civilization has been destroyed by pernicious virus known as the Jain technology. This, of course, raises questions: why was Dragon, a massive biocontruct of the Makers, really sent to the Polity; why did a Jain node suddenly end up in the hands of someone who could do the most damage with it? Meanwhile an entity called the Legate is distributing pernicious Jain nodes...And a renegade attack ship, The King of Hearts, has encountered something very nasty outside the Polity itself.

Science fiction. The Polity is under attack from a melded AI entity with control of the lethal Jain technology, yet the attack seems to have no coherence. When one of Erebus wormships kills millions on the world of Klurhammon, a high-tech agricultural world of no real tactical significance, agent Ian Cormac is sent to investigate, though he is secretly struggling to control a new ability no human being should possess, and beginning to question the motives of his AI masters. Further attacks and seemingly indiscriminate slaughter ensue, but only serve to bring some of the most dangerous individuals in the Polity into the war. Mr Crane, the indefatigable brass killing machine sets out for vengeance, while Orlandine, a vastly-augmented haiman who herself controls Jain technology, seeks a weapon of appalling power and finds allies from an ancient war. Meanwhile Mika, scientist and Dragon expert, is again kidnapped by that unfathomable alien entity and dragged into the heart of things: to wake the makers of Jain technology from their five-million-year slumber.

"Thorvald Spear, resurrected from his death over a hundred years earlier, continues to hunt Penny Royal, the rogue AI and dangerous war criminal on the run from Polity forces. Beyond the Graveyard, a lawless and deadly area in deep space, Spear follows the trail of several enemy Prador, the crab-like alien species with a violent history of conflict with humanity. Sverl, a Prador genetically modified by Penny Royal and slowly becoming human, pursues Cvorn, a Prador harboring deep hatred for the Polity looking to use him and other hybrids to reignite the dormant war with mankind. Blite, captain of a bounty hunting ship, hands over two prisoners and valuable memplants from Penny Royal to the Brockle, a dangerous forensics entity under strict confinement on a Polity spaceship that quickly takes a keen interest in the corrupted AI and its unclear motives. Penny Royal meanwhile continues to pull all the strings in the background, keeping the Polity at bay and seizing control of an attack ship. It seeks Factory Station Room 101, a wartime manufacturing space station believed to be destroyed. What does it want with the factory? And will Spear find the rogue AI before it gets there?"-- Provided by publisher

Spatterjay: the most dangerous planet in the galaxy, a world where everything has teeth and is very hungry. Spatterjay can rip you to shreds in more ways than have been counted, or transform you into something no longer quite human, but nearly immortal. Sable Keech isn't interested in immortality. He's been dead 700 years. But that hasn't stopped his relentless pursuit of legendary Prador Wars renegade 'Spatter' Jay Hoop, a.k.a. the Kinner. Hoop is still around, but his body and his head maintain separate residences. Erlin Tazer is interested in immortality, because she acquired it on a previous visit. Now she has returned to figure out what to do with it. As the visitors' paths converge with one of the most brutal of the very alien Prador, who is intent on exterminating witnesses to its wartime atrocities, Spatterjay will have some nasty surprises for everyone -- From back cover

A warship is laying waste to the galaxy, committing incredible acts of war. So old enemies must work together - or face annihilation. This is the high-octane conclusion to Neal Asher's Rise of the Jain trilogy.