While I usually like to
start off my reviews on a positive note, especially when I’m reviewing a book
that I liked, and for the record, I really loved Dark Intelligence for the most part; I feel like I need to begin
this review by discussing what’s definitely the biggest complaint that I have
about this book. The reason why I want to start off this review by discussing
the biggest complaint that I have about Dark
Intelligence is because I want to preface this review by saying that Dark Intelligence is the first book by
Neal Asher that I’ve ever read. I feel like I need to be upfront about that
right from the start of this review in case people who’re much more familiar
with Asher’s books read this review, and feel like I don’t know what I’m
talking about. If people read this review and feel that way, I definitely
apologize for that. I always try my best to get the details regarding a book straight
whenever I write a review for it. That being said, while I really loved this
book and I was definitely blown away by the overall quality of Asher’s writing;
the biggest problem that I think this book has is that it definitely lacks a
sense of accessibility to people like me, who’ve never read any of Asher’s books
before.
When I originally bought my
copy of Dark Intelligence, which was well over a year ago, I was initially
unaware of the fact that while it’s the first book in the Transformation trilogy, it’s also a part of the Polity universe
that the majority of Asher’s books take place in; and that it builds upon
events that take place in some of Asher’s earlier books. It was only after I
had already started reading the book that I really started to realize how tied
in and connected to Asher’s previous books Dark
Intelligence truly is. I definitely found that rather frustrating and
confusing since this is the first book by Neal Asher that I’ve ever read, and I
had been really excited to read it ever since I first saw both Dark Intelligence, and the second book
in the Transformation trilogy, War Factory, at Barnes & Noble.
While I think it’s great
that Asher has created an elaborate universe for his books to take place in, I
can definitely see some people viewing the fact that a lot of Neal Asher’s
books are set in his Polity universe, and the fact that his books clearly build
upon each other as a deterrent from deciding to check out his books. I think
that would be a real shame, because Asher is definitely a very talented writer.
That being said, I really feel like Asher could have done a better job of
writing Dark Intelligence in such a
way that makes it accessible to new readers who’re relatively, if not entirely,
unfamiliar with his books; while also expanding the mythology of the Polity
universe that he’s introduced and developed in his previous books for his long-time
fans.
