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Title: Infinity Engine
Series: Polity: Transformation #3
Author: Neal Asher
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 577
Format: Digital Edition
| Synopsis: |
All the threads that Penny Royal has been weaving come together.
The Brockle confronts Penny Royal, assured that its upgraded self can handle anything. Until Penny Royal reveals just how powerful it has become and it throws the Brockle into a black hole, where the Brockle is eventually destroyed.
The Atheter gets off of its planet Masada and takes control of the Polity War Factory 101 and turns it into a Atheter space ship.
Thorvald Spear hooks up with a hot chick and has a ton of money so he’s supposedly taken care of. He also has a black diamond, which it is hinted might contain a part of the mind of Penny Royal.
Penny Royal itself transcends time and space and realizes that time is a loop of nothing but big bangs and heat deaths of the universe. The book ends with Penny Royal wondering if it can change that cycle.
| My Thoughts: |
I made the mistake of waiting almost 2 weeks to write this review. I really should have written it the day after I finished the book. I’ve already forgotten a ton of detail and honestly, the above synopsis is all I can remember of specifics.
I enjoyed my time reading this, hence the 4 stars, but something about Penny Royal has never really clicked with me. I was always more interested in the other characters, the pawn pieces as it were and with this book we don’t get quite as much about them because this is truly about Penny Royal.
While I enjoyed this, I don’t think I’ll be re-reading this particular sub-series again.
★★★★☆
I haven’t had much time for re-reads over the last few years but I would like more time for them! If I have another good year and get the pile down a bit, maybe I can justify a few more re-reads in the future!
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So many people have differing views on re-reads that I’ve given up trying to figure out what will work for other people 🙂
I just schedule my re-reads into my reading rotation so it becomes part of my tbr. It probably helps that my tbr is around the 150 mark and I keep it there ruthlessly 😀
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I feel your pain. I have a couple of reviews I need to write for books I finished weeks ago. No matter how much I enjoyed them my poor brain is like a sieve at the minute.
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It was a wake up call for me, that is for sure. I’m hoping to do better in ’20 about writing reviews sooner just so this doesn’t occur as much. I’m thinking of trying to make Saturday’s my “write reviews” day 😀
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I’m just going to cheat and take bullet point notes as I read/listen. It’s worked well for my last couple haha
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What do you use to take notes in?
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I’m old school. An a notepad and a pen. Physically writing something seems to help it lodge more in my brain.
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Thanks.
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Taking notes (pen and paper too) is very necessary for me. I wouldn’t be able to write reviews without them.
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In response to both of you:
I haven’t gone that route because it feels like I am reviewing while I’m reading and I want to JUST read. Plus for whatever reason it makes me feel like I am in school and “taking notes” for that son of a *insert pejorative* Professor Bookstooge 😉
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Yes I can understand that, but for me, taking notes generally enhances my reading, even if it takes me out of the flow now and then (generally it doesn’t).
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Yeah, I know what you mean about the time between reading a book and writing a review. If I don’t at least make notes right away, it’s no use going back later, because I’ll have forgotten everything except a basic impression.
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Like I noted above with Bormgans and Swords, I can’t quite bring myself to take notes (yet). I have this feeling it will happen sooner rather than later though
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To be fair, my notes usually end up in Goodreads (which I know you don’t use) or based on the parts I highlight when I’m reading on my Kindle. So far those notes are often enough to trigger memories. I’m not sure how long that will be sufficient, though.
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I forgot to put this in, but this book is approximately 168K words…
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Every time you mention a book in this series, I tell myself I need to start reading it – and this time I’ve turned it into a New Year resolution…
Fingers crossed! 😀
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I hope that is one resolution you keep! 😉
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I know that feeling — “if this book was about secondary character X, I’d like it so much better” or “I put up with Y just so I can see what’s going on with the supporting cast”
As far as notes go, you do a lot of ebooks, right? Can you just flag/highlight something you think you might want to talk about in your review? (or on a piece of paper jot down a page number and paragraph). Doesn’t interrupt the stream/feel like school as much as taking a note. About half of my notes are done this way (maybe more)
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I do read almost exclusively ebooks on my kindle oasis. The only reason I am able to do my Quote posts is because I figured out how to use the high light function 🙂
I’ve tried high lighting other stuff before but then I never go and actually LOOK at any of them after I finish, hahahahaa! maybe that can be my resolution for this year. take notes in a way that works for me…
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Good to know. I’ll be considering what to read in the Polity universe once I finish Agent Cormac series – do you have any recommendations?
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The Spatterjay trilogy, which consists of:
The Skinner
Voyage of the Sable Keech
Orbus
I think that trilogy is my favorite of all I’ve read of Asher so far.
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Oh, nice! Thanks! 😀
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Sounds decent but somehow it feels like you weren’t as thrilled by this sub-series than the main series hahah
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I found this not as action packed as some of his previous books? Or at least, it was less human on X action, and more spaceship oriented. I’ve never been a big fan of spaceship fighting…
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[…] The Infinity Engine, a Polity novel by Neal Asher was the first book I read in 2020. So I guess the setting was outerspace? […]
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