Polity Books in Order: How to read Neal Asher’s Series in Order?

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Coming from English science fiction writer Neal Asher, The Polity Universe is a space opera series that is composed of multiple series, mostly trilogies, and some standalone novels.

The worlds of the Polity stretch from Earth Central into the unfathomable reaches of the galactic void. And when humanity finally encounters alien life-in the form of massive, hostile carnivores known as the Prador-there can only be one outcome. Total warfare.

How to read the Polity Series in Order?

The Polity series is made up of several interconnected books and stories, each one following a different set of characters as they navigate the complex and sometimes dangerous world of the Polity Universe.

1. Agent Cormac Reading Order

  1. Gridlinked – Ian Cormac is a legendary Earth Central Security agent, the James Bond of a wealthy future where “runcibles” allow interstellar travel in an eye blink throughout the settled worlds of the Polity. Unfortunately, Cormac is nearly burnt out, “gridlinked” to the AI net so long that his humanity has begun to drain away. He has to take the cold-turkey cure and shake his addiction to having his brain on the net. Now, he must learn to do without, just as he’s sent to investigate a unique runcible disaster that’s wiped out the entire human colony on planet Samarkand in a thirty-megaton explosion.
  2. The Line of Polity – On a remote planet, with mysterious forces swirling around him, Agent Ian Cormac returns to face a threat that could endanger the entirety of the Polity. The outlink station of Miranda has been destroyed. Nobody knows why, but all the signs point to Dragon, a gigantic bioconstructed entity. Agent Cormac is sent to investigate.
  3. Brass Man – Ian Cormac is hunting an interstellar dragon, little knowing that, far away, his competition has resurrected a horrific killing machine named “Mr. Crane” to assist in a similar hunt, encompassing whole star systems. Mr. Crane, the insane indestructible artificial man now in a new metal body, seeks to escape a bloody past he can neither forget nor truly remember. And he is on a collision course with Ian Cormac.
  1. Polity Agent – From eight hundred years in the future, a runcible gate is opened into the Polity, allowing a ragged tide of refugees through as they attempt to take the alien “Maker” back to its home civilization. But the gate itself is rapidly shut down and dumped into a nearby sun-something alien is pursuing them.
  2. Line War – Under attack from every direction, the Polity teeters on the brink of annihilation . . . and only Agent Cormac can save it. When one of Erebus’s wormships kills millions on the world of Klurhammon for no tactical reason and the AI entity controlling the lethal Jain technology attacks the Polity, it falls to Agent Cormac to figure out why.

2. Spatterjay Trilogy in Order

  1. The Skinner – The savage ocean planet of Spatterjay draws visitors with very different agendas. Erlin is immortal and seeks a reason to keep living. Janer hosts a hive mind, which paid him to find this planet. And Keech is an agent of Earth who’s been dead for seven hundred years – but still hunts a notorious criminal.
  2. The Voyage of the Sable Keech – Taylor Bloc is a walking dead man, determined to live again. He also wants adulation, power, and control – and will do anything to get them. Of Bloc’s kind, Sable Keech alone has achieved resurrection. So Bloc will retrace Keech’s journey across Spatterjay’s wild seas, with his crew of killers, to grasp his secret.
  3. Orbus – Old Captain Orbus commandeered a ship to flee Spatterjay, desperate to escape the violent planet. Orbus’s alien enemy, the Prador Vrell, is also moving on. The Spatterjay virus mutated him into something even more dangerous. And he’s hunting the Prador King himself – who sought to kill him, to bury the secret of their similar transformations.

3. Transformation Trilogy in Order

  1. Dark Intelligence – Thorvald Spear wakes in hospital, where he finds he’s been brought back from the dead. What’s more, he died in a human vs. alien war which ended a whole century ago. But when he relives his traumatic final moments, he finds the spark to keep on living. That spark is vengeance. Trapped and desperate on a world surrounded by alien Prador forces, Spear had seen a rescue ship arriving. But instead of providing backup, Penny Royal, the AI within the destroyer turned rogue. It annihilated friendly forces in a frenzy of destruction, and, years later, it’s still free. Spear vows to track it across worlds and do whatever it takes to bring it down.
  2. War Factory – Thorvald Spear is losing his mind as he drowns in dark memories that aren’t his own. Penny Royal, rogue artificial intelligence, has linked Spear with the stored personalities of those it’s murdered. And whether the AI seeks redemption or has some more sinister motive, Spear needs to destroy it. He feels the anger of the dead and shares their pain.
  3. Infinity Engine – Several forces now pursue rogue artificial intelligence Penny Royal, hungry for revenge or redemption. And the Brockle is the most dangerous of all. This criminal swarm-robot AI has escaped confinement and is upgrading itself, becoming ever more powerful in anticipation of a showdown.

4. Rise of the Jain Trilogy in Order

  1. The Soldier – A corner of space swarms with alien technology, a danger to all sentient life. It’s guarded by Orlandine, who must keep it contained – as it could destroy entire civilizations. An alien intelligence shares her vigil. But she doesn’t share everything with Dragon . . .
  2. The Warship – Orlandine has destroyed the alien Jain super-soldier by deploying an actual black hole. And now that same weapon hoovers up clouds of lethal Jain technology, swarming within the deadly accretion disc’s event horizon. All seems just as she planned. Yet behind her back, forces incite rebellion on her homeworld, planning her assassination.
  3. The Human – Humanity and the prador thought their mutual nemesis – the bane of so many races – was long extinct. But the Jain are back and Orlandine must prepare humanity’s defense. She needs the Client’s knowledge to counter this ancient threat. But is the enemy of your enemy a friend? Earth Central even looks to the prador for alliance. These old enemies must now learn to trust one another or face utter annihilation.

The Jack Four Series in Order

  1. Jack Four – Jack Four – one of twenty human clones – has been created to be sold. His purchasers are the alien prador and they only want him for their experimentation program. But there is something different about Jack. The prador’s king has been mutated by the Spatterjay virus into a monstrous creature, along with his children. They were infected by the virus during the last humans-versus-prador war, now lapsed into an uneasy truce. But the prador are always looking for new weapons – and their experimentation program might give them the edge they seek.
  2. Weaponized – Ursula has lived twice the normal human lifespan, courtesy of the latest technology. But now she’s struggling to find excitement and purpose, so signs up to the Polity’s military. She excels in weapons development and progresses rapidly up the ranks. But after botching a powerful new ammunition test, she’s dismissed from service. Hunting for a simpler, more meaningful existence, the ex-soldier heads for the stars. And after founding a colony on the hostile planet of Threpsis, Ursula finally feels alive. Then deadly raptors attack and the colonists are forced to adapt in unprecedented ways. The raptors also raise a deeply troubling question: how could the Polity miss these apex predators?

The Polity Standalone Novels

  • Prador Moon – Chaos reigns as, caught unawares, the Polity struggles to regain control. It must try and remake itself into a military society as starships clash, planets fall and space stations are overrun. But for Jebel Krong and Moria Salem, trapped at the center of the action, this war is far more than a clash of cultures or technology versus brute force. This war is personal.
  • Hilldiggers – Two planets in the same solar system are locked in war, when some kind of cosmic super-string is discovered. It seems packed with alien technology, or even perhaps life. And for safety, it is stored – in four segments – within a maximum-security space station. A female research scientist falls pregnant on the station soon after, and gives birth to quads. Then she commits suicide. But why?
  • Shadow of the Scorpion – Prequel to Gridlinked. Following the human vs prador war, Ian Cormac signs up with Earth Central Security. He’s sent out to restore order on worlds devastated by alien bombardment. But he learns humanity can be far more dangerous – even those closest to him.
  • The Technician – The Theocracy has been dead for twenty years, and the Polity rules on Masada – but it is an order that the rebels of the Tidy Squad cannot accept, and the iconic Jeremiah Tombs is top of their hitlist.
  • War Bodies – Long ago, the Cyberat left Earth to co-evolve with machines. Now, led by the powerful dictator Castron, their Old Guard believe that machines should replace the physical body. But these beliefs are upended with the arrival of the human Polity – and their presence ignites rebellion. Piper was raised as a weapon against the Cyberat, implanted with secretive hardware. When his parents are captured by the Old Guard, the Polity offer him unexpected aid. Piper knows the Polity want more from him, but at what cost? The rebellion also attracts the deadly prador, placing an entire world in peril.

Polity Books in chronological order:

This list follows the internal chronology of the polity timeline.

  1. Prador Moon
  2. Shadow of the Scorpion
  3. Gridlinked
  4. The Line of Polity
  5. Brass Man
  6. Polity Agent
  7. Line War
  8. Jack Four
  9. The Technician
  10. Dark Intelligence
  11. War Factory
  12. Infinity Engine
  13. The Soldier
  14. The Warship
  15. The Human
  16. The Skinner
  17. The Voyage of the Sable Keech
  18. Orbus
  19. Hilldiggers

If you like the Polity Universe, you may also want to read The Culture series. Don’t hesitate to follow us on Twitter or Facebook to discover more book series.

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