Cowl
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4.3 • 26 Ratings
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- £5.99
Publisher Description
Cowl is a high-octane time travel adventure from Britain's master of widescreen science fiction, Neal Asher.
He's the nightmare you never imagined . . .
In the far-future, the Heliothane Dominion triumphed after a bitter war. But some enemies escaped into the past, to wreak havoc across time. The worst is Cowl – originally human, until artificially-forced evolution made him something else entirely.
Polly is unprepared for her involvement with Nandru Jurgens. He’s a Taskforce soldier, now hunted by killers. Nor can Polly resist the alien 'tor' she’s compelled to attach to her arm. But when she’s dragged through time, she learns fast. Tack has a tor fragment embedded in his wrist – a bloody reminder of Heliothane’s government. As their vat-grown assassin, he’s no stranger to violence. But the extent of this mission is different.
Meanwhile, a beast hunts its targets through time’s alternate dimensions. This is Cowl's pet tor – and it’s eager to feed.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Like "Kage Baker on steroids," says David Hartwell in his promotional letter, and indeed Asher's latest SF novel (after 2004's The Skinner) bears definite similarities to Baker's popular tales of the Company. Both involve near-immortal time travelers who pursue complex, often mysterious objectives. But where Baker tends toward the literary and satirical, Asher prefers over-the-top violence and pyrotechnic super-science. In the near-future, Polly, a prostitute, and Tack, a government-programmed killer, get caught up in a war fought by superhuman antagonists from the future, the Heliothane and the Umbrathane. Neither side is particularly sympathetic, but the latter group is allied with the monstrous Cowl, an even more advanced being that threatens all human life. Cowl has let loose the torbeast, a ravening interdimensional creature the size of a small planet, and the Heliothane have reprogrammed Tack to go back in time and assassinate the monster. Well-done battle sequences, serviceable characters and an old-fashioned sense of wonder help offset a sometimes overly byzantine plot and a too-abstract depiction of time travel. Overall, this is an excellent read and should increase the author's growing reputation.
