“Infinity Engine” by Neal Asher – The Frontier of Annihilation

Neal Asher has done what few authors can bring themselves to do, and published the third and final book in the Transformation series, titled Infinity Engine.

Picking up from the events of the second book, the AI Penny Royal is set on a collision course with the ever-growing Brockle, another, potentially more dangerous swarm-robot AI. Meanwhile, Thorvald is fighting for his life against technology gone rogue aboard the war factory.

Neal Asher Clashes Man and Machine

Machines may be totally unaware, emotionless and non-living beings today, but with the direction our technological expansion is taking us, I think we would do well to consider a future where it might no longer be the case.

In his Transformation series, Neal Asher has taken this idea quite far, birthing a unique and original world where artificial intelligence has achieved true sentience, for better and worse.

First things first, the entry we're about to look at, Infinity Engine by Neal Asher, is the third novel of the Transformation trilogy, and it's definitely the kind of series you'll want to be reading from the very start. If you haven't read the first and second books, I highly recommend you do so before proceeding with this third one.

In any case, Infinity Engine essentially picks up where the story left off last time, with the rogue artificial intelligence Penny Royal being under pursuit from a number of attackers now, all hell-bent on getting their own vengeance out of it.

What's worse, he's on a collision course with Brockle, a criminal swarm-robot AI, only growing more powerful and expansive with each passing moment.

Meanwhile, aboard the war factory, prospects of survival for Thorvald Spear are diminishing by the hour, as he battles insane technology gone wild alongside the prador and an assassin drone.

As things become increasingly hopeless and dangerous for all of existence, the last remnant of a race extinct two million years ago makes an appearance. What side they are on remains to be seen, or if there will be even anything left to look at after the final clash of AIs, pradors, humans and wild machines... especially if they find the destructive secret in the black hole behind the war factory.

Relishing the Complexity of Infinity Engine

The science-fiction genre can take us far and wide across plenty of different approaches and ideas, but from my experience, a vast majority of its authors are much more focused on showcasing their ideas, rather than ensuring they are implemented into their stories in a scientifically-viable manner. When it comes to Neal Asher, I can safely say he's one of the most meticulous writers in the genre today.

Throughout our adventure across the Transformation series we've witnessed nearly-innumerable technological wonders and scientific phenomenon, always described with utmost care and the greatest amount of detail possible.

Neal has never shied away from doing all the research he possibly could to fully realize and explain his inventions, and I was quite happy to see he kept it up for the final chapter of the trilogy.

Every single invention of his we see in this universe is believably integrated into the greater whole, and we are never left feeling like we have to suspend our sense of disbelief in regards to how they function or what they're capable of.

As a matter of fact, I think we ought to give Asher a good deal of praise for completely avoiding the ever-so-tempting pitfall which claimed countless science-fiction authors to date: the deus ex machina.

Needless to say, with this profound an attention to detail and scientific realism, the book does contain a fair number of complicated passages and explanations which I had to read a few times to truly process.

If you're not a fan of these technically-loaded moments don't sweat it too much; they still do an excellent job at giving the reader a rudimentary grasp of the subject, and whether or not you understand them won't really hamper your overall ability to follow the story.

The Great Intergalactic Showdown

With such a diverse and vast universe at his fingertips, Asher definitely had what he needed to bring this series to a truly epic conclusion which I can actually claim is satisfying with a clear conscience.

There are a large number of characters for us to follow, from Thorvald Spear and the prador aliens to the rogue AIs, and they all seem to be engaged in increasingly escalating conflicts and clashes which build up to planetary-scale annihilation.

Indeed, I found the story didn't lack for action in any sense of the word, largely because we're at a point where conflicts are in full broil and different parties are in constant danger from a number of different sources.

Essentially, they're all constantly fighting for their lives at this point, and if the accurate scientific descriptions aren't exactly your thing, I feel like the action very well might be; few authors can mix both as well as Asher did, in my opinion.

As far as the characters themselves are concerned, the ones we've been following for a long time now, like Penny Royal and Thorvald, are about as fleshed out as you can expect anyone to be, and it felt like Asher dialed it back just a bit on character development.

Instead, the focus is redirected on the conflicts they are facing and the ambitions they're trying to fulfill, the effects and consequences of which are generally described in a poignant and memorable manner.

While it is true some things are left open in the end (who knows, maybe there will be another series in the Transformation universe?), for the most part accounts do get closed and I was personally happy and fulfilled to see it go the way it did.

The Final Verdict

Infinity Engine by Neal Asher is an absolutely flawless ending to the absolutely sensational Transformation trilogy, which to me stands on the same level as the great classics of the genre.

If you've enjoyed the previous two books in the series, then it's a no-brainer to go on and finish the unforgettable journey.

---

Neal Asher Personal site Neal Asher is an English science-fiction writer from Essex who began publishing his works a bit later in his life, in the year 2000. He wrote a number of works and different series, with some of his better-known works including the Agent Cormac series, The Owner trilogy, and Cowl, nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award.