Africa Zero

by Neal Asher

Book Overview

Africa Zero is set in a post-apocalyptic future where Africa has become a vast, untamed wilderness inhabited by genetically engineered creatures. The story follows a character known as the "Old... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0809556642
• ISBN13: 9780809556649
• Release Date: November 2006
• Publisher: Wildside Press
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.2" x 8.2"
• Age Range: 16 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 11 and higher

Customer Reviews

Good book for Neal Asher fans.

I read this book after having read many of Neal Asher's "Polity" books, and was not disappointed. This book is an earlier work by Asher, and does not take place in his Polity universe, so don't expect any links or related story. However, if your a real fan of Asher's work you will probably enjoy this book quite a bit. Its a short but action packed story about a "millenia" old cyborg named the Collector, who takes care of business on an Earth of the far future. Full of Asher's bloody, action packed style of writing, this book will be a nice little sidetrack for the Asher fan who might be getting a little tired of the Polity.

My 100-word book review

An early work by Asher, Africa Zero comprises two novellas set in a distant future where the Collector, a lone cyborg with attitude, wages war on an army of religious fanatics. A nice brisk read, this book has the Asher trademarks of high octane action and plenty of big explosions. Fans of his Polity series will recognise the reptilian sauramen as forerunners of the dracomen in later books, but these prototypes are more entertaining. Few science fiction stories are ever set in Africa, let alone feature mammoths, glaciation, vampires and giant crocodiles as well, so this is one to remember.

Only for Asher Fans

Though very well written and engrossing, "Africa Zero" may be confusing to someone who has never read Neal Asher before. It's beginning (and end) is abrupt and overwhelming and the action is brutal and fast moving- the reader will be playing catch-up until half-way through the first story. If you know Asher's work, this is probably what you enjoy most about it but if you've never read anything by him you will probably be a bit confused. However, Asher (as usual) excells at his streamlined method of storytelling to throw the reader into the middle of the story and engross them, even if it's at a forced-march. Gory at times but also laugh-out-loud funny and full of great visuals, "Africa Zero" is not Asher's best work but is definitely one that reinforces Asher's stand-out status among modern sci-fi writers.

My Novella of the Year

For those of you familiar with Asher's Polity universe the first thing you should know is that this a non-Polity story. The second thing you should know is that you simply won't care. This is trademark Asher all the way, simply resonating with the distinctive and familiar Asher voice. Asher is a natural story-teller and writes with an exuberance that defies comparison. No one crams as much energy, science, terror, adrenaline, blood, explosions, monsters, philosophy, politics, religion, technology, ideas, intelligence, and both the redeemably good and irredeemably evil into his books. The important thing though is no one makes you have a fraction of the fun Asher does when he writes. You ENJOY yourself when reading Asher!!! If there is anything wrong with this novella it is simply that it is a novella not a novel. I wish I could have kept reading indefinitely. Africe Zero features an ancient cyborg who more less Lone Rangers, albeit somewhat reluctantly, around Africa keeping an eye on the local flora and fauna and the human enclaves that still exist. If you have read the polity books, just think "Golem". The resultings adventures feature all the action, violence, and blood spatters you learn to crave from Asher, the complex plot developments, and as many crazed and insane evil bigots and religious fanatics as your imagination could care to blow away. I suspect that this novella came before the polity novels because you do definitely see the seeds of the idea for the Golems and Dracomen featured there. I whole-heartedly recommend that you shell out the bucks for this one. Asher always delivers more adrenaline charged fun per dollar than any other writer out there.

Fun and Cinematic Actioner

Neal Asher's work is the perfect translation of comic book energy to big-screen-style narrative. This book, related in the deadpan first person of an Edgar Rice Burroughs type hero, pits a virtually unstoppable cyborg steward of a transformed far-future Africa against environmental vandals, ruthless corporate schemers, and sadistic religious fanatics, but as usual there is more to his larger-than-life characters than at first it seems. Harshly logical and gleefully brutal, this disarmingly juvenile but richly themed work carries forward the best pulp tradition with visceral, steamrolling conviction.