In a far corner of space, on the very borders between humanity's Polity
worlds and the kingdom of the vicious crab-like prador, is an immediate
threat to all sentient life: an accretion disc, a solar system designed
by the long-dead Jain race and swarming with living technology powerful
enough to destroy entire civilizations.
Neither the Polity or the prador want the other in full control of the
disc, so they've placed an impartial third party in charge of the
weapons platform guarding the technology from escaping into the galaxy:
Orlandine, a part-human, part-AI haiman. She's assisted by Dragon, a
mysterious, spaceship-sized alien entity who has long been suspicious of
Jain technology and who suspects the disc is a trap lying-in-wait.
Meanwhile, the android Angel is planning an attack on the Polity, and is
searching for a terrible weapon to carry out his plans?a Jain
super-soldier. But what exactly the super-soldier is, and what it could
be used for if it fell into the wrong hands, will bring Angel and
Orlandine's missions to a head in a way that could forever change the
balance of power in the Polity universe.
In The Soldier, British science fiction writer Neal Asher kicks off
another Polity-based trilogy in signature fashion, concocting a
mind-melting plot filled with far-future technology, lethal weaponry,
and bizarre alien creations.
