The Engineer ReConditioned [Hardcover]

Neal Asher (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 3, 2006

Mysterious aliens . . . ruthless terrorists . . . androids with attitude . . . genetic manipulation . . . punch-ups with lasers . . . giant spaceships . . . what more do you want? A collection by the author of Gridlinked, The Skinner, In the Line of Polity, Cowl, Brass Man and The Voyage of the Sable Keech.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

British author Asher (Gridlinked) is rapidly becoming one of the major figures in 21st-century SF, as shown by the 10 powerful and entertaining stories in this collection. In "The Engineer," an interstellar research vessel picks up an escape pod that has been drifting for millions of years. The alien it contains turns out to be the last of a long-extinct race of genetic engineers with terrifying capabilities. The gruesome "Spatterjay" is set on an alien world whose human colonists have been radically modified and made virtually indestructible, by the enormously hostile environment. "Proctors" and "The Owner" are part of a series in which human beings must come to terms with the universe being ruled by an inscrutable, virtually immortal alien with godlike powers. "The Thrake" concerns the fate of a Christian pseudoscientist who makes a near-fatal mistake while looking for signs of religious belief in the aliens he's studying. Though occasionally unpleasant (the author appears to have a thing about parasites) and often violent, these well-crafted tales provide plenty of high-concept scientific extrapolation. (June)
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Product Details

• Hardcover: 260 pages
• Publisher: Cosmos Books (February 3, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0809556766
• ISBN-13: 978-0809556762
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 8.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,527,048 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful Collection of Stories, May 16, 2006

By 

Colin P. Lindsey (Manchester, NH) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Engineer ReConditioned (Paperback)

Well, I have been ranting and raving about how great Neal Asher is for some time now but I must admit I approached this short story collection with some trepidation. This was not due to any perceived shortcoming of the author, but rather that I have had a bias against short story collections for many years. I haven't truly analyzed my prejudice but I think it mostly stems from the fact that when a story is great you want it to go on and on, which definitely doesn't happen with a short story. Asher's collection, and a collection of short stories from Karl Schroeder, have made me seriously question my previous reservation. This book is wonderful and is chock-full of the trademark Asher icons we love and expect: fearsome and fantastical creatures, crazed religious cults, crazier terrorist organizations, artificial intelligences, crafty and devious humans, exotic locales, sentient machines, designer drugs, and struggling protagonists who must contend with all of the above in adrenaline fueled, blood-spattered, tension-ratcheting stories that leave you panting for more. Asher is simply a ripping good story-teller and in this book you get a dozen great stories under one cover.

Many of these short stories are set in his Polity universe and add welcome bits of information for fleshing out that world and fans of his Polity series will definitely want to devour these. There are also a few stories here that are not Polity based....but they are so good that I found myself hoping that Mr. Asher might develop some novels around them. No, wait, I didn't say that!! I love the Polity novels too much! Maybe if Mr. Asher could clone himself as happens in some of his stories?

I devoured this book during a five hour flight last week and it truly made for a wonderfully enjoyable, and very quick, flight if you can imagine that in this day and age. I highly recommend this book for both current followers of Mr. Asher and for those who may not have read him before. This would be a wonderful introduction to Mr. Asher's work and I am sure it would leave new readers wanting more.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Careful, this is a reprint with some minor additions!, March 25, 2006

By 

Charles D. Parker "transported by books" (Phoenix, AZ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Engineer ReConditioned (Paperback)

I really enjoy Neal Asher's work. He can develop atmosphere, characters and plot quickly and believably with incredible imagination. The short story, The Engineer, is no exception, and is my favorite Asher work. However, I was quite disappointed that this release of short stories, The Engineer Reconditioned, is nothing more than an update of the The Engineer published under a different label in 1998. I was expecting a full novel continuing the premise of the earlier work. Instead I received the same short story under a new name with some slight revisions. Amazon needs to make this clear so people don't waste their money on something they have already read. However, if you have not read it, it is a great read, brissling with great concepts and intrigue.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Asher's Old Stuff is Pretty Good!, March 17, 2007

By 

David B Richman (Mesilla Park, NM USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Engineer ReConditioned (Hardcover)

"The Engineer Reconditioned" is mostly a collection of Neal Asher's earlier stories, with about 90 pages taken up by the title story- "the Engineer." Like Julie Czerneda, Asher can produce fascinating aliens with weird biological twists at the drop of a hat, and the Jain in the first story are a classic example. Certainly his alien life forms are very well characterized and have sufficient interest in themselves.

Several of the stories are related to his full length (and riveting) novel "The Skinner" and his other stories are just as full of bizarre life forms, strange planets or weird situations, all masterfully handled in ways that keep one reading. As a professional biologist I like my science fiction to have some biological sense, and I am amazed at the number of life forms and weird life cycles (many of which can be found on a different scale here on earth) Asher has invented or altered.

These are science fiction stories for hard core sci fi aficionados. Until Asher and Czerneda showed up I was beginning to think that the art had died (or at least been crippled) with the death of Isaac Asimov and the rise of novels associated with "Star Trek" or "Star Wars."

This is a very good read and I heartily recommend it!