Jupiter War (Owner Sequence #3) ★★★★★

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Title: Jupiter War
Series: Owner Sequence #3
Author: Neal Asher
Rating: 5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 350
Words: 139.5K

Synopsis:

Saul continues to upgrade the Argus station into an interstellar spaceship. He must deal with his sister who is jealous of Saul's abilities but won't admit it to herself, other scientists on board who have come to consider him near-omniscient to former Committee members who want to displace Saul and take over the ship and “be free”. While all of this internal conflict is happening, Saul must also deal with the continued threat presented by Serene Gallahad and her drive to recover the Gene Bank from him to restore the biosphere of Earth. This results in a battle out by Jupiter where Saul ends up destroying the two Committee ships but almost being destroyed in the process.

Gallahad continues to tighten her control of Earth and has become more powerful than ever. Unfortunately for her, several rogue elements working in tandem destroy her powerbase and leave her vulnerable. Her own bodyguard kills her and the lower level Committee members end up all working against each other, thus delaying Earth's return to space for almost a century. This enables Saul to complete his upgrades and leave the Solar System.

My Thoughts:

I have enjoyed this re-read of the Owner Sequence so much more this time around than I did back in '11-'13. I think a big part is that back then I was expecting it to be more tightly tied to Asher's Polity universe and so my expectations were a bit different. Now that I know this isn't another Polity spinoff, I can appreciate it for itself. It excels as an origin story for the Owner.

As my 5stars should indicate, I had a great time reading this. I've been trying to think how to adequately describe the action here. It still gets the ultra-violent tag but at the same time it wasn't frenzied and frenetic. I never felt like I had run out of breath after the battles like I do in some books. That's not a bad thing at all, mind you, just a quirk that stuck out to me.

The Proctors, the nigh-indestructable helpers of Saul, provide a sounding board for Saul to bounce ideas about human nature and freedom off of. While I wish they had been used more as ultimate Killing Machines, I can understand why Asher wrote them the way he did. They are supposed to help keep Saul from losing all touch with what's left of his own humanity.

I know that Asher has written another Polity trilogy recently, which I plan on reading next (Rise of the Jain) but after re-reading this, I wouldn't mind at all if he decided to write another Owner trilogy. I'd be even happier if he just wrote a book of short stories exclusively about the Owner and various adventures he has throughout space.

★★★★★

• Jupiter War (2013 Review)
• The Departure (Book 1)
• Zero Point (Book 2)