Jack Four “Polity Universe” - Neal Asher

Written by Neal Asher
Format: M4B
Bitrate: 128 Kbps
Unabridged

Neal Asher’s Jack Four is a part of the Polity Series.

As a personal comment I was not “In to” Neal Asher or “The Polity”
I thought “Prador Moon” was ok and the first “Agent Cormack” was ok but then I “got confused”, the next 2-3 books was for me “a bit strange” but then my “brain adjusted” and I got used to the style and understood the larger story line (there are many levels).
Now I consider this series among the best Sci-Fi ever.
I still like Asimov etc BUT this is not as “simplistic” you have to “invest a bit” to listen to this and keep track, but it is worth it.
Clearly something you get more out of the 2nd “read” and the 3rd…
Not a lot of stuff is like that nowadays.

As not being part of a special series like “Agent Cormac” or “Spatterjay” but is stand alone it still have a place in the chronological order of the “Polity Series /Universe”

In regards to reading orders…
Well, if you go by publishing order it is of course last… since it is pretty new.
If you go by Choronological order and have downloaded my former torrent
Neal Asher Collection Polity Universe
https://audiobookbay.lu/abss/neal-asher-collection-polity-universe-neal-asher/

In that torrent
Book 17 is Orbus
Book 18 is Hilldiggers

“Jack Four” is between Orbus and Hilldiggers making “Jack Four book 18 and Hilldiggers book 19.

If you do not go after that Chronological order “Jack Four” is BEFORE Hilldigger.
Or in publishing order last.

“Summary”
Created to die - determined to live . . .Jack Four - one of twenty human clones - has been created to be sold.
His purchasers are the alien prador and they only want him for their experimentation program.
But there is something different about Jack.
No clone should possess the knowledge that’s been loaded into his mind and no normal citizen of humanity’s Polity worlds would have this information.
The prador’s king has been mutated by the Spatterjay virus into a creature even more monstrous than the prador themselves.
His children, the King’s Guard, have undergone similar changes.
They were infected by the virus during the last humans-versus-prador war, now lapsed into an uneasy truce.
But the prador are always looking for new weapons - and their experimentation program might give them the edge they seek.
Suzeal trades human slaves out of the Stratogaster Space Station, re-engineering them to serve the prador.
She thinks the rewards are worth the risks, but all that is about to change.
The Station was once a zoo, containing monsters from across known space.
All the monsters now dwell on the planet below, but they aren’t as contained as they seem and a vengeful clone may be the worst danger of all.

Must say…
Had not listened to the whole book when I posted it.
I would rank this in the top 2 among the Polity Universe books.
Probably work very well as a “stand alone” book, although I do recommend to have “read” some “Polity” books before to get more out of this experience.
I mean… who knows what a “Hooder” is??