Dark Diamond

Doomed to die. And die again.

Captain Blite knows that someone, or something, is trying to kill him. But a device he possesses, known only as the dark diamond, won't let that happen. After surviving a series of catastrophic accidents and assassination attempts, Blite realizes that whenever he dies, the dark diamond reverses time to a moment before his death. He must go through the traumatic experience again and again until he escapes....

Every encounter Blite survives generates a time flash which reveals potential futures. This extraordinary phenomenon attracts the attention of Polity agents and the crab-like p-Prador who wish to acquire this power for themselves. Hunted across space and time, Blite must uncover the true nature of the dark diamond before it causes his destruction....

©2025 Neal Asher (P)2025 Tantor Media

another great from neal asher

Neal Asher's polity universe is an amazing if brutal place. Love his books, give them a shot if you haven't yet.

Great book!

One of my favorite Asher books. It was great. I can’t wait for the second book in the series.

Once again, Neil Asher invites us on a wild ride.

In a lifetime of loving science fiction, Neal Asher stands unique and challenging. In his universe, he takes cutting-edge science, horror, and a particular knowing look at the human race in ways that are wholly uncommon even today in science fiction. He is the quintessential writer's writer in this genre. The details, the complexity, the entertainment, as he launches another series here, are without peer. It's truly a gift to the audience. Having been in the military, having lived in large American cities full of gangsters and criminals, having worked in the high fine arts and architecture, I've pretty much seen it all over the years. And Asher is where I go when I want to be entertained. His methodology of characterization is brilliant. And without any spoilers, all I can say is, once again, holy smokes, what a wild ride.

Cormac with God mode + noclip

I’ve read every Asher book (except World Walkers) and I have to say he’s losing me. Jack Four was the last book of his I really enjoyed.

I loved the earlier Cormac novels, but lately it feels like Asher is unnecessarily upgrading Cormac to Wizard status while breaking or creating new physical laws within his Polity universe.

Time travel is a good example of this, you can retcon anything if you introduce TT and, for me at least, it’s a literary fad that doesn’t belong in this series.