As with the previous two novels, Infinity Engine has largely the same characters you met at the start, but it still somehow expands the universe. Stuff that gets pointed to in the first novel receives more attention and becomes more important here, which connects the story in an effective way. The novel is still sort of magical in that Asher can more or less make anything happen and wave his hands with technology beyond our grasp, but it's a fun read.

And if that wasn't enough, the whole twisted story of Penny Royal creating many teams of creatively uber-powerful peeps of all walks and races JUST to murder the hell out of him because he's JUST TOO POWERFUL and suffers HUGE guilt for the things that broke his mind... well... I can't think of a better or more satisfying end to this trilogy than what we got. All this hard-SF pseudo-science, and there's room for a theme on ethics, forgiveness, and what might happen if we give AIs emotions. Inspector Sabien, an officer of the Temporal Protectorate, is assigned to the case. A time-cop with disturbing secrets of his own, Sabien takes on the search for the truth behind the seemingly motiveless murders.As the story opens, young Josh Jones is doing community service in London for another of his minor transgressions. Josh is an unwilling member of a gang and lives in one of London's many public housing "projects" with his ailing mother (MS). He notices an eccentric old man who everyone calls the "Colonel" because of his long dark khaki green trench coat. Josh notices that the Colonel has left his house and has left the door open, so Josh hopes to sneak in and steal something he can sell to pay off his huge debt to his gang leader. From extinction curators, seers and memory vampires to chapter houses with rooms in different centuries, the Anachronist opens a door into a world not constrained by the rules of time and takes us on a rollercoaster epic voyage of discovery. When she was just ten years old, Caitlin overheard her parents arguing about how she was going to die—the next day they disappeared. Anachronistis the first book in the intriguing Infinity Engines time travel series. If you like damaged heroes, timeline paradoxes, and surprising twists and turns, then you’ll love Andrew Hastie’s fast-paced tale. Trent Sorbel, erstwhile soulless tyro and basic sadistic criminal thug, has like the Tin Man, been in need of a heart. In the end he has grown one through his shepherding of the shell people and his love for three particular shell people. He has redeemed himself, Penny Royal just provided the setting.

Actually, the whole weaving of all these threads from book one to the end was so thoroughly SATISFYING that I may just start raving about it to non-specialized high-tech space-opera fans and just start pulling in normal SF fans to point and say... "Just look at this trilogy, skip the rest, just read this and MARVEL at the juicy characters, epic events, and thoroughly F***ed-up poison chalice wish-granting going on here. You have to be willing to accept that we're in a Reynolds-Banks universe of infinite resources. Ten-mile long ships carry thousands of anti-matter missiles and unlimited fuel (to be fair, Asher does have ONE ship recharge). U-space allows instantaneous transmission of data and things, probably a concept we should not look at too closely because there would probably be some very serious plot issues. Meanwhile, over the years, it became apparent that Sverl was changing in some strange way.Sverl started as a contradiction- a Polity-hating, human-loathing Prador possessed of an overweening curiosity. (You! You readers of War Factory. You didn't really think Penny Royal was finished with Sverl, did you?) He ends as a much happier and better suited/fitted individual than he started. And he is something of a trailblazer for the Prador. I suspect more will follow in his foot prints, or rather, claw marks. (Sfolk is also happy with his new position.)

On Masada, Penny Royal had provided me with intimate evidence of its own guilt, so my role seemed to be that of executioner." On one hand I can not ignore the opening criticism, it is a big factor in his writing, and it is becoming repetitive and clichéd, and nothing seems to happen because of reaction or pro-action, but because something, somewhere decided it was going to set events on motion.

But Josh can’t escape his old life, and when a mission goes horribly wrong, he is forced to face the secrets of his broken past… and the overwhelming temptation to make a forbidden adjustment. Caught between a magical world of infinite possibilities and a life of crime, will he use his new-found powers to alter his own timeline? It's great that this novel has a well-made list of characters and a glossary, because it helps readers - especially newcomers to the Polity universe - to understand certain things better. I found these appendixes useful and informative, because I didn't know much about the Polity universe. Sverl started as a contradiction- a Polity-hating, human-loathing Prador possessed of an overweening curiosity. (You! You readers of War Factory. You didn't really think Penny Royal was finished with Sverl, did you?) He ends as a much happier and better suited/fitted individual than he started. And he is something of a trailblazer for the Prador. I suspect more will follow in his foot prints, or rather, claw marks. (Sfolk is also happy with his new position.) After the story seems to have ended, Josh and his hopefully-soon-to-be-girlfriend, Caitlin, are picnicing in the past when the leader is treated to the cliffhanger leading to Book 2, Maelstorm.Tossed in between this is the familiar cast- Thorvald Spear, the assassin drone Riss, Trent Sobel, Captain Blite, a whole bunch of Prador, and the only surviving Atheter, The Weaver. Asher spins a complex space opera plot with some epic space combat in the hyper-distant future of the Polity universe and it delivers a solid conclusion to a very interesting trilogy. Can Sabien decipher the cryptic evidence that links the victims? Will Caitlin discover the truth about what happened on that fateful night and the terrible decision that her parents had to make?

Mr. Asher weaves a complex and intricate tale. He leads us, captivated, to the inevitable and inexorable yet unforeseen conclusion. The gradual unraveling of the past mixed with the fraught action of the present is riveting It is followed by the final revelation of the whole truth which has on me as great an impact as the final revelation in Sophie's Choice. It is in its own way as devastating. The climax of the story takes place at Panarchia, where Penny Royal's tale begins. So here at the end and the beginning, is where stand the dramatis personae. I found it interesting that the author touches upon such themes and issues as morality, politics, redemption, transformation and intelligence in an excellent way, but doesn't dwell on them. I also like the author's ability to keep things on the move and his way of delivering intense action scenes, because he does everything on purpose and avoids easy resolutions.This book concludes the Transformation trilogy, and I read it mostly because I wanted some kind of closure, and really hoped that this final book in the trilogy will make me like the previous two books more. It didn't. Fans of Doctor Who, Quantum Leap and Stranger Things will love this epic time travel adventure – first book in the fast-paced Infinity Engines series. Infinity Engine is the third and final novel in the Transformation trilogy by bestselling science fiction author Neal Asher, following Dark Intelligence and War Factory.