Polity Agent

Polity Agent

First edition
Author	Neal Asher
Cover artist	Steve Rawlings
Language	English
Series	Ian Cormac
Genre	Science fiction novel
Publisher	Tor Books
Publication date	2006
Publication place	United Kingdom
Media type	Print (hardback)
Pages	496 pp
ISBN	1-4050-5498-0
OCLC	77011443
Preceded by	Brass Man
Followed by	Line War

Polity Agent is a 2006 science fiction novel by British writer Neal Asher. Described as a "space opera set 800 years in the future", It is the fourth novel in the Agent Cormac series set in the Polity Universe from Gridlinked . ^{[1] [2]}

Plot

From 800 years in the future, a runcible gate is opened into the Polity. Those coming through it have been tasked with taking the alien 'Maker' back to its home civilization in the Small Magellanic cloud. Once these refugees are safely through, the gate itself is rapidly shut down because something alien is pursuing them. From those who get through, agent Cormac learns that the Maker civilization has been destroyed by pernicious virus known as the Jain technology. This raises questions: Why was Dragon, a massive bioconstruct of the Makers, really sent to the Polity; why did a Jain node suddenly end up in the hands of someone who could do the most damage with it? Meanwhile, an entity called the Legate is distributing toxic Jain nodes – and a renegade attack ship, The King of Hearts, has encountered something very nasty outside the Polity itself.

References

1. Page, Benedicte (7 July 2006). "NEW TITLES: OCTOBER". Bookseller. Retrieved 1 February 2026– via EBSCOhost.
2. Asher, Neal (15 October 2025). "An introduction to Neal Asher's Polity Universe books". Pan Macmillan. Retrieved 1 February 2026.

External links

• Polity Agent title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Review