{"id":114004,"date":"2026-03-05T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/archwaybookshop.co.uk\/?post_type=product&#038;p=114004"},"modified":"2026-04-21T09:46:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T09:46:19","slug":"dark-diamond","status":"publish","type":"product","link":"https:\/\/archwaybookshop.co.uk\/product\/9781035037957","title":{"rendered":"Dark Diamond"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Doomed to die. And die again.<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><b><i>Dark Diamond <\/i>is the first in a high-octane space opera trilogy, Time&#8217;s Shadow. From Neal Asher, it is set in his expansive Polity universe.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><b>&#8216;Balls-to-the-walls levels of exuberance and inventiveness&#8217; &#8211; <i>Locus Magazine<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p>Somebody is trying to kill Captain Blite, but each attempt ends in unexpected failure. All Blite knows is that a black diamond &#8211; left to him by the dark AI Penny Royal &#8211; is the cause of his unlikely survival.<\/p>\n<p>Each failed attempt on Blite&#8217;s life generates temporal anomalies, drawing the scrutiny of the ruthless Mobius AI Straeger, who craves the power and possibilities the diamond holds. But they also draw the attention of the legendary Polity agent Ian Cormac, whose skills and destructive reputation may make him Blite&#8217;s only hope. Caught in the crossfire of galactic forces, Blite must uncover the true nature of the dark diamond before it causes his destruction . . .<\/p>\n<p><b>Praise for Neal Asher<\/b><\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Neal Asher&#8217;s books are like an adrenaline shot targeted directly for the brain&#8217; &#8211; John Scalzi, author of <i>Old Man<\/i>&#8216;<i>s War<\/i><\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Non-stop action and unimaginable stakes&#8217; &#8211; Yoon Ha Lee, author of <i>Ninefox Gambit<\/i>, on <i>The Soldier<\/i><\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Imaginative, energetic and insane&#8217; &#8211; <i>SFX <\/i>on <i>Brass Man<\/i><\/p>\n<p><b>The Time&#39;s Shadow trilogy continues in <i>Dark Agent<\/i>.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><b>Captain Blite owns a death-defying device that&#8217;s coveted by powerful factions across space and time. Join the adventure in the first instalment of this thrilling new trilogy from sci-fi&#8217;s most explosive author, Neal Asher.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[225],"product_tag":[29162,27830,29311],"class_list":{"0":"post-114004","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","5":"product_cat-sci-fi-fantasy","6":"product_tag-science-fiction-military","7":"product_tag-science-fiction-space-opera","8":"product_tag-science-fiction-time-travel","9":"pa_book_author-asher-neal-l","10":"pa_cover-paperback","11":"pa_dewey-823-92-edition23","12":"pa_edition-1st-paperback-ed","13":"pa_imprint-tor","14":"pa_language-english","15":"pa_pages-8994","16":"pa_publisher-tor","17":"pa_readership-general-trade-code-k","19":"first","20":"instock","21":"taxable","22":"shipping-taxable","23":"purchasable","24":"product-type-simple"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Dark Diamond<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Doomed to die. And die again.Dark Diamond is the first in a high-octane space opera trilogy, Time&#039;s Shadow. From Neal Asher, it is set in his expansive Polity universe.&#039;Balls-to-the-walls levels of exuberance and inventiveness&#039; - Locus MagazineSomebody is trying to kill Captain Blite, but each attempt ends in unexpected failure. All Blite knows is that a black diamond - left to him by the dark AI Penny Royal - is the cause of his unlikely survival.Each failed attempt on Blite&#039;s life generates temporal anomalies, drawing the scrutiny of the ruthless Mobius AI Straeger, who craves the power and possibilities the diamond holds. But they also draw the attention of the legendary Polity agent Ian Cormac, whose skills and destructive reputation may make him Blite&#039;s only hope. Caught in the crossfire of galactic forces, Blite must uncover the true nature of the dark diamond before it causes his destruction . . .Praise for Neal Asher&#039;Neal Asher&#039;s books are like an adrenaline shot targeted directly for the brain&#039; - John Scalzi, author of Old Man&#039;s War&#039;Non-stop action and unimaginable stakes&#039; - Yoon Ha Lee, author of Ninefox Gambit, on The Soldier&#039;Imaginative, energetic and insane&#039; - SFX on Brass ManThe Time&#039;s Shadow trilogy continues in Dark Agent.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archwaybookshop.co.uk\/product\/9781035037957\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dark Diamond\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Doomed to die. And die again.Dark Diamond is the first in a high-octane space opera trilogy, Time&#039;s Shadow. From Neal Asher, it is set in his expansive Polity universe.&#039;Balls-to-the-walls levels of exuberance and inventiveness&#039; - Locus MagazineSomebody is trying to kill Captain Blite, but each attempt ends in unexpected failure. All Blite knows is that a black diamond - left to him by the dark AI Penny Royal - is the cause of his unlikely survival.Each failed attempt on Blite&#039;s life generates temporal anomalies, drawing the scrutiny of the ruthless Mobius AI Straeger, who craves the power and possibilities the diamond holds. But they also draw the attention of the legendary Polity agent Ian Cormac, whose skills and destructive reputation may make him Blite&#039;s only hope. Caught in the crossfire of galactic forces, Blite must uncover the true nature of the dark diamond before it causes his destruction . . .Praise for Neal Asher&#039;Neal Asher&#039;s books are like an adrenaline shot targeted directly for the brain&#039; - John Scalzi, author of Old Man&#039;s War&#039;Non-stop action and unimaginable stakes&#039; - Yoon Ha Lee, author of Ninefox Gambit, on The Soldier&#039;Imaginative, energetic and insane&#039; - SFX on Brass ManThe Time&#039;s Shadow trilogy continues in Dark Agent.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archwaybookshop.co.uk\/product\/9781035037957\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Archway Bookshop\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ArchwayBookshop\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-21T09:46:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archwaybookshop.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/cropped-logo_512-1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"512\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"512\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Archwaybookshop\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archwaybookshop.co.uk\/product\/9781035037957\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archwaybookshop.co.uk\/product\/9781035037957\/\",\"name\":\"Dark Diamond\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archwaybookshop.co.uk\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-05T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-21T09:46:19+00:00\",\"description\":\"Doomed to die. 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