{"id":118458,"date":"2026-05-14T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/archwaybookshop.co.uk\/?post_type=product&#038;p=118458"},"modified":"2026-05-12T13:18:47","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T13:18:47","slug":"dark-agent","status":"publish","type":"product","link":"https:\/\/archwaybookshop.co.uk\/product\/9781035037889","title":{"rendered":"Dark Agent"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>&#8216;Balls-to-the-walls levels of exuberance and inventiveness&#8217;<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><i>Locus Magazine <\/i>on <i>Dark Diamond<\/i><\/p>\n<p><b>FORGE A NEW FUTURE. OR BE CONSUMED BY THE PAST.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Captain Blite and Agent Cormac thought they had defeated the malevolent AI Straeger. But Straeger&#8217;s mission to plunge the galaxy into a devastating war is far from over. With a twisted p-prador army bred from the Spatterjay virus, Straeger sets his plans in motion.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, on the war-struck world of Yossander&#8217;s Hold, Blite and Cormac are trapped in a maelstrom of betrayal and violence. They must fight their way through the chaos as they seek to repair Blite&#8217;s damaged ship. But their escape requires resources from the <i>Bracken<\/i>, and aboard that ship, a terrifying transformation is underway . . .<\/p>\n<p>Recognizing the threat posed by the p-prador, the Prador Kingdom and the human Polity&#8217;s ruling AI form an uneasy alliance. But with Straeger&#8217;s plans unfolding and reality itself under threat, the galaxy is poised on the brink of destruction. Can Blite and Cormac survive the escalating war and the collapse of time itself?<\/p>\n<p><b>From Neal Asher, <i>Dark Agent<\/i> is the second entry in the Time&#39;s Shadow trilogy, following <i>Dark Diamond<\/i>. Set in Asher&#39;s expansive Polity universe, this is unmissable military space opera from a master of the genre.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>* * *<\/p>\n<p><b>Praise for the series<\/b><\/p>\n<p>&#8216;The stakes are high, the pacing relentless, and the scale immense . . . Asher delivers again&#8217; &#8211; 5* Goodreads Review<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Filled with action, suspense, and mind-wrenching twists. You&#8217;ll love it!&#8217; &#8211; 5* Goodreads Review<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;What the cosmos really needs is more megalomaniac artificial intelligences, belligerent alien crustaceans, and protagonists who treat death like a minor inconvenience&#8217; &#8211; 5* Goodreads Review<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><b>Thrilling space adventure from Neal Asher, sci-fi&#8217;s most explosive author. Captain Blite and Agent Cormac fight for the future as the plans of a twisted AI threaten the galaxy and time itself. The second entry in the thrilling Time&#39;s Shadow trilogy.<\/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-118458","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-hardback","11":"pa_dewey-823-92-edition23","12":"pa_edition-hardback-original","13":"pa_imprint-tor","14":"pa_language-english","15":"pa_pages-13652","16":"pa_publisher-tor","17":"pa_readership-general-trade-code-k","19":"first","20":"onbackorder","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 Agent<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"&#039;Balls-to-the-walls levels of exuberance and inventiveness&#039;Locus Magazine on Dark DiamondFORGE A NEW FUTURE. OR BE CONSUMED BY THE PAST.Captain Blite and Agent Cormac thought they had defeated the malevolent AI Straeger. But Straeger&#039;s mission to plunge the galaxy into a devastating war is far from over. With a twisted p-prador army bred from the Spatterjay virus, Straeger sets his plans in motion.Meanwhile, on the war-struck world of Yossander&#039;s Hold, Blite and Cormac are trapped in a maelstrom of betrayal and violence. They must fight their way through the chaos as they seek to repair Blite&#039;s damaged ship. But their escape requires resources from the Bracken, and aboard that ship, a terrifying transformation is underway . . .Recognizing the threat posed by the p-prador, the Prador Kingdom and the human Polity&#039;s ruling AI form an uneasy alliance. But with Straeger&#039;s plans unfolding and reality itself under threat, the galaxy is poised on the brink of destruction. 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You&#039;ll love it!&#039; - 5* Goodreads Review&#039;What the cosmos really needs is more megalomaniac artificial intelligences, belligerent alien crustaceans, and protagonists who treat death like a minor inconvenience&#039; - 5* Goodreads Review\" \/>\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\/9781035037889\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dark Agent\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&#039;Balls-to-the-walls levels of exuberance and inventiveness&#039;Locus Magazine on Dark DiamondFORGE A NEW FUTURE. OR BE CONSUMED BY THE PAST.Captain Blite and Agent Cormac thought they had defeated the malevolent AI Straeger. But Straeger&#039;s mission to plunge the galaxy into a devastating war is far from over. With a twisted p-prador army bred from the Spatterjay virus, Straeger sets his plans in motion.Meanwhile, on the war-struck world of Yossander&#039;s Hold, Blite and Cormac are trapped in a maelstrom of betrayal and violence. They must fight their way through the chaos as they seek to repair Blite&#039;s damaged ship. But their escape requires resources from the Bracken, and aboard that ship, a terrifying transformation is underway . . .Recognizing the threat posed by the p-prador, the Prador Kingdom and the human Polity&#039;s ruling AI form an uneasy alliance. But with Straeger&#039;s plans unfolding and reality itself under threat, the galaxy is poised on the brink of destruction. Can Blite and Cormac survive the escalating war and the collapse of time itself?From Neal Asher, Dark Agent is the second entry in the Time&#039;s Shadow trilogy, following Dark Diamond. Set in Asher&#039;s expansive Polity universe, this is unmissable military space opera from a master of the genre.* * *Praise for the series&#039;The stakes are high, the pacing relentless, and the scale immense . . . Asher delivers again&#039; - 5* Goodreads Review&#039;Filled with action, suspense, and mind-wrenching twists. You&#039;ll love it!&#039; - 5* Goodreads Review&#039;What the cosmos really needs is more megalomaniac artificial intelligences, belligerent alien crustaceans, and protagonists who treat death like a minor inconvenience&#039; - 5* Goodreads Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archwaybookshop.co.uk\/product\/9781035037889\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Archway Bookshop\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ArchwayBookshop\/\" \/>\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\/9781035037889\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archwaybookshop.co.uk\/product\/9781035037889\/\",\"name\":\"Dark Agent\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archwaybookshop.co.uk\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-14T00:00:00+00:00\",\"description\":\"'Balls-to-the-walls levels of exuberance and inventiveness'Locus Magazine on Dark DiamondFORGE A NEW FUTURE. 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