Dark Diamond By Neal Asher - Time's Shadow #1

Published: 05/03/2026

Genres: Science Fiction - Space Opera - Audiobook - Fiction - Aliens - Time - Travel - Artificial - Intelligence

Doomed to die. And die again.
Dark Diamond is the first in a high-octane space opera trilogy from Neal Asher, creator of the Polity universe.

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 . . .

Praise for Neal Asher

'Neal Asher's books are like an adrenaline shot targeted directly at the brain' – John Scalzi, author of Old Man's War

'Non-stop action and unimaginable stakes' – Yoon Ha Lee on The Soldier

'Imaginative, energetic and insane' – SFX on Brass Man