Help please! Sci-Fi involving Golems, Miltary, Betrayal, etc.

[Mr.Xone]

I can't quite remember the range I read this book. I remember it was a new release though. I think 2007-2009? Possible 2006 as well. Now, let me get on to what the book was about. From what I remember, the book starts out with these two guys in the military defending this place. Then one of them (Friend to the Protagonist) shoots these guys escaping carrying something even though it was against orders not to. So then he gets accused or whatever of being a rebel or something like that. Turns out, he actually is and so he escapes. The Protagonist is then recruited to find him and whatnot. He gets placed into a team that also has golems in it. (Golems are advanced robots that resemble humans perfectly except they are, of course, faster and stronger. For a brain or something, they instead have crystals.) Other things I remember is that the Protagonist has an "aug" implanted into him. The aug was some mental implant that also contained an AI to help him and it like allowed him to access the net with it. I also remember when he was hurt, the operation was performed by a robot and a device on his spine that killed all sensation below it, a painkiller. I do remember the book being sort of adult rated, there were sexual scenes in it. The event that destroys the team was when they thought they got close enough to the rebel and then it turns out he "shedded" his skin or something. Then a nuke goes off. In the end, the Protagonist kills the rebel when they meet up with each other in some antique museum. The aug links up with some old bladed weapon that then flies and pretty much decapitates the rebel. That's pretty much all I remember of this book. Can someone tell me what it is? I've been dieing to reread it! Thanks in advance.

 

[Vertigo]

Shadow of the Scorpion by Neal Asher published 2008 I think. This is part of a series of books about a character called Ian Cormac in the world of the Polity. It was actually a prequel; chronologically the first book about Cormac but written later.

A popular series of books on the Chrons. if you go to the Neal Asher Sub-forum here http://www.sffchronicles.co.uk/forum/neal-asher/ you will find numerous discussions about this and other Asher books (Neal Asher also often drops by). I strongly recommend all of Ashers work and in particular his Polity books.

 

[Mr.Xone]

Thank you so much! You have no idea the amount of joy this brings me! It's been bugging me for months on end what this book was. Again, thank you very much!

 

[Vertigo]

You're very welcome