The first book in Rucker’s Ware Tetralogy was okay but I had this to say about the ending:
The end was simply dreadful; it just fizzled out. There was very little conclusion and a lot of untied loose ends. It was so bad I was literally looking around for missing pages. Will I read the remaining books in the tetralogy? Probably as I have bought them as an omnibus, but another ending like that one will likely stop me dead.
Well I didn’t even reach the ending in this second book – Wetware – it was simply too dreadful.
It was filled with the most implausible plot turns driven by the most unlikely character motivations. The entire progress of the book became more and more unrealistic as it went on. In the end I read about 150 pages out of 200; I couldn’t even bring myself to finish the last 50 pages! Simply none of the critical decisions made by the rather large and badly managed cast were at all believable.
Then there was the science, this was supposed to be cyberpunk, and it did have more of a cyberpunk feel than the last book, but I expect cyberpunk to be moderately hard SF; the technology should be a believable extrapolation of current technology. But this was more science fantasy and at times I’d have begrudged the ‘Science’ part of that description. The worst example appears in the first few pages; a new drug called merge. Now this drug has some pretty awesome properties. Under its affect a person’s body is reduced to a puddle with bones somewhere inside which is supposed to be absolutely and massively addictive. Supposedly the drug loosens the ‘binding’ between cells or something. Also, should two (or more) people take the drug together their bodies, in the form of puddles in a bowl of some sort, can actually ‘merge’ (giving various orgasmic experiences to the participants). Then after the drug wears off the bodies simply recombine, somehow miraculously separating if two (or more) have merged, and re-emerge from the puddle back into a normal body again. That’s assuming nobody has interfered with them whilst they are under the influence, like removing bones or scattering them. I mean I know we’re coming up with some pretty funky biochemistry these days but, please…. And there are many other bits of technology, central to the plot rather than peripheral, which are equally pure fantasy.
Now all this might be just about liveable with had it been well written. Sadly it was not. Despite the fact this was only 200 pages long there were multiple scenes that contributed absolutely nothing to the plot. They could have been simply removed and the reader would have lost nothing. One particularly bad example had one of the main protagonists enter a bar of sorts where he just happens to sit down and start chatting with a couple of characters he’s never met before, one of whom just happens to be another moderately important character. As the reader reads this passage it is natural for them to assume that this meeting will have some significance, but it has absolutely none; they never meet again (or I assume not; one was dead by the time I quit but with the book you never know) and nothing of any consequence takes place during the meeting itself. What on Earth is that all about?
So sadly this one gets a big thumbs down and is the first book I’ve failed to finish for almost exactly a year (is it something to do with the middle of August?).
The end was simply dreadful; it just fizzled out. There was very little conclusion and a lot of untied loose ends. It was so bad I was literally looking around for missing pages. Will I read the remaining books in the tetralogy? Probably as I have bought them as an omnibus, but another ending like that one will likely stop me dead.
Well I didn’t even reach the ending in this second book – Wetware – it was simply too dreadful.
It was filled with the most implausible plot turns driven by the most unlikely character motivations. The entire progress of the book became more and more unrealistic as it went on. In the end I read about 150 pages out of 200; I couldn’t even bring myself to finish the last 50 pages! Simply none of the critical decisions made by the rather large and badly managed cast were at all believable.
Then there was the science, this was supposed to be cyberpunk, and it did have more of a cyberpunk feel than the last book, but I expect cyberpunk to be moderately hard SF; the technology should be a believable extrapolation of current technology. But this was more science fantasy and at times I’d have begrudged the ‘Science’ part of that description. The worst example appears in the first few pages; a new drug called merge. Now this drug has some pretty awesome properties. Under its affect a person’s body is reduced to a puddle with bones somewhere inside which is supposed to be absolutely and massively addictive. Supposedly the drug loosens the ‘binding’ between cells or something. Also, should two (or more) people take the drug together their bodies, in the form of puddles in a bowl of some sort, can actually ‘merge’ (giving various orgasmic experiences to the participants). Then after the drug wears off the bodies simply recombine, somehow miraculously separating if two (or more) have merged, and re-emerge from the puddle back into a normal body again. That’s assuming nobody has interfered with them whilst they are under the influence, like removing bones or scattering them. I mean I know we’re coming up with some pretty funky biochemistry these days but, please…. And there are many other bits of technology, central to the plot rather than peripheral, which are equally pure fantasy.
Now all this might be just about liveable with had it been well written. Sadly it was not. Despite the fact this was only 200 pages long there were multiple scenes that contributed absolutely nothing to the plot. They could have been simply removed and the reader would have lost nothing. One particularly bad example had one of the main protagonists enter a bar of sorts where he just happens to sit down and start chatting with a couple of characters he’s never met before, one of whom just happens to be another moderately important character. As the reader reads this passage it is natural for them to assume that this meeting will have some significance, but it has absolutely none; they never meet again (or I assume not; one was dead by the time I quit but with the book you never know) and nothing of any consequence takes place during the meeting itself. What on Earth is that all about?
So sadly this one gets a big thumbs down and is the first book I’ve failed to finish for almost exactly a year (is it something to do with the middle of August?).
