- Paperback: 317 pages
- Publisher: Orbit; New edition edition (5 Aug 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1857238591
- ISBN-13: 978-1857238594
- Product Dimensions: 17.2 x 10.8 x 2.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,373,667 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Cyberpunk glitz and biotechnology blend with warped Eastern mysticism in Alexander Besher's loosely linked "Rim" sf series. This began with Rim, set in 2027, and continued with Mir--one of whose bizarre inventions was sentient tattoos. By the time of Chi it's 2038 and the world is even weirder. Vast bootlegging operations deal in chi, a life- force energy that can be technomagically sucked from unwilling victims and used to give rich addicts enhanced intelligence, great sex and even "short-time immortality". Meanwhile hackers break into Nature's equivalent of Internet, whose central node is a tree in Indonesia that channels telepathic e-mail to apes and others--including, of course, "win a million bananas" spams. Orang-utans are surgically and genetically remodelled into surrogate children for an increasingly infertile world: the human/ape species barrier is crumbling. A mysterious and decidedly offbeat variety of global spiritual transformation is threatened. Besher mixes surreal comedy, a spice of gruesomeness, and enough weird SF ideas for half a dozen books. (Under-shell deodorant for snails? Good grief.) The plot is a wild roller-coaster ride that ends with several loose threads and a shaggy-dog punchline. Great fun, but Chi promises slightly more than it delivers. -- David Langford
Chicago Booklist
Praise for RIM and MIR 'Dazzling imagination' (SFX) `Not only entertaining, but increasingly likely' (MacPower magazine) `Highly original, eccentrically brilliant'
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First Sentence
Butterfly, the transsexual katoey, knew the routine and sniffed the air outside the door of her bungalow. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Butterfly, the transsexual katoey, knew the routine and sniffed the air outside the door of her bungalow. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I tried this on the strength of the reviews... Don't make the same mistake. There's a plotline about an orang-utan, implausibly re-engineered as a human child, finding his roots. It's related in bad TV-movie dialogue, with sub-Pratchett bad jokes about bananas, etc. Bescher's has set some of the novel in Thailand, apparently, but all we really hear about is some transexual prostitutes (gosh!). The best part of this is the cover art. This book inspired me not-at-all to read more by Bescher.
Format:Paperback
I picked up this book by chance and reading the reviews afterwards I wished I hadn't. I didn't realise it was the third book in a series and I hadn'd read the previous two books.
There was no need for me to worry as the book stands on its own. It is full of interesting if somewhat over-the-top characters.
It combines a number of 70's scientific curio's together for a tapestry that according to the book represents natures global wireless network complete with routers and search engines.
I found the book a good read but I don't think I'll be reading any of the others. 3.5 stars
Format:Paperback
Having bought this book in a hurry on the way to a flight, I have to say that it is pretty disappointing. Most of the ideas are unexciting and in any case not explored in any depth, the characters are shallow and the plot...well, let's just say that 'sequence of loosely related events' would be a better term, and in the end you still have no idea what the author was really getting at.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Cracking read
Another journey into the mind of Alexander Besher and his eastern mystical cyberpunk world. If you liked the others, you'll like this. Read more
Published on 16 Jun 2000
THE BEST BOOK OF 1999
I SIMPLY LOVED THIS NOVEL FOR IT'S UNIQUENESS, DESCRIPTIONS, CHARACTERS, AND FAR OUT IDEAS. I RECOMMEND IT FOR ALL WHO ARE INTERSTED IN SCI-FI AND GENERAL FICTION. Read more
Published on 7 Feb 1999
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