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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