Reviews

• Thoroughly entertaining! I wasn't expecting this to be such an entertaining read!

  How did I miss out reading this all these years?!! This was mind a far easier read than Neuromancery and in my opinion more entertaining to read. Right up to the very last sentences this book entertained me! I even found myself going back and skimming the book just fun which I never do! If you are interested in the cyberpunk genre but fear it is difficult to read (maybe because Neuromancer, as in my case, was difficult) FEAR NOT! This is a light read. But whe. You sit down and think ablut the ideas, there are some very philosophical concepts that really make you thing... what is it to be human... what are we... what is consciousness... is jt just software? Or is it a combination of hardware and sofware (body/mind)? You can read this FREE, legally! Because Rudy Rucker is an awesome person! I purchased all four books. #2 I am reading electronically while my purchased copy is mailed out.

• Such a great book

  I'd never heard of Rudy Rucker until I found (tattered, on the sidewalk, by complete chance!) a volume with a short story of his in it. The story blew me away--it was so juvenile and refreshing and irreverent and yet dealt with some pretty serious and interesting higher brow concepts. I immediately ordered a copy of Software and was not disappointed. Software is playful and serious at the same time and a great starting point for anyone interested in reading Rucker's fiction. He reminds of some Stanislaw Lem or Philip Dick (yeah, I know everyone says that). I could not put this book down and devoured the sequels just as quickly. I recommend Rucker to everyone I know that has a smidgeon of good taste.

• ✨ Ruck Me Hard! ☺

  Rudy, Rudy, Rudy. What can I say? This is the genius that gave me Frek and the Elixir. I am forever in his debt. This is a toothsome frolic, all the more wonderful when one considers is was penned almost 40 years ago! Many imitators, only one Rucker, P.K.D.'s apparent grandchild.

• Good Ideas Bad Writing

  While Rucker is not a terrible writer, and is great at expressing interesting ideas, he has done so much to make this novel irritating that I couldn't finish it. The characters are intensely boring, self-absorbed, drugged or drunk losers, some of them off-handedly violent; even the robot characters, which have supposedly attained consciousness, are boring. It reads like a script for a very bad 1960s drug movie, including the slang. That said, it is full of fascinating ideas, such as what makes us (or robots) human, what is consciousness, even robots can become so much like humans that they enslave and demean other robots, how should we view and treat older people, etc. I was entranced by the ideas and put off by the characters and writing. Not sure why this novel got the Dick Award, unless the judges were awed by the ideas.

• Creative, quick read

  I blew through this book for two reasons: 1. It was short 2. It was addictive This book is an interesting mix of "modern" cyberpunk type writing and content with older Heinlein style creativity. It has some of the hard edge of cyberpunk but I couldn't help feel that I was reading an updated "boy's adventure" style sci-fi story where we are taken on a ride and shown wondrous things without much background explanation. I'm looking forward to reading some of the other books by this author but I'm hoping for more content since it definitely needs an increase in density.

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