Rating: 
Summary: Read this book
Review: I understood half the ending... :) (Possibly a little more, three quarters maybe.) Pat Cadigan can write far better than most sci fi writers, & this book is very worth reading. But it's still not as good as her others.
Rating: 
Summary: "Tea" lacks the depth and originality of earlier works
Review: I was incredibly dissapointed with Tea from an Empty Cup. The progression that was started with Mindplayers, Synners, and Fools led me to expect a richly developed world full of interesting characters and paranoias. Tea just did not deliver. I kept waiting for more, and found myself hoping the ending would justify the seemingly aimless romp through AR. Sadly, it didn't. Those new to Cadigan's work may enjoy this work, but you may be better off trying Synners on for size.
Rating: 
Summary: Zen Meets Cyberpunk
Review: If you can wrap your mind around Zen concepts you might want to check out TEA FROM AN EMPTY CUP by Pat Cadigan, a short, but good, novel that takes a slightly Zen approach to the idea of virtual reality.Virtual reality is here and it is cheap enough so that much of the population works just to live their lives in some of the virtual scenarios. One young man is found dead in a locked room where he was logged in. His throat was cut and there are no sharp objects in the room. A detective notices that a number of other similar deaths have occurred recently. Thus two quests are taken up as two women log in disguised as the young man and try to find out what he was doing and who he may have met. It is a strange world where things are more real than real. Sensations are heightened and rumors exist of a way out the other side. It is this world that the two women must navigate to find out what happened. The switching viewpoints are a little more confusing that is usual but the future world is quite interesting. I like the melding of cyberpunk, virtual reality and Japanese philosophy. It blends well and offers a good backdrop for that rare commodity, the science-fiction mystery. I picked up the book to look at it and found myself hooked right away. A very entertaining read if you don't mind having your mind bent and limbered up a bit. Check it out.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating...
Review: It's a very interesting little book. But it's not ordinary, at all. The characters are strange, the narrative is disjointed. You have to read it carefully; but the ideas are really interesting. I'd recommend it to anyone who likes writers like Varley or Rucker. It's full of a lot of references to Japanese culture, some of which I'm sure I didn't get. However, I don't think I know enough about Japan to comment on them.
Rating:
Summary: Tea a Deceptive Read
Review: OK, so the bulk of the reviews here don't seem to favour Cadigan's Tea from an Empty Cup. Don't let them dissuade you. Cadigan's novel is a fine read for a variety of reasons. First, it turns key cyberpunk images upside down (notably Japan's fall from dominance) while sticking to Cadigan's interest in subverting identity. Second, it is one of the few cyberpunk-inspired texts that actually considers the function of race vis-a-vis artificial realities (Gibson's Rastafarians in Neuromancer don't count since they don't access cyberspace). Third, it introduces characters that re-appear in her follow-up Dirvish is Digital. I've read the UK edition of Dervish (which doesn't get published in North American until July) and it seems Cadigan will be returning to the ambiguous ending of Tea in a future novel (the Yuki figure reappears twice in Dirvish). So, it'd be best to read Dirvish immediately following Tea as the material moves forward. Yes, Cadigan's writing style has changed, but whose hasn't after 15 years writing sf? All in all, an enjoyable read that has more going on underneath the surface than has previously been credited. Enjoy.
Rating: 
Summary: Fascinating cyberpunk noir mystery with Japanese twist!
Review: Pat Cadigan has once again come up with a well paced journey through near-future cyberspace that is packed with human emotion, bizarre comparisons of artificial reality versus the "real" world, and elements of a police procedural, as well. It is a fascinating read, even though some of the witticisms went right over my head! The Zen atmosphere and Japanese myth allusions were handled well and make this novel a "must have." Highly Recommended.
Rating:
Summary: An Intriguing Cyberpunk Murdery Mystery Novel
Review: Pat Cadigan is one of the founders of cyberpunk, and makes a long awaited return to writing cyberpunk novels in this first installment of an ongoing series revolving around homicide detective Dore Konstantin. It's an elegant blend of Chandleresque murder mystery with Gibsonesque cyberpunk fiction. She does a fine job creating a future New York City (I mean Noo Yawk Sitty) and Japan; however, I think William Gibson has surpassed anything she's written here with regards to vivid, descriptive prose. Indeed, "Tea..." isn't as memorable a read as Cadigan's early novels, most notably "Mindplayers". Yet fans of Cadigan's fiction won't be disappointed with this novel.
Rating: 
Summary: Less is less
Review: Reading Tea from an Empty Cup, you get the ominous feeling that Pat Cadigan is starting to really believe her own hype, or that she has spent too much time surrounded by academic sycophants telling her she's the embodiment of feminist cyber-cool. This is a shame, because while she has not yet written a really satisfying novel, and has never actually justified the status she has, she was at least full of ideas, and willing to play with them. Cadigan's Empty Cup is indeed full of nothing and not in the Zen way that she implies. It is a slim novel made up of cliche, racial sterotypes, and outdated previously fashionable cyberpunk tropes. Every character and and idea seems familiar from somewhere else. It has nothing new to say, not does it shed new light on old subjects. Particularly sad are the Japanese characters and themes - so we haven't got beyind the Japan of Zen, tatami and bunraku, have we? Just mentioning a few Japanese names and terms doesn't indicate understanding, and Cadigan's Japanese-ness seems to come from a tourist guide. Maybe that's the point, but I don't think so. Please Pat, start again, ignore the academics, and give us something more substantial. You only get two stars because at least you can write!
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Summary: Back and Forth...
Review: Tea from an Empty Cup is a cyberpunk novel with somewhat of a twist. A murder mystery entwines the lives of a smart homicide detective named Konstantin and a Japanese woman named Yuki. Konstantin's search for the killer of a young man takes her into an artificial world where she searches for answers. The bulk of the story takes place mainly in this artificial reality world where there are a thousand different ways to tell a lie, making it rather difficult to solve a murder. Yuki and Konstantin's paths slowly begin to connect over the course of the novel. Pat Cadigan's book is easy to read despite the fact that she changes her focus character as she changes chapters. New ideas such as "post-Apocalyptic Noo Yawk Sitty" and others, make this book very entertaining. Japanese culture is a significant part of the book but includes enough detail for just about anyone to understand it. While the ending still left some questions in my mind, I felt that this is a well written and entertaining book. Enjoy it!
Rating:
Summary: An ambitious but confused haphazard jumble.
Review: There's not much to recommend this tale. The main characters seem lost most of the time which explains why the reader was as well. The extension of the AR "hotsuits" to faster levels through the use of drugs served no notable purpose. The imagery was tattered and scattered. I felt no particular interest or sympathy for any of the players. I would recommend that you pass this anxious turmoil by and hope that Cadigan's next effort has better focus and depth.
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