Rating: 
Summary: Boring, poorly written, derivative dreck.
Review: I bought this book because of the hype on the back cover by Thomas Pynchon and Neal Stevenson. Won't make that mistake again. The plot is a contrived, boring, predictable rehash of the cyberpunk genre. The characterization wasn't even one-dimensional; characters in this novel were zero dimensional points executing brownian motion in a sea of murk. I haven't read a book with such a low level of character development since, say, I had the misfortune of reading some of L. Ron Blubbard's trashy space operas while stuck in a snowed-in airport. The closest thing to an amusing character is the disembodied Ayn Rand, though the author's self conscious debunking of her books was painfully boring, and of course it doesn't require much skill to develop the character of a well-known fruitcake such as Rand. The author seemed to be trying to pull off a "Snowcrash" in some places; there were also references to R.A. Wilson's "Illuminatus" -in other places I was reminded a bit of Heinlein. There was even a "Moby Dick" reference tossed in for some reason (perhaps another tip of the hat to Snowcrash; it worked in *Snowcrash* but was horribly contrived in this book). Overall the pace of the story was choppy, the development predictable and contrived. I was briefly amused by the irony of the birthplace of the "Bad Guy" -but that wasn't worth the price of admission.As a piece of marketing though, the book is a work of genius; it sucked me in like the mark I (and a couple of friends, as it turns out) apparently am, with intriguing reviews from respectable authors (hopefully taken out of context) and one liners that promised a snowcrash type stunt. Completely obscured the trash between the covers. My hat is off to Warner's marketing department for successfully polishing a turd. "Neat," my mental image of a hiney.
Rating: 
Summary: Bill Gates, Ayn Rand, and Earth First! bring you the future.
Review: A good romp and an excellent read. Reminds us of Neal Stephenson's early eco-thriller, "Zodiac." The near future brings some clever turns of fate and phrase, though the endless rehash of Ayn Rand's Objectivism midway through bogs one down.
Rating: 
Summary: Destined to become a literary classic
Review: I love Matt Ruff! Sewer Gas and Electric is the best action/sc-fi/philosophy/adventure/spoof novel I have ever read. Mutant great white sharks, industrial accountants, holographic crazies, evil do-gooders, visionaries, robots, pirates, saviors, armor-plated sewer workers, you name it, this book has it!
Rating:
Summary: Humorous, Intelligent Satire expressed by the near future
Review: Finally available in paperback, this book has attained a bit of cult status already. The extremely imaginative Matt Ruff has created a near future that is familiar, yet different enough to be disturbing, and definitely revealing of human depths not often explored in science fiction. The authors style and voice take a bit of getting used to, but are highly imaginative and do a good job of transporting the reader to another time and place. Highly recommended for those looking for a bit of a challenge and humor in their science fiction.
Rating:
Summary: Goofy, Wonderful Read
Review: What a strange and marvelous book. It does have some slow spots, and the ending unravels a little too quickly after a certain detail is revealed about a murder ... but all in all a satifyingromp through a very cartoon-like world. Ruff's satirical poke at Rand is wonderful - this book is an essential read for any Objectivist who takes themselves too seriously. (I feel qualified to make this statement, as I am an objectivist). My only complaint about thebook has to do with its closure - certain characters' fates are left vague, or worse, outright ignored. Matt - if you're reading this - what about Seraphina & 29 Words? Philo? And Kite and Joan? Feel free to rant back at me...
Rating: 
Summary: Couldn't put it down -- fast enough.
Review: I truly am glad so many people (including critics) liked this book. I wanted to. After reading the reviews, I hot-footed it to the "buy" line and couldn't wait to get started on it. But, after the first couple of chapters, I realized it was going to be silly, and I only made it halfway before abandoning the read. I'm a fan of silly, but this book was silly in a way I find irritating. It's so witty it goes right over the edge into Letterman Land and becomes too hip for its own good. It's like watching the Marx Brothers get together with Monty Python, then all of them run amok through a hotel hallway, slamming doors nonstop. It's funny enough at the start, but after awhile you itch to throw a grenade into the corridor. For all its cleverness, it really doesn't say anything, and that's an awful lot of pages of nothing (even the Marx Brothers and Monty Python knew better than to stretch a skit farther than a few minutes). As I said though, I'm glad so many found it a good read - I'm in favour of anything that keeps people reading. And, since they liked this book, I'm sure they'll like or have already enjoyed, "A Confederacy of Dunces," which won a Pulitzer about a decade ago. I disliked that book, too.
Rating:
Summary: It took time, but finally loved it
Review: This book is strange. When I started to read it I found it difficult to get the rythm proposed by Ruff. It's not like you could easily get into the characters and follow directly their developments, but rather you have to let the story grow to then fully understand which is the role of each character in the plot. I found that Ruff's sense of humor was particularly well placed and helped me get more involved with the story. Since mid-book it was for me a page-turner. Expect to have fun if you read it.
Rating:
Summary: The "Illuminatus!" Trilogy meets "Wired" Magazine
Review: I love this book! By the end of the first chapter I was completely sucked in and couldn't put the book down 'til I was finished. The cast of characters, ranging as it does from the Queen of England to a mutating great white shark called "Meisterbrau" by way of Ayn Rand, keeps the action moving along at a rapid pace, and ensures witty dialog. Great book.
Rating: 
Summary: A Major Disappointment
Review: The on-line comments, including endorsements from Stephenson and Pynchon, raised my expectations through the roof. What I found was a disjointed plot with characters who were completely unloveable. I didn't care what happened to them, and I didn't care why. Ruff has potential, but this one left me cold
Rating:
Summary: Zingy anti-racist fantasy.
Review: This obnoxious fantasy will appeal to fans of Mark Helprin and John Crowley, although maybe not to those of Ayn Rand. Her ungenerous philosophy is harpooned here, much as sewer workers in the book's futuristic Manhattan attempt to come to grips with a tunnel shark. The ironic plot (a homicidal Disneyland computer schemes to replace African-Americans with robots called Electric Negroes while architect Harry Gant and his mom build the world's tallest skyscraper and eco-pirates skulk in a faux-Nazi submarine pen beneath the Statue of Liberty) is worthy of an Objectivist book-burning party or a multicultural literary prize, or both
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