Rating: 
Summary: Your cat will probably enjoy this one. . . .
Review: A chimera is a being produced by gene-splicing human genes with those of assorted mammals, the result being an intelligent "critter" who's not quite a slave -- but who doesn't have much in the way of civil rights, either. Having found that much in the flap copy, I thought immediately of one of my favorite stories: "The Ballad of Lost C'Mell," by Cordwainer Smith. Well, Zoe Domingo isn't C'Mell and Shetterly isn't Smith, but it's still a pretty good yarn, though a little heavy on the moralizing. What makes it fun is the mix of noir crime fiction style (think Philip Marlowe as a vegetarian PI) and a semi-cyberpunk vision of the future (everyday teleportation, space-warping as a personal "pocket," and Libertarian terrorists). Two-thirds of the way through, I began to wonder how Shetterly was going to tie up all the narrative threads, but he manages it in quite well -- though I shall be waiting with greater interest for the next "Bordertown" book.
Rating:
Summary: Your cat will probably enjoy this one. . . .
Review: A chimera is a being produced by gene-splicing human genes with those of assorted mammals, the result being an intelligent "critter" who's not quite a slave -- but who doesn't have much in the way of civil rights, either. Having found that much in the flap copy, I thought immediately of one of my favorite stories: "The Ballad of Lost C'Mell," by Cordwainer Smith. Well, Zoe Domingo isn't C'Mell and Shetterly isn't Smith, but it's still a pretty good yarn, though a little heavy on the moralizing. What makes it fun is the mix of noir crime fiction style (think Philip Marlowe as a vegetarian PI) and a semi-cyberpunk vision of the future (everyday teleportation, space-warping as a personal "pocket," and Libertarian terrorists). Two-thirds of the way through, I began to wonder how Shetterly was going to tie up all the narrative threads, but he manages it in quite well -- though I shall be waiting with greater interest for the next "Bordertown" book.
Rating:
Summary: A HARD-BOILED PI AND HIS JAGUAR-GIRL CLIENT
Review: A great new SF detective story! Our detective hero follows in the tradition of Phillip Marlowe and Sam Spade, as he finds himself with a beautiful client who is also a murder suspect. His client also happens to be part jaguar; in the future,genetic technology has permitted the creation of "critters", mixtures of human and animal genes. These critters have become the new underclass, used as sex slaves and worse. Shetterly presents a very interesting society, an attempt to present a Libertarian dystopia, where respect for private property has permitted the enslavement of sentient beings and machines. In addition to these interesting societal ideas, Shetterly has dreamed up one of the coolest gadgets in recent memory, the Infinite Pocket. I sure wish I had one! A fine, fun novel, with plenty of action and lots of good ideas. You'll enjoy it!
Rating:
Summary: A HARD-BOILED PI AND HIS JAGUAR-GIRL CLIENT
Review: A great new SF detective story! Our detective hero follows in the tradition of Phillip Marlowe and Sam Spade, as he finds himself with a beautiful client who is also a murder suspect. His client also happens to be part jaguar; in the future,genetic technology has permitted the creation of "critters", mixtures of human and animal genes. These critters have become the new underclass, used as sex slaves and worse. Shetterly presents a very interesting society, an attempt to present a Libertarian dystopia, where respect for private property has permitted the enslavement of sentient beings and machines. In addition to these interesting societal ideas, Shetterly has dreamed up one of the coolest gadgets in recent memory, the Infinite Pocket. I sure wish I had one! A fine, fun novel, with plenty of action and lots of good ideas. You'll enjoy it!
Rating:
Summary: ACTION WITH SEXY SCI-FI
Review: Anthropomorphizing at it's greatest. A gene splice here, a nip and tuck and whala you get a Chimera, also called critters, a being that walks, talks, thinks and feels but is still considered property under the law. Now take one beautiful jaguar girl, a private eye who really tries to be hard bitten, a few machines with artificial intelligence (kind of like a blond dyeing her hair brown,) mix them up in a future LA and you get one heck of a fast paced sort-of-detective story.A lot of action, a bit of sex and even a little romance, and yes even though I am a man I know there is a difference. (But like any REAL man I don't care.) You can't help but cheer for the good guys, hiss at the baddies and in general have a heck of a good time as this futuristic romp unfolds. Some of the scenarios within the story aren't consistence and a wee bit unbelievable even for a SF story, but for the most part who cares? I had fun and I think you will too. I highly RECOMMEND this book.
Rating:
Summary: ACTION WITH SEXY SCI-FI
Review: Anthropomorphizing at it's greatest. A gene splice here, a nip and tuck and whala you get a Chimera, also called critters, a being that walks, talks, thinks and feels but is still considered property under the law. Now take one beautiful jaguar girl, a private eye who really tries to be hard bitten, a few machines with artificial intelligence (kind of like a blond dyeing her hair brown,) mix them up in a future LA and you get one heck of a fast paced sort-of-detective story. A lot of action, a bit of sex and even a little romance, and yes even though I am a man I know there is a difference. (But like any REAL man I don't care.) You can't help but cheer for the good guys, hiss at the baddies and in general have a heck of a good time as this futuristic romp unfolds. Some of the scenarios within the story aren't consistence and a wee bit unbelievable even for a SF story, but for the most part who cares? I had fun and I think you will too. I highly RECOMMEND this book.
Rating: 
Summary: An okay read
Review: Chimera was a very exciting book that dealt with a lot of interesting ideas and concepts concerning artificial intelligence and genetic manipulation. The problem with the book though, is that there is too many concepts that the reader has to grasp. There seems to be so many things occuring at one time in this book (a mere 288 pages) that it is hard to follow the plot. On the other hand, Zoe was a very real to life character and it was easy to identify with her problems. If you are into Shetterly, read this book. If you are not, you may wan't to pass it by.
Rating:
Summary: A "could-have-been" novel
Review: Don't get me wrong: this novel is not bad, but it could have been better. Shetterly uses the hard-boiled detective genre to good effect in this mystery/science fiction book. Unfortunately, he missed a better plot and philosophical/moral discussion (see below). Chimeras are genetically altered humans, a mixture of human and animal genetic material: pigs, bears, dogs, among others. Each chimera "breed" retains some of the characteristics of their animal donor species--strength, enhanced hearing, etc. Chimeras are accepted in the society in the sense that no one seems to think twice about the ethics of their existence. They are, however, considered second- or third-class citizens--virtual slaves which fill certain lower level jobs. When a chimera is framed for the murder of a full human scientist, she searches for the only P.I. that can help her, a sarcastic man with a caustic wit. The thing that bothered me most was that there was virtually no discussion of the ethical revolution that had to have taken place in the world to get to this point. In my opinion, the book would have been more interesting if it were set in the earlier timeframe. How did the religious groups react to the genetic manipulation? Medical personnel? Political parties? Labor unions? The general public? Shetterly attempts to discuss the inequality of our current world by using the chimeras and artificial intelligences as an allegory for those that are discriminated against today. I'm not sure that he fully realized this goal. Nothing wrong with the book from a general escapist read, but in my opinion, the deeper meaning was somewhat flat.
Rating:
Summary: A "could-have-been" novel
Review: Don't get me wrong: this novel is not bad, but it could have been better. Shetterly uses the hard-boiled detective genre to good effect in this mystery/science fiction book. Unfortunately, he missed a better plot and philosophical/moral discussion (see below). Chimeras are genetically altered humans, a mixture of human and animal genetic material: pigs, bears, dogs, among others. Each chimera "breed" retains some of the characteristics of their animal donor species--strength, enhanced hearing, etc. Chimeras are accepted in the society in the sense that no one seems to think twice about the ethics of their existence. They are, however, considered second- or third-class citizens--virtual slaves which fill certain lower level jobs. When a chimera is framed for the murder of a full human scientist, she searches for the only P.I. that can help her, a sarcastic man with a caustic wit. The thing that bothered me most was that there was virtually no discussion of the ethical revolution that had to have taken place in the world to get to this point. In my opinion, the book would have been more interesting if it were set in the earlier timeframe. How did the religious groups react to the genetic manipulation? Medical personnel? Political parties? Labor unions? The general public? Shetterly attempts to discuss the inequality of our current world by using the chimeras and artificial intelligences as an allegory for those that are discriminated against today. I'm not sure that he fully realized this goal. Nothing wrong with the book from a general escapist read, but in my opinion, the deeper meaning was somewhat flat.
Rating: 
Summary: Good idea, bad execution
Review: For a mystery, this is right up there with, say, Mannix. Utterly predictable pot-boiler where the only question is how the obvious bad guy meets his demise. For SF, this is as old as Heinlein's "Jerry Was A Man" if not older. It wasn't that clever when Heinlein did it 50 years ago either. For literature, the writing is uninvolved and flat. They used to call these "Young Adult". Still, I finished it, so I give it a 2. If you want something involving a real hard-edged PI mystery in an SF environment, try George Alec Effinger's "When Gravity Fails" -- pity Effinger doesn't write more.
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