Rating: 
Summary: A must-read for fans but...
Review: After reading Rudy Rucker's Software, Wetware et al, this book is a must have/must read. But I found it a bit of a letdown compared to the others. I kinda had the feeling that Rudy was trying too hard to "be a better *writer*", like maybe he took a writing course and it ruined him <grin>. The ideas stop coming around 1/2 way through the book, and the rest gets to be "she went here, he did this, she did that, blah-blah...". His previous books left me with a lot of ideas and images that I can never forget... ice-cream trucks that steal and freeze your head, cosmic rays that encode alien personalities... but from this one, mostly I remember being unpleasantly stuck in bubble.I loved the others in the series but this one fell flat for me. Still, if you've read the others you have to read this one too.
Rating:
Summary: A must-read for fans but...
Review: After reading Rudy Rucker's Software, Wetware et al, this book is a must have/must read. But I found it a bit of a letdown compared to the others. I kinda had the feeling that Rudy was trying too hard to "be a better *writer*", like maybe he took a writing course and it ruined him <grin>. The ideas stop coming around 1/2 way through the book, and the rest gets to be "she went here, he did this, she did that, blah-blah...". His previous books left me with a lot of ideas and images that I can never forget... ice-cream trucks that steal and freeze your head, cosmic rays that encode alien personalities... but from this one, mostly I remember being unpleasantly stuck in bubble. I loved the others in the series but this one fell flat for me. Still, if you've read the others you have to read this one too.
Rating: 
Summary: REALWARE - RealBAD or RealSTUPID or RealWORTHLESS
Review: I feel like Officer Barbrady - "This is the worst book I have ever read and I may never read again." The dialog is juvenile and vapid. The story line, what there is of it, is laughable - and I don't mean that in a good way. Rucker's misogynistic view of women is insulting and very sad. His take on the elderly, or elderly consciousness anyway, is so completely off base I have to wonder if he knows anyone older than 15, besides himself. It makes me wonder how much he paid the publisher to get this on the shelves.
Rating:
Summary: Maybe it's paranoia but...
Review: I loved Rudy Rucker's other books - all of them - to the point of obsession. This "clean and sober" [stuff] in this one finally cinches it for me: I'm now CERTAIN the ONDCP's antidrug campaign is targeting book publishers as well as TV, radio and movie producers. Essentially, the media is being paid by the government to pump out antidrug propaganda, and make it come from the very mouths of the drug culture heroes and top minds. Two weeks ago I just heard Neil Young praising the Patriot Act and giving a speech saying "we all need to give up our freedoms for a while so we can keep them for the long term". Now it seems they've got Rudy, too. How do they do this? Pay them off, or threaten to off them? Who knows? All I know is this left me with tears in my eyes and believe me they were NOT tears of joy.
Rating:
Summary: Maybe it's paranoia but...
Review: I loved Rudy Rucker's other books - all of them - to the point of obsession. This "clean and sober" [stuff] in this one finally cinches it for me: I'm now CERTAIN the ONDCP's antidrug campaign is targeting book publishers as well as TV, radio and movie producers. Essentially, the media is being paid by the government to pump out antidrug propaganda, and make it come from the very mouths of the drug culture heroes and top minds. Two weeks ago I just heard Neil Young praising the Patriot Act and giving a speech saying "we all need to give up our freedoms for a while so we can keep them for the long term". Now it seems they've got Rudy, too. How do they do this? Pay them off, or threaten to off them? Who knows? All I know is this left me with tears in my eyes and believe me they were NOT tears of joy.
Rating: 
Summary: Rudy's growing up....
Review: I've been a fan or Rucker since stumbling across "Tales of Houdini" in the Mirrorshades collection way back, and have always read his books with a mixture of anticipation and fear: Much as so many 1960s comedies wound up with a chaotic pie-fight at the end that made no sense, many of Rucker's books tended to veer off into "crazyland", losing focus. I'd put the book down and rub my temples and wonder what went wrong. Great science, cool world, but immature and crazy characters. But with Realware, he revisits some of his wildest characters, and makes them all GROW UP. The story is cohesive, the science is cool, and the characters are well realized. It's still Rucker, but it's him with more control, and it makes this book a real standout. Hell, he even makes the previously loathsome Randy Karl Tucker a likeable, evolving creature! It's not a book to introduce you to Rucker: This is like Heinleins The Cat Who Walks Through Walls: If you don't know these characters, you're a bit lost. But for anyone who enjoyed Hardware/Software, but were scared off by the freakiness of Freeware, come on back, y'all.
Rating:
Summary: Rudy's growing up....
Review: I've been a fan or Rucker since stumbling across "Tales of Houdini" in the Mirrorshades collection way back, and have always read his books with a mixture of anticipation and fear: Much as so many 1960s comedies wound up with a chaotic pie-fight at the end that made no sense, many of Rucker's books tended to veer off into "crazyland", losing focus. I'd put the book down and rub my temples and wonder what went wrong. Great science, cool world, but immature and crazy characters. But with Realware, he revisits some of his wildest characters, and makes them all GROW UP. The story is cohesive, the science is cool, and the characters are well realized. It's still Rucker, but it's him with more control, and it makes this book a real standout. Hell, he even makes the previously loathsome Randy Karl Tucker a likeable, evolving creature! It's not a book to introduce you to Rucker: This is like Heinleins The Cat Who Walks Through Walls: If you don't know these characters, you're a bit lost. But for anyone who enjoyed Hardware/Software, but were scared off by the freakiness of Freeware, come on back, y'all.
Rating:
Summary: Rudy's growing up....
Review: I've been a fan or Rucker since stumbling across "Tales of Houdini" in the Mirrorshades collection way back, and have always read his books with a mixture of anticipation and fear: Much as so many 1960s comedies wound up with a chaotic pie-fight at the end that made no sense, many of Rucker's books tended to veer off into "crazyland", losing focus. I'd put the book down and rub my temples and wonder what went wrong. Great science, cool world, but immature and crazy characters. But with Realware, he revisits some of his wildest characters, and makes them all GROW UP. The story is cohesive, the science is cool, and the characters are well realized. It's still Rucker, but it's him with more control, and it makes this book a real standout. Hell, he even makes the previously loathsome Randy Karl Tucker a likeable, evolving creature! It's not a book to introduce you to Rucker: This is like Heinleins The Cat Who Walks Through Walls: If you don't know these characters, you're a bit lost. But for anyone who enjoyed Hardware/Software, but were scared off by the freakiness of Freeware, come on back, y'all.
Rating:
Summary: Fun, quick reading!
Review: It's not hardcore cyberpunk. It doesn't hurt your brain. It's not dark, but it is a lot of fun to read! I am a poor reader and I can slice through Rucker's stuff fast and easily. This, the fourth in the 'ware' series, is probably the second best (to Software, first in the series), and is full of the tasty futuristic cali-lingo ("You wave?" "Stuzzy!"). I am hooked on Rucker and I can't stop!
Rating:
Summary: Rudy Rucker's NICE book - Beaver Cleaver, Clean & Sober
Review: Nice, yeah, like warm milk and chocolate chip cookies. (Rudy, what were attempting? did you get what you wanted? what your editors wanted?) This book doesn't have the insane edge, like his earlier three books of the same series (Software, Wetware, Freeware), as well as, Hacker & the Ants. I've read all these other books at least 3 times each and own numerous copies of them. I think they are great reads and have given copies out to friends for years to turn them onto Rucker. But this latest? It ends with a wonderful double wedding and everyone lives happily every after. Yucch! Too Wholesome. I get the impression that Rucker was trying for a "Caledcott" award winner. Vapid & insipid, as accused above? Yes, I'd have to agree. I'm still a Rucker fan. But this one tastes like baby pablum.
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