Gaia's Toys

Rating:
Summary: William Gibson Meets John Le Carre
Review: An eco terrorist group sets up an orphan who has fallen in with them. High tech, nano tech, and government agents abound in this wild, thought provoking story (how would you like to start life all over again?). Like Gibson and Le Carre, at times it is hard to understand what is going on. Go back and re read, it's worth it.

Rating:
Summary: Why was this published?
Review: Boring, trite, and not worth half the price. This fluff could have been written by a dottering victorian spinster, and it's a mystery why a publisher would bother. It's insulting when this sort of garbage is sold at full market price with so much worth reading available. The story is hackneyed, the writing is uncomfortable and lacking style or grace, and the tone is preachy but directioneless. Gaia's Toys is the first book I ever paid for that I couldn't finish. The author should not quit their day job.

Rating:
Summary: Has it come to this?
Review: First, I resent having to give this novel even 1 star. It was that bad. The story was difficult to follow - why do I have to work that hard when reading a story? Maybe if the author had bothered to re-read it and edit it, rather than finishing it and dashing it off to the publisher, as is evidently the case. That it was published at all still amazes me.
The worst thing about it however is that it is poorly written. The author's grasp of the language is, at best, "modern". She does not employ it well, and besides being ugly and frustrating to plough through, it makes understanding the tortured plot that much harder.

There was a time when, to be published, you needed to be able to write reasonable English, and tell a story well. No longer.

As for the gushing reviews published here, I hazard a guess that they are written by people known to the author. They do not seem to be about the book I read.

Some books are so bad, they can be fun. This is not one of those.

Rating:
Summary: Worth reading
Review: Gaia's Toys is set in a future where severe environmental damage causes a new class of environmental terrorists or "ecowarriors" to rise up and defend mother nature; where welfare-dependent Americans are forced to undergo cybergenetic surgery, turning their heads into military cyberspace; where cooing, genetically altered mantises act as sedative pets; where nanotech surgery can completely change a person's appearance; where....OK...you get the main idea. The future, presented in this novel is pretty peculiar. Despite an overload of sci-fi concepts, I found Gaia's Toys by Rebecca Ore to be worth reading. Regardless of their vast differences, it's characters, welfare drone, Willie; street kid turned ecowarrior turned programed government spy, Alison, and overcurious scientist, Dr. Rae, are essentially fighting the same battle. Each is trying to keep a hold of his or her humanity in a cold, socially stratified, technology-ruled world where nature has been all but obliterated. Her next novel, Outlaw School, is a better example of Ore's impressive ability to create soulful characters and convincing futuristic settings. I would recommend that book first and, if you enjoy it, Gaia's Toys may interest you.

Rating:
Summary: Falls Short of Expected Gleam
Review: Gaia's Toys, by Rebecca Ore, takes several unique characters ranging from a socially abused 'drode head,' Willie, to a captured and reformed 'eco-warrior', Allison, to an over zealous scientist, Dr. Rae, and somehow crosses their paths so that they all come neatly together at the conclusion of the novel.

Through these characters Ore creates a futuristic world where technology continually overpowers nature so that human life becomes more and more less human. 'Eco-warriors' fight a never-ending battle against corporate chemical producers and oil refineries that seem to needlessly destroy and disrespect nature. Doctors create genetically altered insects that are designed to tranquilize and soothe the simple minded 'drode head' population. Surgery is done with nanomachines, which are microscopic virus like particles designed to physically alter and rebuild human beings.

Ore uses many unique technological terms and sub-plots to add flavor to her book, but she somehow fails to neatly pull all of the elements together realistically and give her novel adequate closure. Several places throughout the novel seem hastily written, while others made it seem that Ore was struggling with the advanced terminology used in the book. The initial plot becomes blurred, and the reader is turned towards the newly emerging theme of trust. Several passages and sections of complex dialogue need to be re-read in order to give the reader a sense of semi-understanding. The book begins to crawl through the door that Gibson and Stephenson opened, but it lacks the plot and overall understanding that would allow it to emerge as a unique work itself.

I give Gaia's Toys two stars, but I challenge anyone truly interested in the Cyberpunk genre to give it a shot.

Rating:
Summary: Falls Short of Expected Gleam
Review: Gaia�s Toys, by Rebecca Ore, takes several unique characters ranging from a socially abused �drode head,� Willie, to a captured and reformed �eco-warrior�, Allison, to an over zealous scientist, Dr. Rae, and somehow crosses their paths so that they all come neatly together at the conclusion of the novel.

Through these characters Ore creates a futuristic world where technology continually overpowers nature so that human life becomes more and more less human. �Eco-warriors� fight a never-ending battle against corporate chemical producers and oil refineries that seem to needlessly destroy and disrespect nature. Doctors create genetically altered insects that are designed to tranquilize and soothe the simple minded �drode head� population. Surgery is done with nanomachines, which are microscopic virus like particles designed to physically alter and rebuild human beings.

Ore uses many unique technological terms and sub-plots to add flavor to her book, but she somehow fails to neatly pull all of the elements together realistically and give her novel adequate closure. Several places throughout the novel seem hastily written, while others made it seem that Ore was struggling with the advanced terminology used in the book. The initial plot becomes blurred, and the reader is turned towards the newly emerging theme of trust. Several passages and sections of complex dialogue need to be re-read in order to give the reader a sense of semi-understanding. The book begins to crawl through the door that Gibson and Stephenson opened, but it lacks the plot and overall understanding that would allow it to emerge as a unique work itself.

I give Gaia�s Toys two stars, but I challenge anyone truly interested in the Cyberpunk genre to give it a shot.

Rating:
Summary: Dystopia at its best (or worst)
Review: The title says it all: the book is about allthe various technologies we humans developand then go on to use for vile purposes; welfare drones serving as human computers, tranquilizing wasps and giant mantises are only a few of the toys employed by Ore's very real and plausible future world. If you're cynical and fed up one societal terror after another, read this book. I wouldn't be surprised if the author gets regular phonecalls asking her if she's starting a cult.

Rating:
Summary: Why was this published?
Review: This book suffers a bit from odd terminoligy never explained (still don't know what in heck a "front junkie" is). I thought the beginning read rough while I was trying to understand her odd future-tech world that she didn't explain well. But in the middle it went much better and I was thinking it was a great book. Then poof, she obviously had NO idea how to end it, and the last 50-100 pages just plod on horridly like she had no real inspiration or motivation for writing those words other than to get it published and make some money. A book that just drops off from great to bad like that isn't worth reading in my mind.

Rating:
Summary: Rough beginning, great middle, horrid ending
Review: This book suffers a bit from odd terminoligy never explained (still don't know what in heck a "front junkie" is). I thought the beginning read rough while I was trying to understand her odd future-tech world that she didn't explain well. But in the middle it went much better and I was thinking it was a great book. Then poof, she obviously had NO idea how to end it, and the last 50-100 pages just plod on horridly like she had no real inspiration or motivation for writing those words other than to get it published and make some money. A book that just drops off from great to bad like that isn't worth reading in my mind.

Rating:
Summary: Gaia's Toys should be kindling
Review: This has got to be the absolute WORST book I've ever read in my entire life. I got to page ten and started yawning, and by page 20 I determined that kindling was the best use for this book. It's not worth the 5 bucks to ship it back even.