Metrophage

Technology surrounds us everywhere, as I write this review there are two other laptops in the room, a television, a tablet, and a smart phone. If we leave this room and expand to the whole house you'll find three more TVs, another computer, another tablet, two other smart phones, a Blu-Ray player, a PlayStation 3 and 4, and three iPod's. This is the head-space that we live in now, a world so steeped in technology that it permeates our entire life and will only continue to do so as we relentlessl [...]

The problem with cyberpunk as a subgenre of science fiction is that there were too few top class writers involved. Apart from William Gibson and Bruce Sterling (and perhaps K.W. Jeter), it would be hard now to name another cyberpunk writer from its heyday, the mid eighties. The influence of the genre - which is considerable - is really the influence of Gibson and Sterling, together with that of the film Bladerunner.Kadrey's first novel is one of the forgotten cyberpunk also-rans. It is told from [...]

I got about halfway through and found myself begrudging the idea of carrying on, so I decided to call it quits. It had some good ideas but ultimately the lack of characters that stuck around long enough to get invested in really hurt its chances of making an impact!

A very enjoyable read.

What was that? Seriously, I'm askingSomeone is going to have to tell me how to put images in my reviews because this one needs an image of Doc at the white board explaining to Marty that if you go into the future from this alternate 1985 we would be in the future of this crazy alternate 1985Back to the Future II.Which is why I added a star. For Michael J Fox and the ten year old meSo this is supposed to be a punk dystopian story from 1989. And while a few things were brought up like the hologram [...]

I started this with a little bit of apprehension. It said it was the first published novel of Richard Kadrey's. Not that there is anything bad about it, and I'm not implying that being the first one it's supposed to be bad, but sometimes when you have read some of the more famous works of a certain author, the earlier not so popular ones somehow pale in comparison.It's interesting how all the earlier pre-Sandman Slim novels all seem to be evolutionary steps towards the development of the James S [...]

I've been reading and enjoying Kadrey's Sandman Slim novels recently, but I wasn't familiar with any of his earlier books. To my surprise, this book was sitting on a shelf in my office. I must have bought it years ago with several other New Ace Science Fiction Specials. Published in 1988, Metrophage is set in a hellish 21st century Los Angeles. With Japanese, Mexican and Middle Eastern corporations and oil cartels in control of a drug-addicted, modified populace, nearly every character is thinki [...]

What the freakin heck is this? I don't even Okay seriously this was awful. There was a plot in here but in the end it didn't feel like it mattered one bit. Strike one. I certainly hope he writes better stuff than this.

*You can read this book online on . This is a re-release of Richard Kadrey's first book.

I enjoyed Kadrey's Sandman Slim novel as a whole ad well as the main character. Wanting to see what else he had penned, I added Metrophage to my read list. Unfortunately, after having read the book, I can say that I am sorely disappointed.The main character is, as Easy says, an a**hole. Easy being one himself can vouch for that. Unfortunately, he's not a likeable a**hole, either. For most of the book I never really found myself caring about what happened to him. I initially felt bad for him when [...]

I want to start off saying that I really like Richard Kadrey's other works. I'm a huge fan of his Sandman Slim and Coop series, as well as his other one-shots like Butcher Bird and Dead Set. That said, I didn't care for this book at ALL.The characters are one dimensional and we learn almost nothing about them-- including our main character Johnny, whose personality seems to be entirely comprised of "cynical drug addict who hates everybody and is continually crapped on by the world"-- which COULD [...]

Maybe more of an upper 3.x score. Many have criticized the lack of character development, comparing badly to other cyberpunk novels by Gibson, Sterling, and Cadigan (excellent!), but I think that a tad unfair as character development, as far as extras go, was never really present in other cyberpunk tales. Many characters were just concepts, or ideas, like much of rest of the story. Cyberpunk novels mostly named but usually never really described the tech, the people, etc like stream of conscious [...]

Not sure about the rating. Maybe it could be bumped up a bit? Dunno. Wasn't bad, but wasn't stellar, either.

Probably the cheesiest book I've ever read.

This is a story about Los Angeles in the middle of the 21st century, about a young man's search for some justice or at least some revenge as everyone with authority busily screws over everyone they can reach, and about keeping the spirit alive in spite of everything. Jonny Qabbala is at the center of things here, a street guy drifting and dealing his way as best he can, doing a bit of good sometimes, trying to care for the people he loves, and out to avenge a friend's execution.His LA is not qui [...]

I got a copy of this novel to review through NetGalley. This was a well done and gritty cyberpunk novel. Previously I have read a variety of cyberpunk, mostly books by William Gibson and some of Neal Stephenson's earlier works (Diamond Age and Snow Crash). I didn’t like this book quite as much as those books, but I still thought it was a fun read.The story is set in future a Los Angeles where everything has pretty much gone to the dogs. Our “hero” (actually more of an anti-hero) is Johnny. [...]

[Review originally appeared on SFRevu at: sfrevu/php/Review-id.p]Richard Kadrey is perhaps best known for his urban fantasy series featuring James Stark, a.k.a. Sandman Slim. The popularity of the Sandman Slim novels has brought greater attention to his earlier works and precipitated a reprinting of his first novel, Metrophage.Long before he honed his own style and voice, Kadrey was a fan of the cyberpunk works of William Gibson, Rudy Rucker, and Bruce Sterling, among others. First published in [...]

I really enjoyed the Sandman Slim series and picked this up because I thought it might be along the same lines- to some extent it was, set in a dystopian LA but it lacked the subtlety, humour and depth of the Sandman Slim novels. There doesn't seem to be much point to Johnny's existence, he's not driven by anything and seems to look down on those who are motivated, he drifts though most the book causing chaos and choosing the actions on the basis of what would annoy someone the most at that mome [...]

I was given a promotional/free copy by Harper Voyager U.S.This is my second book by Richard Kadrey, the first being his YA novel Dead Set (which I was also given a free copy by Harper Voyager U.S). He's a good writer, but it's not my style.From what I understand his Sandman series is very good and he has a huge fan base.So if you are a fan, then I will say you will like this book. It's a fun read. Parts of it pull you along and give you a good ride. There were a few times I got bogged down in de [...]

A young punk tries to stay alive in a near future torn between gangs and corporate-controlled governments with sinister agendas. There's also a plague.Okay, so it's cyberpunk, that classic 80s subgenre of SF filled with street level characters, cyber-enhancement and drugs, morally grey protagonists and cynical plotlines.It could be done well, but there was a reason it mostly burnt out, even when the plots were wildly different, there was a certain sameness to them, and with so many of them out i [...]

Given that this was published in 1988, it's interesting to compare the book's political predictions with today's situation. The Arab-versus-U.S. prediction is eerily accurate, though in the book the U.S. economy failed and was bought for a song by the Japanese, creating an essentially two-cartel battle. Back then many of the cyberpunk books ran with the notion that Japan would win economically. In any case, the Los Angeles portrayed here is a good one, a winning combination of noir-dark grime, f [...]

I've read all the Sandman Slim books so the idea of an early stand alone novel rather intrigued me. Coming away from the urban fantasy he's perhaps better known for, this is, for lack of a better term an old school cyberpunk novel.Based in LA, following a near cataclysmic break down in society, the book follows a drug runner called Jonny and his interactions with the gangs, authorities, and power brokers in the city. He finds himself caught up in a web of trouble and intrigue which has more twis [...]

-Más que propiamente Cyberpunk, noir futurista.-Género. Ciencia-Ficción.Lo que nos cuenta. En Los Ángeles, en el futuro, Jonny Qabbala (en otros tiempos conocido como Gordon), es un buscavidas que se dirige hacia el Pozo de Carnaby en busca de Dinero Fácil, otro pequeño delincuente al que considera culpable de la muerte de su casi amigo Raquin, para acabar con él. Un hombrecito llamado Bender Cyrano, que trabaja para el jefe del fallecido Raquin, el señor Conover, le explica que casualme [...]

Metrophage by Richard Kadrey is a recommended cyber-punk classic that is being re-released.Metrophage is set in a future LA that is harshly divided into those who have wealth and those who don't. LA itself has been partially destroyed. Now the city is populated by hustlers of various ilk and specialties. Jonny Qabbala is a street hustler who sells drugs, but right now he's out looking for Easy Money, another dealer who killed one of his friends. Circumstances send Jonny on the run. While he's tr [...]

I absolutely love Richard Kadrey's writing. His creativity and worldbuilding were as fantastic in Metrophage as ever, turning Last Ass into a futuristic Los Angeles I felt truly immersed in, and I was thrilled every time Johnny ended up in a new location for me to experience. The wide cast of characters felt universally deep, even the ones who made only brief appearances. Man Ray especially was a fantastic side character whom I felt I knew well despite very little dialogue from the character. Th [...]

Well this book is kind of a hot mess, there's a lot of neat ideas buried under a really lame plot. Essentially this is a series of scenes where the main character gets captured and beaten up, then escapes from that only to get captured and beaten up by someone else again. The reason they finally give why everyone wants him comes out of nowhere and was never mentioned before. Some of the characters are quite neat but they get underused or forgotten. I guess it kind of reads like someone just toss [...]

If you have reached the end of your cyber-punk bookshelf and need something properly irradiated to take the edge off THIS is one seriously under-represented book. It looks like Richard Kadrey has gone into the fetish photography business in his spare time: (kaosbeautyklinik/) And who can blame him!This book reads like some Sci-Fi Channel show that never was (because they're never as good as you want them to be!), and it delivers like a fully loaded clip of hot lead:Good action, scheming governme [...]

For some reason, I was expecting this one to be more of a tech-geek cyberpunk novel but it's really more of the Post-American era/dystopian cyberpunk novel. It's very good and for being written 22 years ago, the historical and technological extrapolations aren't completely off base yet. I like that it didn't end up with an 'and they all lived happily ever after' ending - that would have killed the book's overall ambiance.I would have given it 5 stars, but it had a couple of formatting errors in [...]

With an admitted heavy nod to Gibson and Sterling, Kadrey's 'Metrophage' is steeped in late 80's chromed-out, Kanji-laden biomorphtastic imagery and visual clichés. They work in the story, but it takes awhile to stop thinking of this as something from the 'Sandman Slim' author.The story some flaws, but is generally enjoyable, and I found the ending a bit convenient and irrelevant as many of the cyberpunk stories I've read. But don't let that stop you, if you want to immerse yourself in a Gibson [...]

loved itamazing sex drugs n rock n roll scifinot sure why many reviewers rate this low, I think it it ranks among the best cyberpunk novels.If I had to put Kadrey into the pantheon of cyberpunk writers I'd say he's the grunge poet of it:- gibson had great ides, but his writing from a poetic perspective is poor- shiner and shirley are very visual and their (short)stories are full of meaning- kadrey is maybe not that academically deep but approaches it from a down to earth, normal man-on-the-stree [...]