Z/Web

Author: Rudy Rucker

I picked this book up after noticing it was written by a local author (Rucker teaches at San Jose State University). My first impression while reading this book was that it was obviously his first as it’s so poorly written. Sometimes the story moves from one scene to the next at a bewildering rate, and at other times we’re treated to pages of exposition and computer science lectures. I found wading through it tedious at best. What makes it worse is that the plot leaves us in a state of incomprehension until the end of the book when all is revealed. I found these aspects so frustrating I almost didn’t bother finishing the book. When I did a little research into Rucker, I discovered (to my shock) that he’s been writing books since the 1970s! He’s written over twenty books and has actually won writing awards. Maybe I was misjudging him? I went back to the book and ploughed through to the end. The bottom line is that the plot is worth the read, and from a technical perspective, this virtual reality tale is rather ingenious. While I haven’t read other Rucker novels (I might check out one or two), I will concede that perhaps this isn’t badly written as I’d first assumed, it’s just Rucker’s style. Whatever it is, I didn’t like it. The fast-slow, start-stop aspect of the story drove me nuts. For instance, while many tiny things happen in the first 100 pages, it isn’t until page 120 that the main plot point happens: the virtual ants of the title are released onto the digital TV network and cause a massive shutdown and lead to the arrest of the main character. When I got to that point I wanted to continue reading to find out if and how he cleared himself of the charges — but the first 100 pages are just babbling with only a couple scenes crucial to the main plot. I also felt the characters were extremely one dimensional (I guess that’s a pun since the novel deals with virtual reality). While Rucker gives us plenty of detail about the main character’s history, he still feels like a cardboard man. For instance, we know he’s going through a divorce, but we don’t know why. Throughout the novel Rucker throws in stuff to make the character well-rounded, but it feels forced. For example, there are a number of sexual encounters which feel extremely out-of-place (like the hacker sleeping with a woman he met hours earlier — yeah, like that happens to geeks in Silicon Valley). I figured he just put that in so we’d know the guy’s a man.

From a technical perspective Rucker definitely knows his stuff and does a better job explaining futuristic technology than most authors (though his theoretical plot is a little unrealistic), but the bizarre and inconsistent pacing of the book ruined it for me. In the end I liked the plot and resolution, but getting there was not fun (nothing makes sense until the end). I can see why cybergeeks would like this, but most probably haven’t read much real literature and think this is pretty good. I’d give it an average for overall quality, above average for technical details, and a below average for characterization and pacing.