Hot-Wired Dodo (#3)

I enjoyed the first two books of the trilogy. I found this last one a bit more fantastic than what had come before. It almost moved into Piers Anthony territory, but without the puns. Yes, we encounter "realities" (Everything you think you know is wrong) where not just politics and technological evolution are different, but the "human" species has evolved differently, too. Fun to play with these speculative worlds, but not as entrancing (for me) as the ones that more nearly paralleled _this_ world. And yes, the reader finally gets the Holy Grail in this novel, but is it really anything more than just another cup? It doesn't matter, the quest was a lot of fun. We even got a bit of character development in the process. The worst thing about this book is how hard it is to get ahold of. It took me three months to track one down. If you're contemplating reading the trilogy (a worthwhile endeavor), then make certain you have a copy of this book in your hands before you begin!

Actually, Chalker manages to incorporate his favourite themes: that stagnation leads to Hell, his fascination with how much power corrupts, and what some call an obsession with transformation. If nothing else, his "first world" in this book brilliantly analyses what would happen if women really did have power. David Brin did an equally good (albeit different) job, and few others have avoided the standard clichés. As a conclusion to his most paranoid trilogy, the book is brilliant, up to the last chapter. Fans of the late Phil Dick (of whom I am one) should recognise it as the last chapter of Dick's own book UBIK. This lack of originality nonetheless fits in with one of the most paranoid trilogies I have ever read.

This is fantastic stuff. I read through the whole series very quickly, always wanting to see what happened next. Chalker is a great storyteller, with excellent character development and retroactive exposition that will continue after you have finished the book, while you wonder just what the "real" reality is. BTW, I think "The Matrix" _did_ steal heavily from this series.

I really enjoyed both this book and the series in general. It has been yet another fine work by Chalker, although, like most of his works, it quickly becomes very confusing if you aren't paying attention. Or sometimes if you are. I would have liked a better ending, but it was, at least, appropriate.