Cyberpunk glitz and biotechnology blend with warped Eastern mysticism in Alexander Besher's loosely linked "Rim" sf series. This began with Rim, set in 2027, and continued with Mir--one of whose bizarre inventions was sentient tattoos. By the time of Chi it's 2038 and the world is even weirder. Vast bootlegging operations deal in chi, a life- force energy that can be technomagically sucked from unwilling victims and used to give rich addicts enhanced intelligence, great sex and even "short-time immortality". Meanwhile hackers break into Nature's equivalent of Internet, whose central node is a tree in Indonesia that channels telepathic e-mail to apes and others--including, of course, "win a million bananas" spams. Orang-utans are surgically and genetically remodelled into surrogate children for an increasingly infertile world: the human/ape species barrier is crumbling. A mysterious and decidedly offbeat variety of global spiritual transformation is threatened. Besher mixes surreal comedy, a spice of gruesomeness, and enough weird SF ideas for half a dozen books. (Under-shell deodorant for snails? Good grief.) The plot is a wild roller-coaster ride that ends with several loose threads and a shaggy-dog punchline. Great fun, but Chi promises slightly more than it delivers. -- David Langford

2003-02-04 Full of interesting characters and concepts

I picked up this book by chance and reading the reviews afterwards I wished I hadn't. I didn't realise it was the third book in a series and I hadn'd read the previous two books.

There was no need for me to worry as the book stands on its own. It is full of interesting if somewhat over-the-top characters.
It combines a number of 70's scientific curio's together for a tapestry that according to the book represents natures global wireless network complete with routers and search engines.

I found the book a good read but I don't think I'll be reading any of the others. 3.5 stars