Customer Reviews
Artificial Reality - By: dogbarkssome, 22 Apr 2007 
This is a direct sequel to Cadigan's 'Tea From An Empty Cup', & once again features Police Officer Konstantin investigating a bizarre crimein artificial (ie: virtual) reality, this time involving claims of brainwashing around a casino & a woman who claims to be being stalked by her ex-husband who has swapped places with an aritificial intelligence.
As with 'Tea From An Empty Cup' this is a short but intense science fiction novel, though perhaps a slightly more fluid read as Cadigan dispenses with the split narrative of before to concentrate on building up her main characters for what is now obviously intended to be an open-ended series. It must be admitted that the inconclusive ending - full of hints & insinuations but nothing concrete - isn't hugely satisfying, but then again it's entirelyin keeping with the ongoing theme of the impossibility of knowing what is real & what isn'tin an artificial world. A disorientating but enjoyable read.
complex, intelligent and sometimes difficult... - By: , 09 Jun 2001 
I have to admit to having spent hours hunting down Cadigan titles (backin the days before Amazon existed)... Dervish is Digital follows on from Tea From An Empty Cup & is based around the same main character.
There is a dissonance to Cadigan's prose that comes, I think, from refusing to give her readers what they want - simplicity & straight forward story lines. This makes it difficult for the reader but is also one of Cadigan's strengths. Her books often just end, refusing the easy option of neatness, & while not quite so marked asin TFAEC, Dervish is Digital does this.
I loved this book but then I loved TFAEC & Chief Officer Konstantin is a character I want to see more off & sooner rather than later. Here's to the next one!
Konstantin is back - By: , 07 Jun 2001 Officer Konstantin is head of Technocrime, which sounds good until you realise it's a scuzzy one person department, well, one person & a junior so bad that Konstantin actually *wants* them to keep getting borrowed to work Traffic detail...
Hastings Dervish livesin Key West, a place where crime is a private matter & the police are hired hacks, pretty much doing what they are told...
The joy of Cadigan's work is that it doesn't always make sense, like life, really. Her main character is self destructive, fixated on her ex & not fond of people who go into Artificial Reality with borrowed bodies, particulartly bodies of nine year olds. Which provides a nice little element of bitterness to the fact that the person Konstantin needs to team up with to take down Dervish is a Japanese guy called Goku, who likes going into AR as... (You got it.)
As ever with Cadigan, it's AR not VR, an important distiction & one that makes this much more than recycled cyberpunk.
