Author K. W. Jeter should be given credit for daring to pen a sequel to the motion picture Blade Runner. I don't envy him because he's going to get a lot of heat from fans of this science fiction classic.
Why will Blade Runner aficionados want to "retire" Jeter's book? Largely because Blade Runner 2: The Edge of Human reads like a treatment for a "typical" Hollywood sequel - short on new ideas, heavy on brainless action. Quiet moments like those that made the original film a classic are not only few but irrelevant. Instead, whenever there's a lull, Jeter piles on the action: explosions, gunfire, characters getting busted up real bad.
Set two years after the movie's sequence of events, The Edge of Human follows former blade runner Rick Deckard on his hunt for the mysterious sixth replicant on the streets of LA. (As Blade Runner fans will remember, only five androids were accounted for in the movie.)
Jeter does make one worthy addition to the Blade Runner world - the concept of "templant" humans whose DNA is cloned to make replicants. It's initially intriguing as a logical extension to the movie's premise focusing on replicant technology. Yet, as The Edge of Human unfolds, the templant concept begins to play like a plot contrivance devised to resurrect a significant character who died in the movie. (There's that Hollywood sequel feel again.)
Most irritating is how Jeter keeps missing the entire point of Blade Runner. What made the movie so vital was its exploration of what it means to live in a dehumanized, technological world. The closest The Edge of Human gets to philosophical depth is when characters engage in long, drawn-out discussions about what it means to be human. All you'll want to know is when the next chase sequence starts.
Blade Runner 2: The Edge of Human, by K. W. Jeter: US$21.95 hardcover. Bantam Spectra: +1 (212) 782 9425.
STREET CRED
Engaging GageCream of Beats
Blade Runner Run-On
