Blade Runner 4: Eye and Talon [Import] [Hardcover]

K.W. Jeter (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Victor Gollancz Ltd; 1ST edition (2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0575068655
• ISBN-13: 978-0575068650
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,338,589 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars For Blade Runner completists only, October 9, 2010

By 

steve (DeKalb, IL USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Blade Runner 4: Eye and Talon (Hardcover)

This is K.W. Jeter's third sequel to Blade Runner, and I suspect it will be the last. It has never been published in the USA and is only available via pricey imported copies. I was lucky enough to stumble across a relatively inexpensive copy from an Amazon Marketplace dealer; if I had paid what other copies are selling for, I'd feel much more disappointed than I already am.

Eye and Talon starts strongly, with a female blade runner named Iris getting the puzzling assignment of retrieving Eldon Tyrell's owl (although it was presented as an artificial owl in the film, Iris quickly learns that it was in fact a live owl). She meets a mysterious character named Vogel who possesses some critical inside information and offers to assist her. Some exciting, well-drawn action scenes follow, including a thrilling chase inside the ruins of the Tyrell Corporation's pyramid. Unfortunately, the story quickly runs out of steam after that; the novel ends with 50+ pages of tedious exposition in which the Big Secrets are revealed as slowly as possible.

Jeter also continues a baffling conceit from his previous Blade Runner novel: a director named Urbenton has produced a film of Rick Deckard's adventures called "Blade Runner," which just happens to be identical to Ridley Scott's "Blade Runner." Urbenton is filming this novel's action with hidden cameras and there are occasional "Intercut" chapters showing the production crew at work. This peculiar subplot is little more than a distraction.

I should add that I'm a Jeter fan; I've read all of his novels and I think he's a tremendously talented writer. I consider him the most accomplished writer to emerge from Dick's circle of friends. Unfortunately, Jeter's output is very uneven and his pacing is often maddeningly ponderous. This could have been a far better novel if Jeter had allowed information to emerge from the narrative, rather than having a character spend 50 pages explaining everything. Maybe the author was facing a deadline and just needed to get it done in a hurry.