Chapter By Chapter> TekWar chapters 32 & 33

Chapter By Chapter features me reading one chapter of the selected book at a time and reviewing it as if I were reviewing an episode of a TV show or an issue of a comic. There will be spoilers if you haven’t read to the point I have, and if you’ve read further I ask that you don’t spoil anything further into the book. Think of it as read-along book club.

It seems a bit late in the book to lose a member of the cast so the hero can get revenge, but that’s what happened last chapter. Now Jake is not only out for himself but for payback…I’m assuming. That’s usually how these stories work.

As usual, getting close to the end means I’ve run out of things to talk about so let’s just get right into the review. And then as I start reading we have another situation where one chapter flows into another, as well as that second chapter being rather short. So tonight we’re reading two chapters. I swear it’s not me trying to get to the end. I have enjoyed the book for the most part, but that’s how the reading experience is going.

Well, that was exciting. Jake visits Sands in his own place, with his ex-wife sleeping next to him, and forces him to take Jake to the Pleasure Dome to meet Sonny and get by the safeguards. We saw just before this that Jake was about ready to fall back into a Tek stupor, this time with Bethdroid alive and a happy reunion with his son but seeing the craphole area he went to seems to snap him out. I was wrong previously, THIS is where we see the end of his character arc, or at least the aftermath. The scene plays out like a TV show as Jake forces Sands at gunpoint to go through the various checkpoints as well as the areas of the casino. And so finally we meet Sonny Hokori, the big bad Tek lord that has been hinted at so often in the book. Given his personality and history with our hero this should be an interesting conversation.

AND THEN HE’S KILLED OFF IN FIVE @%$$%#$ MINUTES!

What an absolute waste of a build-up! As we transition between chapters, Winterguild and anti-drug agency storm in and practically level the place, cut Sonny’s head off, slice Sands’ arms off and doesn’t allow him pain meds until he talks…I’m not supposed to root against the anti-drug agency! No wonder Jake ended up on Tek because practically everybody around him is a jerk, scumbag, or general a-hole! He has to get around the drug goons and the anti-drug goons to reach an unconscious Dr. Kittridge, so we don’t even get to meet him finally, another shadow poorly utilized. It’s Winterguild who confirms that he had indeed gone bad and that the real Beth escaped because she wanted no part of that. Good on you, Beth! Also, Jake gets to give Winterguild that sock he promised back in the amusement park. That’s two for two, along with Vargas. Sadly we won’t get the same catharsis is Hokori and Sands, the two people most responsible for ruining Jake’s life and characters whose build-up has a terrible payoff. We meet them in one chapter and say goodbye in the second. Sands is going to jail if these “cops” don’t just off him here (not sorry, Kate) and Hokori is already dead.

Sorry, but I feel ripped off by these two chapters. A scene that could have more promise ends in a flash. Maybe if less time was spent bragging about how in the future we are there would have been time to actually make these background villains live up to their promise. Instead they’re here and {poof} no more baddies. I wonder how the last two chapters are going to deal with this, and if they’ll have to be combined like these two were. We’ll find out in our next installment.