Pollen (1995)

On re-read, just as good as ever. Dream-like and disturbing, mind-expanding and gripping. You want to know what happens next to whom, and you want to live in that world. Maybe. ( )

Although this is a sequel to Vurt, it is not a by-the-numbers repeat of that earlier work. This one takes some of the elements that were briefly touched upon and develops them much more comprehensively and we get to learn more of what vurt is and also the diversity of beings that inhabit both worlds. There's pretty much a whole new cast of characters this time around as well. From shadowcops to dog-men and x-cabbers that will take you anywhere you want to go as long as it's on the map and you have the fare.

Coyote, the last of the independent cabbies gets a pickup from one of the places the x-cabbers won't go. Limbo, home to the half-dead, is where he meets Persephone who just wants a ride into the city. But is this young girl more than she seems? The ride doesn't end well for the driver but he's only the first. His body is found with flowers growing out of his throat but when he is probed by Sybil, the shadowcop, it's found that he died with a smile on his face. Not long after there's an infestation of exotic flora that is causing the pollen count to rise to astronomical figures and the hay fever that results is crippling the city's inhabitants. Only those who can't dream are immune to the effects. What's causing it all and why does the chief of police seem to be obstructing the case and working with Columbus, owner of the x-cabbers?

This book could be read as a stand-alone work but I wouldn't really recommend doing so. Some of the concepts here were first introduced in the previous book and I doubt that the reader would gain the understanding without reading Vurt beforehand. Considering this falls under the cyberpunk banner, there isn't a lot of tech or science with the story heading into more fantastical and phantasmagorical ways with the vurt world wanting to expand into the real world. ( )

My favourite Sci Fi book, it brings the realms of many world, visceral, conceptual, hypothetical, atomic, to physicality. Amazing. ( )

Pollen is the sequel to Vurt, and both are concerned with a world in which dreams, drug-induced hallucination and reality become completely intermingled. ( )

http://bookchronicle.wordpress.com/2008/05/10/pollen-by-jeff-noon/ ( )