ssweeny reviewed Metrophage by Richard Kadrey
Metrophage (1988, Ace Books)
Very rough early but there are rewards toward the end if you stick with it.
3 stars
This one was honestly tough to get through. I almost put it down several times. It felt like a tour of cyberpunk tropes as there are several factions (corporations/police, anarchists, drug lords) each trying to control a dirty and dying LA, and the main character just sort of stumbles into each one seemingly without agency and without any real stakes. About 2/3 of the way through, however, my perseverance was rewarded as some actual stakes seemed to coalesce for him, and he began to take control of his story to push through to the end.
