Eye and Talon

Blade Runner #3

by K.W. Jeter

Following on from Ridley Scott's vision of Blade Runner, Eye and Talon combines the dark imagery, paranoia, tension and pace of Dick's original novel that takes Iris, one of the best blade runers in the business, into the centre of a terrifying conspiracy.

Genres: Science Fiction, Cyberpunk, Fiction, Dystopia, Novels, Science Fiction Fantasy

236 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Kevin Wayne Jeter (born 1950) is an American science fiction and horror author known for his literary writing style, dark themes, and paranoid, unsympathetic characters. He is also credited with the coining of the term "Steampunk." K. W. has written novels set in the Star Trek and Star Wars universe, and has written three (to date) sequels to Blade Runner.

Series:
* Doctor Adder

Series contributed to:
* Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
* Alien Nation
* Blade Runner
* Star Wars: The Bounty Hunter Wars
* The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror
* The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror

Reviews

[Kin Newman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as good as Blade Runner 2: The Edge of Human, sadly the continuity is shot due to Ridley Scott's Blade Runner: The Final Cut film and Jeter's reliance on the original 1982 film's faults/errors. It's better than 3, and part 4 is incredibly imaginative with paranoid style writing that echoes Philip K Dick.

Jeter knows how to create vivid images, (echoing A.M. Esmonde's Blade Runner-like novel 'The Final Version'), K. W. returns to the vivid world of part 2, The Edge of Human. Iris, a female Blade Runner, puts a spin on the story, which is essentially a side-quel. There are enough twists to keep things interesting (oddly a redo of the original film).

Fans of Jeter's Blade Runner books will enjoy this one, but because of film canon, it's lost its edge. That's not to say that Jeter, as an author, has lost his touch, his writing is great. However, with an ambiguous ending set up for another book, it feels a little moot. Hence why I recommend the aforementioned cyberpunk dystopian novel 'The Final Version' instead.

It's a pity Blade Runner 2: The Edge of Human couldn't be revised to fit Scott's The Final Cut, but we can dream, I suppose. Then again, it would possibly need too many tweaks.

[Guy Ferguson]

The weakest of the three sequels, but I appreciate what was being tried here. And perhaps I was just greedy for more Rick Deckard. The book is entirely about another blade runner further on down the chain. It keeps up the 'what is reality, can you ever trust a memory' meme, but doesn't add a lot to the canon.
I think the revelations in Jeter's 2nd Blade Runner novel, about changes happening out in the limits of the solar system could have been developed here. Instead we return to a noirish detective story with owls and immortality dreams as offshoots. Not up to the quality of his prior novels.
Nonetheless, it's interesting and entertaining, and if your a true Dickian, you know you have to read it regardless.
this is my second read, and I love that a quote I re-quoted in a website over a decade ago came from this book...something along the lines of 'that's how you get hooked, not by the pleasure but by the absence of pain'. KW was on to something with that line, I believe.

[Sydney Mugerwa · Rating 1 out of 5]

For several days I have force-fed myself Eye and Talon by K.W. Jeter and day by day, I found myself caring less and less until finally I couldn't take it anymore! I don't know. Is it just me, or does the story drag as much as I think it does? It was a slow excruciating death by over description. Maybe it's just me who wasn't sold to the author's sci-fi setting and plot progression that I found the whole reading process such a chore. The pace is awful! The style was all jumbled in alien words and description that took away a lot from the story. After a bout of hyperventilation brought about by frustration, I am calling it a day. Not my cup of tea :(

[Mitchan · Rating 1 out of 5]

The whole movie within a movie from #3 is taken to another level and there are pointless INTERCUTS showing us the director and camera men that didn't add anything to the book. Jeter certainly has a good imagination especially regarding the Blade Runner world but it started to feel like a personal exercise in explaining every single plot hole in the original. The characters were forever dancing round subjects and never getting to the point.

[Stardustlyricer · Rating 2 out of 5]

DIE RÜCKKEHR ist "Deckards Weg (The Edge Of Human)" und "Die Nacht der Replikanten (Replicant Night)" von 1995 bzw. 1996 die Heyne 2004 in einem Band herausgebracht hatte. Jeter ist durch seine 1979 veröffentlichte Fortsetzung zu H.G. Wells ZEITMASCHINE "Die Nacht der Morlocks: Die Zeitmaschine kehrt zurück (Morlock Night)" bekannt geworden. Das Buch wird zu den frühen Steampunk-Romanen gezählt, ist aber im deutschen erst 2011 erschienen. Außerdem hat Jeter Romane im Star Wars- und Star Trek-Universum geschrieben. Jeter war ein Freund Philip K. Dicks gewesen, was ihm vielleicht als Autor zu einer Fortsetzung prädestiniert. 2000 ist auch noch ein dritter Roman BLADE RUNNER 4 - THE EYE AND TALON erscheinen, den es nicht im deutschen gibt und selbst im Original out of print ist.
1997 erschien BLADE RUNNER 2 als Hardcover in Deutsch das erste mal beim Haffmans Verlag und 1999 das erste Mal bei Heyne als Taschenbuch. Das Taschenbuch hatte ich dann auch 1999/2000 gelesen und war gelinde gesagt enttäuscht gewesen. Warum? Da komme ich ein wenig später zu. Im letzten Jahr hatte ich das Taschenbuch "Die Rückkehr" ("Die Nacht der Replikanten" ist nie einzeln erschienen) als Mängelexemplar auf dem Grabbeltisch bekommen. Ich hatte erst "Deckards Weg" nochmals gelesen und ihn ein wenig besser gefunden und "Die Nacht der Replikanten" angefangen zu lesen. Allerdings abgebrochen weil mich viele Details geärgert hatten. Nun habe ich den Roman doch zu ende gelesen. Die zweite Hälfte des Buchs ist dann auch besser als die Erste.

Jeter ist bestimmt kein schlechter Autor, aber eben auch kein Philip K. Dick. So wie Jules Verne nicht Poes letzen Roman zu Ende schreiben konnte, weil die Autoren vom STil her zu unterschiedlich waren, sp funktioniert das bei BLADE RUNNER 2 und 3 auch nicht. Außerdem hat Jeter versucht es allen Fans recht zu machen. So wohl den Fans des Buchs als auch denen des Films. Bekannterweise unterscheiden sich beide sehr. Sowohl von der Story her, als auch bei der Ausrichtung der Charaktere. Was zu einigen Konflikten in Jeters Story führt. So hat er sowohl J.R. Isedore als auch J.F. Sebastian, die eigentlich die selbe Figur sind in seine Story eingebaut. Als auch Sarah Tyrell, die Nichte von Eldon Tyrell, die als Vorlage für Rachael galt. Wobei Jeter Sarah den Charakter von Rachael aus dem Buch gab und Rachael im ersten Buch sterben lässt. Pris macht er zu einen Menschen, der sich nur für eine Replikantin hielt. Dave Holden hat er wieder zurück geholt und Die menschliche Vorlage von Roy Batty. Alles keine schlechten Ideen. Bloß die Vermischung der beiden unterschiedlichen Geschichten vom Buch und Film ist sehr grenzwertig. Funktioniert in meinen Augen gar nicht. Außerdem nervt Jeter damit immer wieder mit ständigen Zitaten aus dem Film. So als hätte Deckard kein Leben vor der Jagd nach den 6 Replikanten gehabt. Im BR3 lässt er Deckard sogar in einen Film mitmachen der über seine Jagt nach den Replikanten gedreht wird. Das wirkt meistens alles so konstruiert und an den Haaren herbei gezogen. Viel spannender wäre es gewesen, wenn er sich mehr Gedanken über das Leben Deckards vor der Jagd gemacht hätte. Flashbacks aus seinen Leben und so etwas. Leider hat Jeter diese Chance nicht genutzt. Die Story um Sarah Tyrell hat er dann schon besser hinbekommen. Diese kommt allerdings erst in der zweiten Hälfte des zweiten Romans richtig in Fahrt. Hier hat er eine kleine sehr spannende EVENT HORIZON-Story eingebaut.
Aus dem Grund könnte der dritte Roman von Jeter vielleicht doch ganz interessant sein. Wenn ich da auch nicht mehr so viel erwarten würde. Allerdings bekommt man jenen z.B. bei Amazon z.Z. als Taschenbuch gebraucht für "nur" 30 EUR oder als Hardcover für ab 65 EUR, was ein wenig zu "preiswert" ist. Leider gibt es alle drei Bücher auch nicht als Ebooks. Ich bleibe da lieber erst einmal bei den DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP? Comics.

[Nik · Rating 2 out of 5]

Out of the 3 of Jeter's BR sequels I actually enjoyed this one the most. Following a new Blade Runner on a quest to recover Tyrell's Owl, this felt like a fresh story with less unnecessary gimmickry thrown in to tie it to the original BR movie. This was then let down towards the end of the novel, when yet again Jeter finds any poor excuse to shoe in the original Blade Runner cast and pretty much writes off the whole novel with a tacky resolution. Jeter just seems to be writing for an audience of 12-year olds.

[Lior Korobeynikov · Rating 2 out of 5]

Absolutely bizarre from start to finish if you've read Jeter's first entries to this franchise and while Jeter's writing sure is entertaining at times but I'm not sure it's actually good.

I had a decent time with this book but I don't really know if I can recommend it

[Jonathan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember seeing the movie form of this book in the ninth grade. I wasn't very clear on the movie because I wasn't really watching it closely but happened to get a good idea about what it was about. The story seemed interesting because it is about the future, robots and fighting. The story takes place on earth but there has been colonization of the planet Mars. There also appears to be differences among society in this book. Animals are very rare and there are more services and technologies.
The main plot revolves around Rick, a wierd character in himself. He is a bit quiet but commands respect because of his ability as a bounty hunter. Rick's job is to hunt and kill androids, which are essentially robots. These robots are hard to kill because they look like humans and some even share common traits. The reason for destroying them is not very clear because it doesn't appear as if the robots are doing any thing wrong.
The book is high paced but it is a little hard to understand because of the new world that is talked about. The major themes include love and the breakage of division.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not the best book in the series and definitely not KW Jeter's best work. It revisits too many of the locations and specific scenes from the movie. So much so that it just feels like a way to capitalize on the cult following of the film and make a quick buck. I don't like making that accusation because I am generally a fan of Mr. Jeter and his work, especially Dr. Adder, Farewell Horizontal, and The Bounty Hunter Wars Trilogy. KW Jeter is an incredibly imaginative writer and while there are some fantastic ideas in this novel, it doesn't live up to his earlier work. The Blade Runner film itself and the owl seen in the movie play major roles here. The main character, Iris, is stubborn and not very bright with a short fuse. The most interesting twists appear in the middle third of the book. The Vogel and Carsten characters wear on the reader much as they do Iris. The final third of the book drags on as it attempts to discredit and disprove everything set forth in the film. The previous novel, Blade Runner 3: Replicant Night, was much more enjoyable.

[Chris Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't understand why this title was not picked up for North American publication through Bantam (publishers of BR 2 & 3). Eye and Talon was hands down the best of Jeter's Blade Runner series.

We are introduced to new characters, most specifically Iris the new Blade Runner and lead character, and situations that spin out of the established world of Blade Runner, but offer so many new twists and turns along the way to keep what could esentially be a rehash of the world fresh and new.

I will not go into too much detail regarding the overall plot and story, in case there are others who have not yet read the book, aside from advising to hang on. The story takes its time unravelling, and there are numerous confusing points set up throughout the story, however the pay off at the end is worth the wait.

Eye and Talon is left such that there should have been a Book 5 (Book 4 of Jeter's series) in the Blade Runner series which would bring both the existing world and the "expanded" world together. Unfortunate all around that this never happened.

[Larry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm going to describe this as brilliant but with some flaws.
Jeter has really nailed Philip K Dick's amphetamine-fueled paranoid writing style
and at times I really felt like I was reading PKD.
There were a couple of interesting twists on the Blade Runner story here.
Some decent action in the first half but then the story gets mired down in several large
expository lumps in the second half.
I found the Jim Thompson ending ambiguous and unsatisfying, like the author made his
point about what was REALLY going on in Blade Runner and lost interest in telling the story
about his protagonist.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

The sequel to the sequel of the sequel?
Again, nothing to do with the original Philip K. Dick book, Do Androids Dream of Electric sheep and nothing is really added to the Blade Runner mytho.
Basically just a well-writen repetition (hick-up?) of the movie and sequel #2 & 3.
Fodder for the fans that just can't get enough, I guess.

[Jonathan Davison · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is the third sequel to Blade Runner. It's best to see the movie first before you read Blade Runner 2, 3 and 4 novel sequel

[Travis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh, vaguely interesting, but ultimately unsatisfying...

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really worth reading. Wish they had done another book after this one.