Sound Off in the Forum    Book cover art by Stephen Youll.
Review © 2004 by Thomas M. Wagner.  Crache is a stand-alone
novel set in the same biopunk future as Mark Budz' debut Clade.
Color me disappointed. I just never got deeply involved in the
story, and for the most part, I attribute this to Budz' style-
heavy prose. He writes this tale in present tense, which I've
said before always calls attention to itself in a way that
almost always takes me out of the story. Just as you are not
supposed to notice such things as editing when you watch a
movie, when reading a book you should not notice the author's
writing. Also, Budz tries out an ensemble cast for Crache,
whereas Clade was anchored by a traditional protagonist. Sadly,
none of the characters is particularly well-developed; at least,
not to a point where they came alive for me and engendered my
sympathy and involvement. Bummer. I was really looking forward
to this one.  Though Crache isn't a direct sequel to Clade,
readers who haven't read that book may h