The novel “Wetware” by Rudy Rucker was published for the first time in 1984. It won the Philip K. Dick Award. It’s the second book in the ware quadrilogy and is the sequel to “Software“.

In 2030 boppers have further evolved but are confined in their area after the end of the civil war. The Moon is now inhabited mainly by humans but a new drug could change things and allow a new generation of boppers to live on Earth.

The drug called merge allows to create a human-bopper hybrid using a woman as an incubator. It’s Della Taze, niece of Cobb Anderson, the boppers’ creator. The birth of her son Manchile can upset the new balance between humans and boppers with the creation of a generation of what are called meatbops.

“Wetware” is set a decade after the events of “Software” and many things have changed. The faction that wanted boppers to absorb the minds of human beings and other boppers was defeated in the civil war. Among the consequences there was the death of Cobb Anderson, the creator of the boppers, whose mind had been transferred into an artificial body, but also the loss of the domain over the Moon.

At the end of 2030, a new bopper project in motion. The idea is to go beyond hardware and software to create wetware, an organic bopper or meatbop that is the result of a human-bopper hybrid. The ultimate goal is once again to conquer the Earth, in this case through a kind of invasion of meatbops that can operate among humans and use women to breed very quickly.

“Wetware” takes some basic themes of “Software”. The theme of consciousness is still developed, for example by continuing the Cobb Anderson’s story as he’s in a sense brought back to life. His mind had been recorded so even if his bopper body had been destroyed he didn’t die completely.

The theme of drugs becomes more important than in the first novel. In “Wetware” drugs haven’t only recreational purposes but can have profound effects on humans and boppers, so much that the one called merge is used to create Manchile, the first meatbop.

Manchile is used to develop the religious theme of the novel and is a character who has various messianic features. Mystical-religious elements were already present in “Software”, in the second novel they’re further developed as well with the creation of a religion by Manchile with the aim to unite humans and boppers.

“Wetware” is a bit longer than “Software” so again it’s too short to develop all the themes contained. The second novel is even more action-oriented than the first with a pace once again very fast and full of twists.

A step back in “Wetware” is in my opinion in the characters. Cobb Anderson and Sta-Hi, who now calls himself Stahn, the protagonists of “Software”, are back but are almost secondary characters. In this second novel there are many characters and for this reason their development is limited. The consequence is that I found it difficult to connect with them.

In “Wetware” there’s a thematic continuity with “Software” but concerning the story and the characters there’s quite a clear break. This allows to read the second novel without knowing the first one without much trouble even if you lose much of of Cobb Anderson’s story and the bopper’ evolution.

Overall, I found “Wetware” rather chaotic with many events that occur involving each time different characters. Nevertheless, I found the story funny and I like Rudy Rucker’s interpretation of cyberpunk more than William Gibson’s. If you liked “Software” I think you’ll appreciate this sequel as well.