Obviously! We already know! 50% of this book doesn't need to switch between Razorface, Mitch, etc's povs in order to tell the really basic story of 'Unitec dumped some tainted drugs onto the street to test them.' Look, I just did it in one sentence! Hell, the characters themselves figure it out in the first few chapters, so I'm confused by how drawn-out it was.

This is only the first book in the trilogy, so perhaps it will gain greater importance later, but as it stood it just provided more proof that Unitec was up to no good. I also don't see why the entire subplot of Razorface, Barb, Mitch, and the tainted Hammer existed. The narrative randomly jumps forward and backward in time, going from three weeks ago in one person's narrative to the present told from Jenny's pov to fifteen years ago.it's needlessly confusing. I'd have preferred a single view point with a single tense than mishmash of every character even tangentially involved getting their own chapters. I generally love in media res, but all the characters made vague statements like 'She wouldn't let him try-not after the last time' and what happened 'last time' is never explained! There are a half dozen different point-of-view characters, and all but two or three of them are unnecessary. This is the first in a trilogy, but there's a lot of backstory to this universe. I really wanted to like this book, but it frustrated me all too often. While her friends trace the drug back to its source, Jenny is coerced into joining a dangerous research project. Then tainted batches of Hammer (the combat drug she was addicted to) pop up on the streets of her home town. Jenny Casey is a war hero, but she's also a middle-aged woman with increasingly debilitating disabilities and a drug habit.

I have already started book two in the series Scardown. I loved the idea of an older woman heroine and just had to read for that reason. What is new and refreshing is the way that Bear tells this story. The time is in the future - 2062 and Global Warming has happened and the world is full of wars about water and land. Officially the Canadian military classes her as a cyborg. The series features a 50 year-old ex-combat soldier with a metal prosthetic arm and eye. The first novel in the 'Jenny Casey' series was great escapist reading. If you liked the Ancillary series read this series. She is Canadian and Canada figures prominently in this series, and I can only say this novel WOWed! me. I did some research and found out Bear has a substantial list of works. I had not heard about Bear until I got a blurb about a new novel by her that is published by TOR. I am on a science fiction reading jag ever since I read the Ancillary series by Ann Leckie. Hammered by Elizabeth Bear is a fine piece of science fiction writing.