ORA:CLE is a quirky little proto-cyberpunk novel with a retrofuturistic charm livened by rapid pacing and let down by uneven plotting and characterization. In the late 22nd century, humanity lives under a variety of oppressive threats. First are the Dacs, flying alien invaders who refuse to open negotiations, hunt anyone outdoors, and return attacks against them with massive retaliation. Second is the Coalition, the human umbrella government, which mostly exists to keep fanatics from launching a suicidal attack on the Dacs, and is willing to maintain order by any means necessary. And third is the ongoing climate crisis, which is being remediated by converting all streets into urban forests. Ordinary people spend their lives in giant apartment blocks with failing infrastructure, watching holo-TV, reading news out of computer databanks, tended by remotely operated drones, and surrounded by food and material goods delivered by matter transmitter.

In this world, our narrator ALL80 (Ale for short, there are no names, just 15 character ID codes) is tending his bonsai trees on his balcony when he's attacked by a Dac, despite his supposedly infallible DacWatch sensor. This is just the first of three attempts on Ale's life in about a half day, as the sabotaged sensor is followed by a malfunctioning household appliance turned into a laser rifle, and a sudden transmission of Jovian atmosphere to his apartment that nearly kills his wife Emdy.

Ale is apparently harmless, an expert on 15th-20th century Asia who makes his living as a Computer Linked Expert for the Opinions, Research, and Advice service, an expensive half-computerized, half-human anonymous research service. It turns out that for unexpected reasons, the Coalition wants Ale dead. Fortunately, Wef, the elderly storm refugee he's hosting from Miami is a legendary computer hacker, and just the man to help Ale unravel the mystery before it kills him.

There are plenty of computerized escapades, as Ale and CLEs go up against the Coalition and try and organize what comes next, but also a lot of just... odd writing. Much of the setting info is delivered via hourly top 10 news headlines. Ale barely leaves his apartment, the furthest he gets is the roof helipad, once. A lot of the characterization is at an "attempt was made level", and the political philosophy is ham-handed: Yes, censorship is bad, but it turns out to be good when it's protecting a longterm plot to liberate humanity from the Dacs. Democracy is a farce, and rule by bureaucrat-experts even more farcical. If this novel is intended as a satire, which it might be, it's rather blunt.

Yet there are some grace notes in the setting: two secondary characters are trans, which is marked as a mandatory part of their IDs, and then treated as entirely ordinary by the rest of the characters, which is pretty cool for a novel that came out in 1983. Emdy, Ale's wife, is sometimes frustrating in a a Skyler White 'standing in the way of the plot' sense, but she's definitely more on the ball with just everything compared to her husband (the exceptions being Ale's specialties of Asian history and bonsai), including making deals, solving problems, and scoping out the political situation. I admire the attempt to write a book of action and intrigue where the main character has trouble getting past his own front door. ORA:CLE is very much part of the midlist which sinks rather than rises, but if you like vintage scifi, you'll have a good time. It's mostly that Brunner's The Shockwave Rider handles everything this book does (bar alien invasion) with much more style and insight.