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1995 science fiction novel by K. W. Jeter

Blade Runner 2: The Edge of Human (1995) is a science fiction novel by American writer K. W. Jeter. It is a continuation of both the film Blade Runner and the novel upon which the film was based, Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

Several months after the events depicted in Blade Runner, Deckard has retired to an isolated shack outside the city, taking the replicant Rachael with him in a Tyrell transport container, which slows down the replicant aging process. He is approached by a woman who explains she is Sarah Tyrell, niece of Eldon Tyrell, heiress to the Tyrell Corporation and the human template ("templant") for the Rachael replicant. She asks Deckard to hunt down the "missing" sixth replicant. At the same time, the templant for Roy Batty hires Dave Holden, the blade runner attacked by Leon, to help him hunt down the man he believes is the sixth replicant—Deckard. Deckard and Holden's investigations lead them to re visit Sebastian, Bryant, and John Isidore (from the book Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep? ), learning more about the nature of the blade runners and the replicants. When Deckard, Batty, and Holden finally clash, Batty's super human fighting prowess leads Holden to believe he has been duped all along and that Batty is the sixth replicant, leading to Holden shooting him. Deckard returns to Sarah with his suspicion: there is no sixth replicant. Sarah, speaking via a remote camera, confesses that she invented and maintained the rumor herself in order to deliberately discredit and eventually destroy the Tyrell Corporation because her uncle Eldon had based Rachel on her and then abandoned the real Sarah. Sarah brings Rachael back to the Corporation to meet with Deckard, and they escape. However, Holden, recovering from his injuries during the fight, later uncovers the truth: Rachael has been killed by Tyrell agents, and the "Rachael" who escaped with Deckard was actually Sarah. She has completed her revenge by both destroying Tyrell and taking back Rachael's place.

Rick Deckard: The Tyrell Corporation finally locates him, residing at a cabin in the woods with the frozen Rachael. In exchange for getting Rachael back, Deckard agrees to hunt the missing sixth replicant. Roy Batty: The man which Tyrell used as the template for his combat replicants is in fact a man of considerable instability, suffering from a brain disorder that prevents him from experiencing fear. Sarah Tyrell: The niece of Eldon Tyrell, Sarah locates and hires Deckard to eliminate the final replicant in order to retain her corporation's hold over the market. Dave Holden: Starting off bed ridden after his attack by the replicant Leon, Holden is rescued by Roy who in turn leads him to some startling revelations. J. R. Isidore: A lowly employee of a vet's office, Isidore also works as an underground replicant sympathizer, having made modifications to replicants in order to help them escape detection.

Michael Giltz of Entertainment Weekly gave the book a "C−", feeling that "only hardcore fans will be satisfied by this tale" and saying Jeter's "habit of echoing dialogue and scenes from the film is annoying and begs comparisons he would do well to avoid." Tal Cohen of Tal Cohen's Bookshelf called The Edge of Human "a good book", praising Jeter's "further, and deeper, investigation of the questions Philip K. Dick originally asked", but criticized the book for its "needless grandioseness" and for "rel[ying] on Blade Runner too heavily, [as] the number of new characters introduced is extremely small "

Ian Kaplan of BearCave. com gave the book three stars out of five, saying that while he was "not entirely satisfied" and felt that the "story tends to be shallow", "Jeter does deal with the moral dilemma of the Blade Runners who hunt down beings that are virtually human in every way." J. Patton of The Bent Cover praised Jeter for "[not] try[ing] to emulate Philip K. Dick", adding, "This book also has all the grittiness and dark edges that the movie showed off so well, along with a very fast pace that will keep you reading into the wee hours of the night."

In the late 1990s, Edge of Human had been adapted into a screenplay by Stuart Hazeldine, Blade Runner Down, that was to be filmed as the sequel to the 1982 film Blade Runner. Ultimately neither this script nor the Jeter novel were used for the eventual sequel, Blade Runner 2049, which follows a different story.