Book Review: "The Difference Engine" by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling

[crankyoldman]

Finished reading my second of three books (and possibly more, but I only have to read three) for the herding cats reading challenge this weekend, mostly because I had no electricity to distract me. A thoroughly steampunk alternate history novel, which basically links several of my great loves in one tight package. Recced by wallwalker.



Alright, so it was a bit of a jolt to my system, as I haven't read anything set before 1900 in quite some time (I KNOW! HORRIBLE!), which is a shame. Once I got over the culture (which was rather disparaging to a variety of people who were not white men) as you have to do with things set in history, I rather enjoyed most of this book. The book is divided between three different main character perspectives, the largest section being given to Dr. Edward Mallory, who is a paleontologist or as they put it savant and adventurer sort. The beginning follows Sybil, who, once you get past the tiresome "fallen woman" motif is actually rather clever and I felt bad that her part was cut so short and had a certain focus. The last is Laurence Oliphant, who became my personal favorite despite having the shortest section. He also happens to be a Real Person, more or less (as much as any of the historical figures are).

There is... there is a lot in this book and if you don't have any sort of background in Industrialization or technology and mathematical histories, you might get a bit lost. I spent the past semester studying a lot of these topics and even I found myself having to look up things a couple times. This doesn't mess with the pacing of the story, oddly, I am just a completist that hates feeling like I'm missing something. It wasn't bogged down in technobabble either, and what was described seems workable and logical enough to be seen. The politics are insane, but that's what makes it Alternate History, really, for the technologies are merely a result of the social crazyness. I was particularly fond of the touch with Manhattan being some Socialist island, with Marx chillin' out there. No, really. I'm not kidding. There were Communists, which is Always Welcome.

Really, if you hate history, you'll dislike this book. Especially considering where the plot ends up. Though, I say you should learn to like history, lest you try to invade Russia in the winter. But I digress.

My only criticism of the book is the ending was too... I had to look it up on wikipedia to figure out just what the hell happened. Once I was aware what happened, I liked it, but it was a bit vague and abrupt for my liking. And if you can't stomach your history (alternate or no) un-whitewashed, then you'll not like that. I personally rather like that, as it reminds me that people are fallible and that progress while nifty and cool also tends to screw over certain people. But despite these negatives, the book had a strangely... optimistic feel? Especially when looking through Dr. Mallory's viewpoint (I also liked him quite a bit for strange reasons). It's kind of humbling for me, as someone that sometimes cannot see the computer for the circuits, so to speak.

Main reasons you should read this:

- Alternate history is fun and you may learn something! No really!

- Steampunk is wicked cool and far less dreary than Cyberpunk on the whole (though I still love Cyberpunk)

- The plot and characters are interesting, which is sometimes hard to find in "techie" fiction

I think I may have to read more of Gibson's work, as that was quite satisfying, if confusing.

~Cendri

Comments

[t3h-w0lfy.livejournal.com]

Sounds interesting. I might have to check it out...