Published by Spectra Special Editions, 1992, softcover, 430 pages, condition: as new.
Part detective story, part historical thriller, The Difference Engine is the first collaborative novel by two of the most brilliant and controversial science fiction authors of our time. Provocative, compelling, intensely imagined, it is a startling extension of Gibson's and Sterling's unique visions - in a new and totally unexpected direction!
This book is pure brilliance. As all the other Gibson books I have read, the ending kind of.. dissolves into mist, leaving you with questions and giving you a lot of room to imagine and pursue ideas -this being a very positive thing, actually. I think Sterling's style gave Gibson a grounding tug, so the whole ending chapter is about closure, something Gibson doesn't always work well with, but this one made me go back and forth to refresh character, and I had wikipedia open to read the biographies of the historical characters I didn't know. This historical knowledge wasn't necessary to understand the story -I did most of the reading in ignorance, and it didn't deter from the storytelling- but knowing it gave a lot of details more depth, or made them ironic, or.. I don't know. Richer, is the word I'm looking for, I guess.
The story itself, a detective story of sorts, is full of strange details -since the era of technology came to happen 100 years before it's time, you get progress along with all the social changes that 1800s faced -the abolition of slavery, the rise of communist ideology, Japan meeting the western world- and the askew vision of the world, with all the differences big and small, make it all strange but still familiar. The interweaving stories don't weave as well as Gibson usually makes them weave, but it's also a lot more linear than his other books. I'm going to look for Bruce Sterling's work, I'm curious to see how he writes and how they influences each other.
In the end, Lady Ada's lecture about open systems made me soar with joy and... possibilities. I dreamed about the book the whole night after I finished it, I talked about it with everyone willing to put up with me talking about s and the nature of consciousness, and I had all around a fantastic time reading this.
