Interesting, but ultimately frustrating.

books:


	• The Difference Engine (Spectra Special Editions) William Gibson Spectra, 1992 - 448 pages view larger image
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Interesting, but ultimately frustrating.

I found this a rather difficult read. Not that I didn't understand it or that the language was hard to follow, but the narrative structure was frustrating as all get-out. I wanted to see how the different storylines melded together, and there was very, very little of this. In the last 50 pages you got to see how everything tied in, but it was too little, too late.

An interesting read, but ultimately frustrating. One ends up wondering what it was all *for*.

Not Free SF Reader

Alternate computing history.

The novel looks at what happens to politics and society if Babbage's machines became used in common situations.

Throw political intrigue and espionage into the mix, and even with all this, the novel unfortunately still manages to be boring, as it appers to really suit neither author, at all.

2.5 out of 5

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Very good book

This book is a definite landmark book, full of good ideas, but it isn't the wonder everyone seems to think it is. Disjointed storytelling in places, a few sex scenes, a bit draggy in the middle and end, but still an interesting book.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

A collaborative novel from the premier cyberpunk authors, William Gibson and Bruce Sterling. Part detective story, part historical thriller, The Difference Engine takes us not forward but back, to an imagined 1885: the Industrial Revolution is in full and inexorable swing, powered by steam-driven, cybernetic engines. Charles Babbage perfects his Analytical Engine, and the computer age arrives a century ahead of its time.

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