The Difference Engine (Gollancz S.F.)
‘A visionary steam-powered heavy metal fantasy. Gibson and Sterling create a high-Victorian virtual reality of extraordinary richness and detail’ Ridley Scott, creator of ALIEN
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Review by M. R. N. Shackelford for The Difference Engine (Gollancz S.F.)
(5 / 5)
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This is a story of how things might have been if the brilliant Charles Babbage had succeeded in creating his Computer (the Difference Engine) – all brass cogs, gears and thundering steam.
William Gibson (whose other books such as the stunning Neuromancer et al. are quite different) and Bruce Sterling have expanded this idea and peopled a reinvented Victorian Age with real names in new situations.
As someone who often thinks he would have liked to have been a Victorian (if only they had had more technology) this book is just perfect. I have now read it three times – and still thought it was excellent on the third time round.
Do not expect anything similar to Gibson’s other sci-fi or else you will be disappointed. If, on the other hand you really enjoyed Neal Stephenson’s (similar-ish) “Diamond Age” – then “The Difference Engine” is the book for you.
Review by for The Difference Engine (Gollancz S.F.)
(5 / 5)
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This book is the best `alternative history’ novel, and one of the best SF novels I have read so far. The authors did their homework before writing this book; the atmosphere, the historical details and the psychology of the 19th-century characters are utterly credible, as is the science. I had no problem with the numerous digressions from the main storyline; they thoroughly immerse you into the culture of the time – or the alternative culture that might have been.I’m a great fan of Baxter, who also has stories in which some discoveries or inventions are made “too early”, but those lack the feeling of authenticity The Difference Engine manages to generate. There should be more books like this.
Review by for The Difference Engine (Gollancz S.F.)
(4 / 5)
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I bought this at a book shop a while ago on the title alone, and I thought it was worth it.
If you know a little about Babbage and are intruiged by the potential his (uncompleted) machines had, I think you can really imagine the world this book depicts. Not just the mechanics of Babbages creations and their offspring, but the mechanics of society which has evolved along with them. Two merged Revolutions, both Industrial and Informational.
I also found the story to be interesting, but excuse me if I rave about the setting it is in most of all.
Review by Nicholas Lees for The Difference Engine (Gollancz S.F.)
(2 / 5)
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The Difference Engine is a seminal work of steampunk by the two writers who did most to create cyberpunk as a genre and an aesthetic. In an alternate history, Babbage succeeded in perfecting his mechanical computer and the resulting technological revolution has supercharged the British Empire. The changes that wracked the C19th century are even more extreme in this timeline, with Lord Byron and his Radicals having eliminated the landed aristocracy, the 13 colonies in America subject to brutal divide and rule, and British naval power catalysed by analytic-artillery. Nonetheless, disorder lurks beneath the surface, and shadowy figures plot revolution…
With such a set-up, what could possibly go wrong? Indeed, much doesn’t. There are delightfully grimy depictions of London life, riveting action scenes, an extraordinary number of clever allusions to political, social and scientific history (of which I probably missed the vast majority), and some great set-piece scenes, such as the coal powered ‘car’ race. Unfortunately, the plot as a whole is a mess. Events orbit around a set of punch-card for an analytical engine, a classic MacGuffin if ever there was one. But these threads never resolve in anything like a satisfactory way. This is something that most Gibson novels threaten to do, but he is normally able to bring everything together by the end. The authors attempt to justify the arbitrariness of the plot through frequent allusions to chaos theory, non-linear and seemingly random relations between events. Unfortunately, this is not only unsatisfactory as a plot device, it very much dates the book in the 1990s, as do the allusions to Michel Foucault and his idea of the panopticon.
I did enjoy most parts of the book on their own terms, but I came away feeling disappointed. Perhaps the authors should have abandoned the idea of having a single narrative and instead written the book as a series of interconnected vignettes. In any case, this is a fantastically creative work of imagination and world building, but is somewhat disappointing as a work of fiction.
Review by S. Horrigan for The Difference Engine (Gollancz S.F.)
(3 / 5)
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I found this book on my bookshelves when rearranging my fairly large collection of books recently and I did not remember reading it.
As I was looking for something new to read I decided to read it.
It seems that on my first try I probably read about 100 pages of the book and then gave up! It is very rare for me not to finish a book no matter how bad it is, so I was determined to finish it this time.
To be honest this book isn’t terrible, but neither is it particularly good.
The alternative history is nicely done with believable “steampunk” technology and a very nicely envisioned version of an alternative Victorian London.
However, the story is a different matter. Even at the end of the book I did not really know who were the good guys and who were the bad guys or even why they may have been good or bad!
I would not go as far as to say that the book was a waste of time, as I did enjoy some parts, but I doubt I will be reading this again.