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davidgillette's review against another edition
3.0
God. Sterling is obviously a genius. Schismatrix is packed with awesome ideas. The universe is extremely, extremely cool. I would write fanfic in this world. I think the short stories are better in the sense that they're more fun to read. "Swarm" and "Spider Rose" are absolute classics, with nice little plots that tie bows around everything at the end. "Twenty Evocations" is awesome.
The novel, though, drags a bit. I think it's important to read if you want to get into the mechanics of SF ideation, because it does that so fruitfully and well, but it's all a bit dreary. Which might be a necessary part of living hundreds of years in space. I dunno.
The aliens are basically too cool for words. I love the Fortuna Miners' Democracy. The Geisha Bank is a perfect, crazy, SF idea, complete with a weird obsession with prostitution (not that it doesn't make sense; the sex standard is a hell of a lot more sensible than the gold standard). I love the nonsensical Shaper/Mechanist divide and totally buy it. I would be a Shaper. The decay and desolation is all fantastic. The names are awesome: Abelard Tyler Lindsay! All that being said, though, I never thought that Sterling really developed his characters as he should have. He time-jumps through the interesting relationship development between Lindsay and Nora. And the supposedly epic conflict between Constantine and Lindsay never got under my skin like it should have. Plus, there's some meaningless cyberpunk violence (rather like regular meaningless SF/adventure violence, but bleaker—see The Dark Knight). So, yeah. An epic, important, terribly well-done book that I didn't enjoy reading a whole lot and now skim mainly to go, "Yeah, awesome," without thinking about the actual story too much. Intergrate plot, character, and ideas/worldbuilding, you sacks of dicks!
(No disrespect to Mr. Sterling. You're a mad genius and can kill me with your brain.)
The novel, though, drags a bit. I think it's important to read if you want to get into the mechanics of SF ideation, because it does that so fruitfully and well, but it's all a bit dreary. Which might be a necessary part of living hundreds of years in space. I dunno.
The aliens are basically too cool for words. I love the Fortuna Miners' Democracy. The Geisha Bank is a perfect, crazy, SF idea, complete with a weird obsession with prostitution (not that it doesn't make sense; the sex standard is a hell of a lot more sensible than the gold standard). I love the nonsensical Shaper/Mechanist divide and totally buy it. I would be a Shaper. The decay and desolation is all fantastic. The names are awesome: Abelard Tyler Lindsay! All that being said, though, I never thought that Sterling really developed his characters as he should have. He time-jumps through the interesting relationship development between Lindsay and Nora. And the supposedly epic conflict between Constantine and Lindsay never got under my skin like it should have. Plus, there's some meaningless cyberpunk violence (rather like regular meaningless SF/adventure violence, but bleaker—see The Dark Knight). So, yeah. An epic, important, terribly well-done book that I didn't enjoy reading a whole lot and now skim mainly to go, "Yeah, awesome," without thinking about the actual story too much. Intergrate plot, character, and ideas/worldbuilding, you sacks of dicks!
(No disrespect to Mr. Sterling. You're a mad genius and can kill me with your brain.)
krispijn's review against another edition
3.0
Nice cyberpunk novel, though the shorter stories that are part of the "Plus" in the title are more interesting.
bibliophagic's review against another edition
1.0
Sterling's novels are surprisingly devoid of innovation or vivid imagery. I really enjoyed his short stories in [b:Globalhead|359382|Globalhead|Bruce Sterling|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg|962290], which were often funny and full of big ideas. Schismatrix' prose is wooden, and he takes an awfully long time doing awfully little to explore an admittedly false dichotomy between the Shaper and Mechanist factions while never bothering to explain why there exists such an ideological conflict between the two. It's also worth mentioning that here, as well as in his [b:Holy Fire|359390|Holy Fire|Bruce Sterling|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1267328061s/359390.jpg|349510], Sterling's writings on the implications (physiogical and psychoemotional) of extending the human lifespan are better explored in [a:Nancy Kress|21158|Nancy Kress|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1232323985p2/21158.jpg]'s [b:Beggars in Spain|68333|Beggars in Spain (Sleepless, #1)|Nancy Kress|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170689499s/68333.jpg|1813234].
tintededges's review against another edition
3.0
Check out my full review at https://tintededges.com/2017/09/25/schismatrix-plus/
fishsauce's review against another edition
2.0
There is so much here that there is nothing here at all.
dr_ju's review against another edition
4.0
[somewhere at the bottom of a well]
"Steve! Steve, wake up! Come on, Steve, we got work to do. Steve!"
"Senhor, is that you shouting? It's two in the morning. I was sleeping. Who died, where is burning?"
"Nonsense, Steve. It's two in the midnight. Come, we have work to do. We're back in business, I have a review to write and you're staring in it. I'll tell you the plan on the way, come, come."
"Senhor, you're an asshole."
"I know it, the Queen gave me a medal for it, that's why I'm a sir."
[next evening]
A May rabbit rabbit rabbit walks into a bar. The shocked bartender asks:
"My god, what happ-"
"Sim perguntas, Decim. The reviewer deludes himself he's a Shaper artist."
"Oh, come on, Steve. Just play your part. I should have left you on that Jalapeño pirate ship. Decim, come drink with us on the table. I've just read this book, Schismatrix Plus, got some notes from it and I want us to discuss it so I can make a review."
"I had read it too, a long time ago, don't remember much from it, save for the cockroach tequilas I still make from time to time."
"I'll have one of those, if I may. Senhor is paying."
"Alright, the general impression: this book is a basket full of goodies the writer took a piss on then ejected into space."
"Isn't this a bit harsh? I know it has an experimental structure, but it was meant as a cyberpunk experiment."
"This is no excuse for the characters he came up with. It felt like I was in a shady oriental open bazaar. Weird characters and entities popping up everywhere begging for your attention, promising you services you didn't even knew existed, behaving strangely (one was walking on his nose hairs instead of his feet) for in the end you discover you got pickpocketed, your trousers are on, but your underpants are gone."
"I never was a fan of cyberpunk, it feels so artificial. Fantasy feels real, I accept talking dragons, but ordinary people being familiar with basic principles of physics and chemistry? That's fake all day. They rather gargle water a beardy mad guy blessed to cure cancer, than actually seek medical care."
"Scientists say all particles vibrate. Does this mean vibrators are particle accelerators?"
"That's not how it works. The closest particle accelerator you're going to use is your microwave oven. You can make popcorn and fly in space with sublight speed in less than 2.5 minutes. I told you that crate of second-hand sex toys was a bad investment. Read this book, genetically engineered prostitutes are the future."
"Speaking of popcorn, I find it interesting how in these cyberpunk novels the human race is augmenting itself with drugs, hormones, prosthetics, jumps from one fashion to another, from an extreme to another, they are restless, eager to accede another state of mind, yet politically they behave the same for thousands of years."
"Maybe it's politics that defines humanity. Bad politics that is."
" The book itself it's lacking a direction, a certain plan, a fluent story, some characters to love and others to hate. I wish the main character wasn't so over sexualized, or maybe this is due to the drugs."
"What drugs, the ones mentioned as aphrodisiacs are good only to dye your eggs."
"Steve, don't dye your Easter eggs with aphrodisiacs, please. You also have vasopressin which is %$*@& and *@&_)#(. At some point I found
TCGAGGCTATCGTAGCTAAAGCTCTCCCGATCGATATCGTCTCGAGATCGATCGATGC-TTAGCTAGCTAGTTGTCGA TCGTAGGGCTCGAGCTA
And I was really excited to decode it hoping there was a secret message hidden in it. There isn't, but then it is too short to even mean something else than a string."
"So is your life."
"Decim, I thought you got rid of that annoying talking goat."
"It isn't a goat, it's an alien that calls himself the Swarm."
"Makes perfect sense. Then I'm left with all these ideas that floats into a void which is the story, ideas that revolves around the fact that we are a primitive society and will always be because it's in our design and the fact that the threat of death is bigger for the happy ones."
"Let's not forget about the obsession with bacteria, mold and microorganisms."
"Speaking about molds, I'd have another beer. And a cockroach tequila for Steve. In the end I just hope this book will serve as inspiration for writers such as Al Reynolds and expect nothing more from it in terms of a story. About the ideas I've noted, we'll talk when you get back with the drinks."
"Steve! Steve, wake up! Come on, Steve, we got work to do. Steve!"
"Senhor, is that you shouting? It's two in the morning. I was sleeping. Who died, where is burning?"
"Nonsense, Steve. It's two in the midnight. Come, we have work to do. We're back in business, I have a review to write and you're staring in it. I'll tell you the plan on the way, come, come."
"Senhor, you're an asshole."
"I know it, the Queen gave me a medal for it, that's why I'm a sir."
[next evening]
A May rabbit rabbit rabbit walks into a bar. The shocked bartender asks:
"My god, what happ-"
"Sim perguntas, Decim. The reviewer deludes himself he's a Shaper artist."
"Oh, come on, Steve. Just play your part. I should have left you on that Jalapeño pirate ship. Decim, come drink with us on the table. I've just read this book, Schismatrix Plus, got some notes from it and I want us to discuss it so I can make a review."
"I had read it too, a long time ago, don't remember much from it, save for the cockroach tequilas I still make from time to time."
"I'll have one of those, if I may. Senhor is paying."
"Alright, the general impression: this book is a basket full of goodies the writer took a piss on then ejected into space."
"Isn't this a bit harsh? I know it has an experimental structure, but it was meant as a cyberpunk experiment."
"This is no excuse for the characters he came up with. It felt like I was in a shady oriental open bazaar. Weird characters and entities popping up everywhere begging for your attention, promising you services you didn't even knew existed, behaving strangely (one was walking on his nose hairs instead of his feet) for in the end you discover you got pickpocketed, your trousers are on, but your underpants are gone."
"I never was a fan of cyberpunk, it feels so artificial. Fantasy feels real, I accept talking dragons, but ordinary people being familiar with basic principles of physics and chemistry? That's fake all day. They rather gargle water a beardy mad guy blessed to cure cancer, than actually seek medical care."
"Scientists say all particles vibrate. Does this mean vibrators are particle accelerators?"
"That's not how it works. The closest particle accelerator you're going to use is your microwave oven. You can make popcorn and fly in space with sublight speed in less than 2.5 minutes. I told you that crate of second-hand sex toys was a bad investment. Read this book, genetically engineered prostitutes are the future."
"Speaking of popcorn, I find it interesting how in these cyberpunk novels the human race is augmenting itself with drugs, hormones, prosthetics, jumps from one fashion to another, from an extreme to another, they are restless, eager to accede another state of mind, yet politically they behave the same for thousands of years."
"Maybe it's politics that defines humanity. Bad politics that is."
" The book itself it's lacking a direction, a certain plan, a fluent story, some characters to love and others to hate. I wish the main character wasn't so over sexualized, or maybe this is due to the drugs."
"What drugs, the ones mentioned as aphrodisiacs are good only to dye your eggs."
"Steve, don't dye your Easter eggs with aphrodisiacs, please. You also have vasopressin which is %$*@& and *@&_)#(. At some point I found
TCGAGGCTATCGTAGCTAAAGCTCTCCCGATCGATATCGTCTCGAGATCGATCGATGC-TTAGCTAGCTAGTTGTCGA TCGTAGGGCTCGAGCTA
And I was really excited to decode it hoping there was a secret message hidden in it. There isn't, but then it is too short to even mean something else than a string."
"So is your life."
"Decim, I thought you got rid of that annoying talking goat."
"It isn't a goat, it's an alien that calls himself the Swarm."
"Makes perfect sense. Then I'm left with all these ideas that floats into a void which is the story, ideas that revolves around the fact that we are a primitive society and will always be because it's in our design and the fact that the threat of death is bigger for the happy ones."
"Let's not forget about the obsession with bacteria, mold and microorganisms."
"Speaking about molds, I'd have another beer. And a cockroach tequila for Steve. In the end I just hope this book will serve as inspiration for writers such as Al Reynolds and expect nothing more from it in terms of a story. About the ideas I've noted, we'll talk when you get back with the drinks."
dan1066's review against another edition
3.0
This is one fascinating but frustrating novel. The Sterling sociology lesson is in full swing, but between his many treatises there is a sort of plot about a solar system torn in two by the genetically altered (Shapers) and the technically life-enhanced ("Mechanists"). They wage a political war and perform dirty deeds for the entire length of the book, meeting an alien race along the way. The main character, Abelard Malcolm Tyler Lindsey, survives the ages and finally just drifts off as an entity (a la Dave Bowman). There is a fascination to this novel--there are beautiful passages and interesting ideas, but this is hard-core Sterling and not at all an easy read.
mburnamfink's review against another edition
5.0
This is it. This is my very favorite book, one of the immortal classics of 20th century science fiction, and a work that is as live and thrilling as the first time I read it.
Sterling captures the epic of sweep of posthuman history, following Abelard Lindsay, diplomat, playwright, scholar, defector, through centuries of adventures across the vast expanse of the solar system. Space-faring humanity has been blown apart by their technology, drifting into the major camps of the cybernetically enhanced Mechanists and the genetically altered Shapers. The two sides engage in constant covert war, pushing at the very limits of what it means to be a cohesive human community, and evolving towards something as far beyond humanity as life is beyond dead matter.
Against this incredibly imaginative cosmological speculation, Sterling tackles very grounded questions. How do much do we love? How much do we hate? Can we be freely redefined, or are some things (ideals, scars, destinies) fixed? How can we measure ambition, power, accomplishment, the value of a life? This book, with the novel and handful of Shaper/Mechanist short stories included, is Sterling's masterpiece-the high voltage work of an author at the top of his game. Read it.
***
Updated for Jan 8, 2017: Still perfect.
Sterling captures the epic of sweep of posthuman history, following Abelard Lindsay, diplomat, playwright, scholar, defector, through centuries of adventures across the vast expanse of the solar system. Space-faring humanity has been blown apart by their technology, drifting into the major camps of the cybernetically enhanced Mechanists and the genetically altered Shapers. The two sides engage in constant covert war, pushing at the very limits of what it means to be a cohesive human community, and evolving towards something as far beyond humanity as life is beyond dead matter.
Against this incredibly imaginative cosmological speculation, Sterling tackles very grounded questions. How do much do we love? How much do we hate? Can we be freely redefined, or are some things (ideals, scars, destinies) fixed? How can we measure ambition, power, accomplishment, the value of a life? This book, with the novel and handful of Shaper/Mechanist short stories included, is Sterling's masterpiece-the high voltage work of an author at the top of his game. Read it.
***
Updated for Jan 8, 2017: Still perfect.
lsneal's review against another edition
2.0
The only reason I finished this book is because it was my job and I was being paid to do it. I run a SFF book club for my library, and I try to come up with cogent questions to start the discussion and keep it moving if there are ever any lulls (which happens rarely, in a group of smart and opinionated SFF fans), but these were literally the first two questions I came up with to share with the group:
1. WHAT HAPPENED
2. LITERALLY WHAT IS ANYONE’S DRIVING PHILOSOPHY OR MOTIVATION
I agree wholeheartedly with another review that called this book under-theorized, but with sharp descriptions. The problem is, the descriptions go nowhere. None of the factions and why they are fighting are ever explained in any coherent way, and the main character is a bit of a feckless Gary Stu. It also suffers from that common yet unpleasant trope of its time, wherein the most amazing thing is that the hero manages to accomplish anything at all, what with all the Space Babes throwing themselves at him and demanding he make the sex with them IMMEDIATELY upon meeting him. These women are then usually killed off, to spur the hero on to further righteous accomplishment (maybe...since it's hard to tell what he is doing or why he is doing it the whole time). This, plus the exceedingly dodgy "science" and the extremely Arthur C. Clarke ending, make me question why this is commonly classified as hard/cyberpunk sci-fi, as we are clearly well into fantasy territory here.
The short stories at the end of this edition have much tighter writing and more coherent plotting (except for the very last, which is literally a list of 20 bullet points about a character, and seems more like an outline for another book/story than anything else). All in all, it seems like Sterling should have stuck to the short story format, because the novel hangs together not at all.
1. WHAT HAPPENED
2. LITERALLY WHAT IS ANYONE’S DRIVING PHILOSOPHY OR MOTIVATION
I agree wholeheartedly with another review that called this book under-theorized, but with sharp descriptions. The problem is, the descriptions go nowhere. None of the factions and why they are fighting are ever explained in any coherent way, and the main character is a bit of a feckless Gary Stu. It also suffers from that common yet unpleasant trope of its time, wherein the most amazing thing is that the hero manages to accomplish anything at all, what with all the Space Babes throwing themselves at him and demanding he make the sex with them IMMEDIATELY upon meeting him. These women are then usually killed off, to spur the hero on to further righteous accomplishment (maybe...since it's hard to tell what he is doing or why he is doing it the whole time). This, plus the exceedingly dodgy "science" and the extremely Arthur C. Clarke ending, make me question why this is commonly classified as hard/cyberpunk sci-fi, as we are clearly well into fantasy territory here.
The short stories at the end of this edition have much tighter writing and more coherent plotting (except for the very last, which is literally a list of 20 bullet points about a character, and seems more like an outline for another book/story than anything else). All in all, it seems like Sterling should have stuck to the short story format, because the novel hangs together not at all.