Reviews

The Difference Engine by William Gibson

vandermeer's review

1.0

Einfach nur schlecht. Schon der Anfang ist so irritierend, dass ich keine Lust mehr habe.

apas's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75

I liked the premise, but the book was just too slow. And there wasn't a real gripping story there. Struggled to finish.

flygonjinn's review

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Classism, Infidelity, Racism, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual violence, and Colonisation

mnapoleon's review

2.0

Yet another book I started and was unable to finish. It was too dry for me. Normally I like historical fiction and I do like Sterling and Gibson. I just didn't like this.

l55's review

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault

lofiproducer's review

2.0

Kind of a slog tbh

andyourstruly's review

1.0

This book was a mess.

johnackley's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

margyly's review

2.0

They created the original “steam punk” world of Victorian high tech, which is totally fun. But the story wasn’t very satisfying. (Maybe I lost the thread at some point…)

rocketiza's review against another edition

2.0

The quality of the narrative of this was very disappointing. While I know they were trying to create atmosphere, it frequently went into tangents that did nothing to further the story. Gibson's ability to build worlds in his other novels stands in stark contrast to how poorly it was done here.

Also, many of the characters decisions and actions don't really make any sense for them to be doing, and the larger background events seem to come out of nowhere and are forced into the story instead of being built up to.