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A review by lsneal
Schismatrix Plus by Bruce Sterling
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.