The Diamond Age
by Neal Stephenson
science fiction, postcyberpunk
copyright 1995
read in May 2016
rated 6/10: read to pass the time
The science is fantastic! Fantastic in imagination, almost believeable as an extension of current possibiities, a central part of the book.
The characters are over the top and boring. One -- Miranda -- is sympathetic, I care about her fate. The rest... come and go but who cares.
The plot is largely irrelevant and either pointless or poorly explained.
Put it this way: I am on holidays. This book is my away-from-home reading. I reached the beginning of the grand finale... all was about to be revealed... I put down the book... And could not be bothered finishing it for the next couple of weeks.
Oh, and when I did finish: it was disappointing.
Read to pass the time. Enjoy the scientific extrapolation. Wonder if the ending makes any sense. Be glad that Stephenson has written far better books.
Note on the category: postcyberpunk
The front cover claims that Stephenson is, "The Quentin Tarantino of postcyberpunk science fiction." So I have categorised this book as "science fiction" and "postcyberpunk". Now I have also skimmed the Wikipedia entry on postcyberpunk.
Roughly, "cyberpunk" is a bunch of disaffected people living in a dystopia of cyber -- information access -- and technological marvels.
Postcyberpunk has the same level of cyber and technological marvels but the characters are not disaffected and their world is not a dystopia.
That's my interpretation, in case you are interested. And to save you wading through the jargonised waffle of that Wikipedia entry.
But -- you and I are both thinking -- but surely postcyberpunk is, by its definition, science fiction?! So why does the book cover claim "postcyberpunk science fiction"?! My best guess is: to capture the widest possible market by appealing to two not really separate genres.
On a more useful note, the Wikepedia article also mentioned people who began reading science fiction in the 1980s... These people, it is claimed, would simply label this book as "science fiction". All the rest is irrelevant: It... is... just... science... fiction.
Science fiction. Good... or bad... or just some science fiction to be read to pass the time.
I enjoy reading about new sub-genres of science fiction. But I'm happy to just say, it's science fiction. And rate the book's enjoyment -- as a book that I have read.
No comments:
Post a Comment