The Difference Engine

Sowohl Gibson als auch Sterling hatten schon vor diesem Buch mehrfach demonstriert, dass Cyberpunk für sie keine spezielle Zeiteinordnung ist, sondern eine Grundphilosophie. In dieser Parallelweltgeschichte stellen sie sich eine Welt vor, in der Charles Babbage seine Differenzmaschine entwickeln konnte und so schon im 19. Jahrhundert die Computertechnologie entstanden ist. Diese Idee ist sorgfältig durchdacht und konsequent ausgearbeitet: weit besser, als es in anderen (meist späteren) Werken des „Steampunk“ der Fall ist.

Trotzdem sind beide Autoren dafür bekannt, ihre Geschichte in der Faszination ihrer Welt zu verlieren und am Ende dann einen kaum verständlichen Showdown nachzuliefern. Ähnlich ist es auch hier: Die aufgesetzte Schlusspointe steht weit außerhalb der anscheinend erzählten Geschichte, und das, was sich auf den letzten Seiten eigentlich abspielt, neben dieser Schlusspointe, setzt einiges an Verständnis und Interesse für höhere Mathematik und Computertechnologie voraus. Für den wahren Cyberpunk-Fan darf es natürlich kaum anders sein; die Chance, hier ein breiteres Publikum zu erreichen, wurde aber lässig verspielt.

I love alternative history, the Victorian Era, and steampunk. Indeed, this was the novel that was said to have launched steampunk as a genre (technological advanced Victorian aesthetic). But wow, this was a slog. I just could not get into it. I forced myself to read it hoping that it would pick up but in the end, I found the story a mess, the characters were uncomfortably wooden, the alternative history scenario implausible (Lord Byron, one of the Romantic era luminaries, becoming the leader of rapidly industrializing Britain?). There were good atmospheric moments - London being enveloped in a Great Stink caused from industrial pollution about one hundred years before the actual event in our timeline. But on the whole, I felt the authors were trying to be way too clever. It is possible that I simply didn't get what they were going for but for all of the talk around the novel, I expected much more. Maybe it should be seen as a proof of concept that could be taken up by better people.

I have heard one explanation for the woodenness of the characters is that the story is being narrated by a sentient supercomputer that gains consciousness at the end of the novel. But honestly, I didn't get that from the reading at all.

This is a very hard book to rate. As an early example and inspiration of the steampunk movement, it's a highly recommended read if your interests lie that way. As an alternate history of Victorian London, it's reasonably interesting also; the book is based around the premise that when Charles Babbage thought up the Difference Engine it was actually built at the time, and changed the world so that the England in this novel is now running on steam-based computers ("difference engines") and the entire course of technology is changed. However, as an actual novel to read enjoy without a particular interest in either steampunk origins or alternate histories of England, and without the inclination to look up all the references to the historical figures and computing theorems mentioned, it's pretty dry and at times confusing. This is definitely a novel that requires some work to fully appreciate. I have enough background in English history and computing history that I caught a lot of the references without having to do extra research, but I'm sure there's plenty of nuance I missed, and I think the average reader would miss a lot more. If you're reading it without that background and without the interest in looking it up, I don't think you'd enjoy the story alone.

The story is split into three parts, whose characters abruptly vanish mid novel as the entire narrative changes. And while we do meet some of them again at the very end, there are huge gaps in the narrative and many things left unexplained and untold. I found that every time I was getting interested in a character, they'd disappear, probably never to be heard from again as the narrative shifted to some entirely different people and plots. The last of the three parts was the least interesting to me, as I didn't find Oliphant as interesting as either Sybil or Mallory, and it seemed the most disjointed. I was listening to this as an audiobook and I'm pretty sure I listened to Oliphant's section of the book at least 6 times before having any idea how the book ended because I fell asleep every time. The very end of the book is just a series of scattered excerpts, reports, and news articles around events throughout the book that gives some slight closure to some of the plot gaps but doesn't feel satisfying. So overall, pretty mixed feelings about this book.