About this title: The computer age has arrived a century ahead of time with Charles Babbage's perfection of his Analytical Engine. The Industrial Revolution, supercharged by the development of steam-driven cybernetic Engines, is in full and drastic swing. Great Britain, with her calculating-cannons, steam dreamnoughts, machine-guns and information technology, ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Spectra
Date Published: 1992
ISBN-13:9780553294613ISBN:055329461X
Description: Acceptable. Overall below average used book. May have highlighting, underlining, notes, price sticker on cover, or be an ex-library book. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Bantam Books
Date Published: 1992
ISBN-13:9780553294613ISBN:055329461X
Description: Grade: C. Catalog: Science Fiction General Synopsis: 429 pages. 1855: The Industrial Revolution is in full and inexorable swing, powered by steam-driven cybernetic Engines. Charles Babbage perfects his A... read more
Description: Good. Dust Cover Missing. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Spectra, New York, New York, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1992
ISBN-13:9780553294613ISBN:055329461X
Description: Good. Good condition, First printing, with a hint of a slant and light spine lines. Minor edge wear. read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperbound
Publisher: Spectra
Date Published: 1992
ISBN-13:9780553294613ISBN:055329461X
Description: Very Good. 055329461X Synopsis: In 1855 London, a steam driven calculator heralds a new age of information as everything from fast food to credit cards turns the Victorian Era into a bizarre modern-day world. "Bursting with the kind of demented speculation and obsessive detailing that has made both Gibson's and Sterling's work stand out in the past". --San Francisco Chronicle. read more
Edition: Edition Unstated
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Spectra, New York, New York, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1992
ISBN-13:9780553294613ISBN:055329461X
Description: Good+ As issued No Jacket. Spine curl and creases, corner bumps and creases, edgewear to the covers, and other light shopwear. read more
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publisher: Spectra
Date Published: 1992-01-01
ISBN-13:9780553294613ISBN:055329461X
Description: Good. Every heavytail order includes with a sweet! We carefully hand clean and reinspect each and every item we ship. Our quality control process ensures items to be in the condition described or better. Heavytail is determined to earn your repeat business through old fashioned customer service. We love international orders. read more
Description: Good. 0575600292 Earlier batam paperback same content exactly, text has never changed. standard Used Condition, with different cover, shelf wear, No writing or Highlighting, has a lot of spine creases, though holding together well, sold for content. read more
"More actors than a telenovela stumble through a labyrinth of intrigue in this seminal Steampunk tome. There are enough points of view to disorganize a kaleidoscope; flashbacks and flashforwards; invented terms and slang. I still don't know if I actually liked it. Rather, its a book I'll recommend to interested parties in esoteric conversations about the emergence of the genre. For certain, I was more hooked in the second half of the book: the first was slow going. The story slid unexpectedly into an apocalyptic scene of London smothered in industrial murk, and adventures with contaminated sewage. Perhaps two authors is one author too many, in the case of Gibson and Sterling. The story was at times so complicated, and complicatedly written, I felt as though I was wading in industrial waste myself. Nonetheless, there are passages of gorgeous description scattered in the chapters, and focussed speculation."
"Difficult to get through. While the premise is interesting (steam-engine processing in 1855) the attention to detail is eye-crossing. Our main character (Mallory) disappears 3/4 of the way through the book: destination either Mongolia or China. Ms. Gerard disappears for most of the book. We meet people who wander in, contribute to the storyline and then stall the plotline. The umbrella idea that technology somehow allowed Shelley, Byron and Keats to attain political power is a tad odd.
Reminds me of the word another author and I created for working together on a fiction project: clobberation."
"Things I liked about this book: I loved the Victorian setting, the details were really beautiful, with recognizable historical figures of the time making their appearances, like Charles Darwin. I haven't read very much that would fall into the alternate history genre and I have to say I really did enjoy that part of it, reading about a London that never was. I also enjoyed the characters the story was told through. The author did a great job of making each character a unique person.
Things I didn't love: This book was too long. The story lines took forever to come together. It really felt more like two novellas and a book. For a long time you really don't have any clue where the book is heading. I think the major problem was that it read more like a history book than a story. There was no unified feel, major climax, or conclusion and it was more like the daily events of a few people in London's history going through some hard times."
"This is one of the novels that kicked off the genre now known as "steampunk," and it is still one of the best. In the world of this novel, information processing, using cards and huge buildings full of machines to sort them, existed in Victorian Europe. A host of fascinating technological and social anachronisms create a world that later was echoed in lots of other novels, movies, comics and short stories. Think Sherlock Holmes with Zepplins and giant computers. Aside from pioneering this kind of setting, this novel is a well crafted mystery and thriller."
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