The Difference Engine

Well, I finished this tonight, and I have a few things to say.

1) Victoriana is cool. I mean, I wouldn't want to live in Victorian times, given that there's an element of two-facedness and women were more strongly encouraged to be stupid and they lived in poo. But there's something I like about how people can talk about honour, and the way they phrase things, how everyone had personal cards they'd exchange, and stuff like that.

2) Steampunk books never quite wind up being quite as cool as I think they're going to be. I'm not sure why this is, but so far, so good. I'm trying to think what it is that I would say qualifies as 'good' steampunk, and, well, I can't.

But on to the actual review.

The book is set in 1855, in an alternate-history London. History diverged somewhere around 1830, as near as I can gather, and the Industrial Radical party is in power, under Prime Minister Lord Byron. (Yes, consumption, poetry, proto-goth - in our history). The old feudal system was abolished (though Queen Victoria still has the throne) and a system of merit-based Lordships instituted instead, promoting a 'scientific' government system. Charles Babbage actually built his theorised Engines - proto-computers, for those not up on their computer history - and now they are about as common as computers circa 1980 or so, our time. I'd say. Oh, and the Engines use punch-cards.

It all seems to revolve around a McGuffin, a set of punch cards put together by Ada Byron (Lord Byron's daughter, styled as the 'Queen Of Engines'). And, well, trying to summarise the plot... I can't, really.

There are Texans ('Texians') involved in the mix, somehow. There are also the filthy American Commies ('Communards') that try and overthrow the Radicals by inciting riots in London. (That's the backdrop for what I would vote the most kick-arse scene, where three brothers go to avenge the slander that broke their sister's heart.) There's also some political manoeuvering behind the scenes, but, well, it seemed way behind the scenes to me.

The plot, I'll admit, baffled me. Then again, Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age also baffled me first time around, so maybe it'll get better with re-reading.

The little nit-picky thing that narked me was the way certain modern terms would be Victorianised by reversing them. "Line-streaming", "Back-feed" - and I know there was a third one that cropped up but I can't remember it now.

I would still recommend it, but not as unreservedly as I would recommend Stardust or John Ringo's series. It failed to blow me away, but then again, the others also didn't exactly make me explode either. Some books improve on re-reading through picking up subtleties you missed first time around. But when the subtlety appears to be what the hell the book was about, I'd say that's a weakness, not a strength.

And while there doesn't appear to be a rogue AI loose on the 'Net, I think the book ends with one waking up. So close to breaking Gibbo's stereotype... so close...