Clacking and Society

I remember reading and enjoying Neuromancer. I find myself wondering if I would feel the same about it now as I did then. Perhaps I should reread it and find out.

This comes up because I just read The Difference Engine, another "genre-defining" novel by William Gibson (and Bruce Sterling). Rather than cyberpunk, this one's considered one of the major establishing books of steampunk - Victorian-era, alternate history with advanced (for the period) technology.

It's very into the setting and society, and it's good at that. It's flavorful. And yet, I didn't get really into it as much as other novels I've read lately. The characters just didn't draw me in as much. Just as I was starting to get interested in one of the protagonists' arcs and the characters involved, it ended. The story shifted to someone else. It's very interesting as an examination of what could have been, and paints a relatively detailed setting, but the specific tale (or tales, though they interconnect) that's told wasn't really that captivating to me.

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