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The Difference Engine (S.F. MASTERWORKS) (Paperback)

After reading the summary I was hooked and really wanted to read it. Score one for a strong publishing team. Took me a while to actually to this far down my reading list it and.... I'm disappointed. It is second work by Gibson that I've read and I'm beginning to get a clear picture of his style. He is a great word smith, very descriptive but sometimes his work feels slow-going. Even half way through this book I had no real idea of direction.

From almost nowhere the authors drop in an explicit and lengthy sex scene. Given the rest of the story it is quite out of place, however it is the turning point in the story. It occurs about half way through then the plot picks up for the next 25% and is much quicker in pace. It actually becomes exciting to read but then the plot dies again.

I'm not sure that I could recommend this book to anyone. Nice ideas but it seems to drift with out direction.

This book has a lot of conversation but not a lot of action, which is a shame as there is a lot of cool technology that I wanted to see more of. Part of Gibson's skill is his ability to weave technology seemlessly into the plot but I didn't get a great enough sense of the technology at play. Overall I'm a little disappointed as I had high expectations.