The Difference Engine

Two of “cyberpunk's” finest authors combining to write a Steampunk alternative history set in Victorian England? What could possibly go wrong? Well...

This one is a bit of a curate's egg. Fine writing and stuffed full of fantastic ideas, with a really intriguing premise (the computer age arrives in the mid-19th century courtesy of Charles Babbage's titular Difference Engine) but somehow the sum of its parts doesn't quite hold together. Maybe it's the shifting focus where different characters take the lead in each section. Maybe it's the revelling in the world building at the expense of the rather convoluted plot. I don't know. I wanted to like this more than I did.

Cantering around a mysterious set of engine punch cards called The Modus, this rip roaring tale is set in a world where Great Britain's Empire rules the world, the USA is a country divided against itself (Texas is a republic, the Confederacy exists and Manhattan becomes a communist stronghold thanks to Karl Marx!) and secret agents stalk the London streets. Lord Byron is Prime Minister, leading the so-called Radical Party that had overthrown the Tories under Wellington, and a steam driven age of wonder is upon us. It's a richly detailed world, especially the couple of chapters cantering around the Big Stink of 1855 (although I could have done without the rather graphic descriptions of one character's dalliance with a prostitute, which goes on for far too long). Gibson and Sterling clearly had great fun imagining the What Ifs that would follow from computers being developed a century or so before they actually were.

But somehow it never quite comes together in a satisfying way. The final section extrapolates forward from the events of the previous chapters, with short testimonies and letters and a final scene with an ageing Lady Ada Byron in Paris. If this is supposed to tie up loose ends, it fails to do so.

So an interesting, if frustrating read.

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.

William Gibson and Bruce Sterling, two major SciFi powerhouses, joined forces to produce The Difference Engine, a classic steampunk novel which was nominated for the 1990 British Science Fiction Award, the 1991 Nebula Award for Best Novel, and the 1992 John W. Campbell Memorial Award and Prix Aurora Award. I listened to Brilliance Audio???s version which was produced in 2010 and read by the always-wonderful Simon Vance.

The Difference Engine takes place in a nearly unrecognizable Victorian England. The fundamental ???difference??? between this alternate history and the real one is that Charles Babbage succeeded in building his Difference Engine ??? the first analytical computer. Thus, the information age develops (along with the industrial revolution) in the social, political, and scientific milieu of the 19th century. This little historical event ??? the development of the steam-powered computer ??? has a vast impact on subsequent history: Meritocracy takes hold in England (you???ll recognize many of England???s new ???savant??? lords), the American states never unite, Karl Marx makes Manhattan a commune, Benjamin Disraeli becomes a trashy tabloid writer, and Japan begins to emerge as a world power with England???s help.

The idea of an earlier technological revolution affecting the course of history is fascinating. But the best part of The Difference Engine is the flash steampunk setting: full of gears and engines, pixilated billboards and slideshows, unreliable firearms, and lots of rum slang that???s right and fly.

The problem with The Difference Engine is the plot. It meanders slowly and strangely and is vaguely focused on a box of computer punch-cards which contain unknown important information. Several people are interested in the cards including Sybil, a courtesan who???s based on Benjamin Disraeli???s Sybil, mathematician Ada Lovelace (daughter of Lord Byron), a paleontologist nicknamed Leviathan Mallory, and the author Laurence Oliphant. Unfortunately, Mallory, who ends up being an Indiana Jones type of character, is the only one who???s interesting or likable. His segment of the novel has some exciting moments, but they seem only tangentially related to what comes before and after.

Most of the events seem random, obscure, and unconnected. Perhaps the book is not at all about plot, though, because the authors seem to be trying to make a clever association between G??del???s mathematical theorems, chaos theory, punctuated equilibrium, and artificial intelligence. I???m not really sure... If this is truly their intention, it is too thickly veiled and probably imperceptible to many readers. The Matrix-like ending will leave most people scratching their heads and wondering why they spent so many hours reading such inaccessible stuff.

The Difference Engine is a smart and stylish concept novel that just doesn???t quite work.

Quand William Gibson et Bruce Sterling, deux géants du genre cyberpunk, décident de s'intéresser au steampunk, cela donne ce roman au principe étonnant : imaginez une Angleterre victorienne où Charles Babagge aurait réussi à construire sa fameuse machine à différences, l'ancêtre de nos ordinateurs, et aurait ainsi déclenché une révolution industrielle basée sur des ordinateurs mécaniques. Une ère de l'information aurait ainsi commencé un siècle plus tôt.

L'idée de départ est excellente et riche de promesses, mais le résultat m'a un peu laissé sur ma faim. Le récit m'a semblé confus, difficile à suivre et à comprendre, et pas toujours passionnant. Je dois avouer que j'ai eu du mal à maintenir mon intérêt lors de certains longs passages, que ce soit par manque de rythme du récit ou d'attachement aux personnages.

Si je devais résumer ma pensée, je dirais que le cadre imaginé par William Gibson et Bruce Sterling m'a beaucoup plu, mais que l'histoire qu'ils y racontent ne m'a pas intéressé plus que cela. A vrai dire, je ne suis pas certain d'avoir compris où les deux auteurs voulaient en venir, et j'ai l'impression d'être passé à côté de ce roman.