Immediately thereafter she goes on the lam from the 'medical economic' complex, fleeing across a transfigured Europe among a varied procession of friends, lovers, and potential betrayers. Instead, Sterling gives us the rich, unpredictable life of Mia Ziemann - a 94-year-old 'posthuman' who submits to an experimental medical process and turns herself into a 20-year-old. On the other side of the ever widening generation gap, the young have no power or responsibility and small hope of attaining any until they are old.Īnother writer might have lightly sketched out such a scenario to serve as backdrop to a formulaic cyberthriller. To anyone interested, I would definitely recommend a read.In his latest novel, Holy Fire, Bruce Sterling imagines a future in which life-extension techniques have created a tepid, cautious gerontocracy - a world government forever fearful of falling and breaking its hip. Also a vivid female protagonist is nice (this was actually why my friend recommended the book). But I enjoyed it thoroughly the entire time I was reading it, which is a rarity. I’m not sure if the tales of Mia add up to say something to me. Ultimately, I’m not sure if the book hangs together fully in the end for me. There are cities built of edible bio-materials. There is a dog that has been technologically enhanced to be able to talk, but in the fashion that a dog might. Sterling doesn’t dwell on any particular one, and the book is peppered with fun droplets of future tech. The book is also populated with cool gadgets that are irrelevant but colorful. But a friend ( check out her well-received science fiction work here) loaned me “Holy Fire” by Bruce Sterling, so I read it.

Cyberpunk seemed just like rebranding dystopia. I had read the canonical cyberpunk work “Neuromancer” by Gibson, and I was not impressed.

Along the way she meets a lot of fun people.īefore I read “Holy Fire”, I was aware of Bruce Sterling and his reputation as a cyberpunk author. Mia struggles with the effect on the young of a society dominated by the old and her own risk-averse tendencies. The main character, Mia, is an elderly woman who partakes in a medical procedure to extend her life, and her subsequent adventures. The book is set about 100 years in the future, in a society where the very elderly call the shots and society is about collectively minimized risk and efficiency. The characters still have ambitions and hopes and don’t just spend their time dwelling on how awful life is (any more than we do now). Though it is high-tech, low life in the fashion of cyberpunk, I found the characters much more believable than most cyberpunk books. You can see more reviews and an excerpt of the book here.

Note: in this review, I spoil nothing past the first 20-30 pages or so.

Holy fire by bruce sterling