Eclipse

A Song Called Youth #1

by John Shirley

Book one of John Shirley's pre-holocaust series, A Song Called Youth. Like many works defining the wild cyberpunk fringe in the 1980s, this depiction of a near-future dystopia, here revised and updated since its 1985 debut, seems almost acceptably mainstream today. But Shirley's spiky prose and edgy attitudes, which lately have cultivated a following among horror readers (Wetbones; Really, Really, Really, Really Weird Stories), still hook the reader's attention. Tapping anxieties about rising global nationalism, Shirley presents a Goya-esque vision of war-torn western Europe, bombed out and unstable in the early years of the 21st century from a resurgence of Russian militarism and the collapse of NATO. The Second Alliance, a government-sanctioned multinational police force, has rushed in to restore order and revealed itself a nightmarish incarnation of every fascist and fundamentalist power fantasy. The only defense against the Alliance's creeping totalitarianism is the New Resistance, a polyglot pick-up team of rebels that includes Rick Rickenharp, a tripping retro guitarist whose artistic and political sensibilities are sinuously intertwined, and John Swenson, a mole whose soul is blackened through his infiltration of the Alliance. Stitched together from vivid swatches of action and intrigue alternating kaleidoscopically between Earth sites and the orbiting FirStep space colony, the novel offers a thrashy punk riff on science fiction's familiar future war scenario and lays a solid foundation for the subsequent volumes of Shirley's A Song Called Youth trilogy.
—Publisher’s Weekly

Genres: Cyberpunk, Science Fiction, Fiction, Dystopia, Science Fiction Fantasy, Audiobook, Speculative Fiction

326 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

John Shirley won the Bram Stoker Award for his story collection Black Butterflies, and is the author of numerous novels, including the best-seller DEMONS, the cyberpunk classics CITY COME A-WALKIN', ECLIPSE, and BLACK GLASS, and his newest novels STORMLAND and A SORCERER OF ATLANTIS.

He is also a screenwriter, having written for television and movies; he was co-screenwriter of THE CROW. He has been several Year's Best anthologies including Prime Books' THE YEAR'S BEST DARK FANTASY AND HORROR anthology, and his nwest story collection is IN EXTREMIS: THE MOST EXTREME SHORT STORIES OF JOHN SHIRLEY. His novel BIOSHOCK: RAPTURE telling the story of the creation and undoing of Rapture, from the hit videogame BIOSHOCK is out from TOR books; his Halo novel, HALO: BROKEN CIRCLE is coming out from Pocket Books.

His most recent novels are STORMLAND and (forthcoming) AXLE BUST CREEK. His new story collection is THE FEVERISH STARS. STORMLAND and other John Shirley novels are available as audiobooks.

He is also a lyricist, having written lyrics for 18 songs recorded by the Blue Oyster Cult (especially on their albums Heaven Forbidden and Curse of the Hidden Mirror), and his own recordings.

John Shirley has written only one nonfiction book, GURDJIEFF: AN INTRODUCTION TO HIS LIFE AND IDEAS, published by Penguin/Jeremy Tarcher.

John Shirley story collections include BLACK BUTTERFLIES, IN EXTREMIS, REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY WEIRD STORIES, and LIVING SHADOWS.

source: Amazon

Reviews

[Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

FASCISM!

Did I get your attention? Well, yeah, that's the main drive, or drive AGAINST, in this novel, but it's no cookie-cutter SF adventure. It's actually rather rich, mostly named as a cyberpunk title coming out of 1985 and revamped to include more updated cultural references to music and even Ipads as of 2012 and repubbed. Do I mind? Hell no. It seems pretty excellent and timely and who am I to say that the author can't change his mind about a few things?

Most authors can't get away with that and too many fans might get upset, wrongly or rightly. Frankenstein, anyone?

Back to this. All the characters in this are getting established to run through the whole trilogy as one single novel, so even tho there's a great blowout by the end of this one, it's not meant to end with one big battle.

Battle? Yep, this is the build-up of a fascist regime and we follow the fascinating peeps who either die or survive the rise of it. This includes the colony off Earth as well as the Earth, itself, with all the racist elements that the Us vs Them mentality you can think of. Religion, neo-nazis, corporate aggrandizement, overpopulation, disappearing resources... you name it.

The rest of us are feeling the downfall of society. I did say this was timely. And the careful attention to detail and world-building, not to mention the depth of characterization, really makes this something special.

Yes, it's a novel of civil war on a global and extra-global scale, with all the misfits banding together. There's one particular scene I loved featuring a certain old-school rocker, totally pre-punk, which made my day.

Am I impressed? Yes. Absolutely. The sprawling nature of settings, how deeply the situations are novelized makes this more like 3 or 4 books in one by sheer weight of detail. And it's often funny and personally relatable. I love my music and obviously, the author does, too. :)

My only quibble is with the somewhat one-dimensional nature of the fascist movement. Most of it could be taken right out of a pop-culture diary without much exploration into the deeper roots of the movement, including the kinds of deeper frustrations that might give rise to it. We're introduced to it as a fact of life and we're in the middle of it.

Perhaps this is true to life, but nothing is ever QUITE this simple. I'm amazed at the scope the novel provides, but I am slightly underwhelmed by the direct application of the fascism. Alas.

[Outis · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've unfortunately read the updated version. More about its wrongness lower.

This is actually an interesting book, with much to recommend it. But for my taste the wrong outweighs the good.
Though that's hard to tell on account of its self-indulgent meanderings, this book seems to be merely the first part of a long tale, not a complete book that's part of a series: basically goes nowhere, way too much setup, red herrings and so forth. I don't like.
I reckon it might have been awesome when it was released but I don't think it aged well (since I've only read the updated version, I can only guess).

So the good: mainly, it's an unconventional genre story. Daring and unpredictable. Sometimes funny. Some good scenes and descriptions. Also, it's got nice fascists. I can suspend disbelief about the higher ranks (if not about the troops) and that makes them satisfyingly creepy.
And now the bad: The macho antifa fantasy is simply unbelievable. And dated to boot. It reads like some conspiranoiac left-Bolshevik wet dream. Also, the whole war is rad thing. The future about which we're served much thinly-disguised exposition is generally unconvincing. There's too much that's over the top silly considering the low literary content. And the books fails at women in my opinion.

The updated version seems to have been a rushed affair. Annoying fluff like names of corporations which didn't exist back in the day have been inserted but the basic Cold War framework seems not have been altered (I have no way to tell). In any case, what might have been convincing as a quaint alternate history has become a highly implausible retcon.
There was stuff in the book which I might have considered visionary if I knew that it was written back in the day. But since it might have been inserted later, I can't credit the author. An dated work can also be interesting as a reflection of its time in a way such an updated book isn't.
Instead of mangling the setting, you'd think the update could have fixed mistakes... but no: the badly broken bits of French somehow survived the process. Aside from the grammar fails and whatnot, a major faction is called "stratégie actuel" (sic). It's not only annoying: to put it mildly, this sort of thing isn't helping the setting's versimilitude.

[Lawrence · Rating 2 out of 5]

well, this is the first book in a long long time that I could easily put down every night. I mean, I literally fell asleep reading this more times than I could count.

I think it is interesting that everyone is rediscovering this early cyberpunk work. It really does have a timeless appeal with the ideas and concepts, although a couple of the recent updates/edits ring hollow in odd ways (the mentioning of Blackwater in one discussion of security contractors, for example). all the characters and elements of an excellent cyberpunk thriller are there, but they just aren't put together right. The pace is a staccato of forward movement interspersed with religious world building, diatribes, and inner conflicts. With fewer characters, perhaps the internal discussions would have been more compelling. of maybe just slightly less "fascism is terrible because..." sections.

I am undecided about the next two books in the series.

[Smiley III · Rating 5 out of 5]

John Shirley's first volume in his A Song Called Youth trilogy is rip-roaring, more-plausible-than-entirely-comfortable, and limned to such usually-omitted concerns as starvation, other hungers, and the way caprice can cause an event which shifts the whole narrative — of your life, of the whole nation-state, perhaps the whole Planet Earth we're all stuck on.

How he keeps it all straight & moving is astonishing: don't be too sure which characters you identify with are going to make it, 'cause, for sure, the unyielding nature of Death ("no idle prankster," as Thomas Pynchon noted, in his introduction to his friend Richard Fariña's novel Been Down So Long, It Looks Like Up to Me) is one of the main lessons of this trip. You do cry, you do miss these people, and still ... you taste the bitter victory of thinking maybe, just maybe, you aren't bullshitting yourself that it'll be worth something, that the resistance has a chance at striking back at the New Fascists (guised as the "Second Alliance," of course — in this case study).

Here's what Science Fiction can do, when you cram in — à la using "oven mitts," stuff that'd be "too depressing to talk about," as William Gibson said in index magazine — topical and cultural references with brio belonging only to the best novelists, "genre" or not, and analytical abilities surpassing most (51%) on the U.S. Government's ticket, well-known cred. or no. Bargain shopping, for those who want to work their mind, no matter what the price!

[Neon Snake · Rating 5 out of 5]

You know, I never really bought in to 1984. It's a fantastic book, a great work of fiction, but I was never one of those people who thought we'd ever get to a point where the books themes were hugely relevant. By the time I read it, in the late 80s, it had already turned into retro-futurism. Doublespeak had been co-opted by the Right as a term used to discredit laws and regulations (wrongly) perceived to be limiting free speech, and the rise of the surveillance state was being countered by cell phone cameras and hactivism by the time it became truly relevant.

But this, this I can believe in. After a week in which UKIP have grown power massively in the European Parliamentary Elections, with Britain First proudly "invading" Mosques in East London, and the ongoing marches by the EDL, Shirley's tale of Fundamentalist Religion, Classism and Fascism rings frighteningly plausible; the characterisation and subtlety on show is fantastic, this is a truly mature and nuanced book.

One of the classics of mid-80s cyberpunk, this was updated fairly recently. I've no idea whether the thrust of the story was changed, or whether the changes involved details, but the anti-Islam, anti-foreign interest themes are extremely relevant and timely as we sit here in 2014. And it's a fantastic story in it's own right, even leaving aside the politics.

We may never reach a 1984. But we might well reach an Eclipse.

Must-read.

[David Agranoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been finishing book two and three of John Shirley’s brilliant Eclipse trilogy. Also known as the Song called Youth books. It is an excellent set of books telling the same story all in a very slightly different style from the last. The third book for example seems to a bit more gritty than the first two.

You should read them written in the mid to late 80’s it foresees the rise of corporate war profiteers and racist neo conservatives. Excellent story and great characters, great Sci-Fi war war three novel.

[Michelle Tackabery · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply a stunning, underrated masterpiece. This is the first volume of a trilogy. Reading it now is amazing. Shirley's world of drone technology, a Europe decimated by the economic policies of the US and China, and a lunatic,fundamentalist Christian running America was scary to me, but gee, here we are in 2012... The characters are well-drawn, the world they live in is brutal, and heroes trust in rock and roll. Gotta read it.

[RG · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this for Bookclub. Interesting concepts ( Im guesing Fascism was a large part of the 80s). Felt like a setup for more to come. Didnt realise until after finishing it was a trilogy. It probably had more to say in the 80s than it did today.

[Lars · Rating 5 out of 5]

If there was ever a successor to the neo-dystopian but not fully cyberpunk mantle of Gibson/Sterling then John Shirley should be so named.

I found his works through Demons (2000) and was suitably impressed to start looking at his other fiction. I was not disappointed. Fortunately, the full A Song Called Youth trilogy was completed by this time so I did not have "sequel anxiety," which I suffered during David Eddings' Belgariad and Mallorean quintologies in the Eighties. (Yes, I am a but older...)

His writing has an immediacy and tone that reminds me of Gaiman but with enough hard sci-fi a la Asimov and Gibson that his near-future world is believable and frighteningly real. While not every sci-fi fan will appreciate his stylings, if you read cyberpunk but long for something other than another "noir detective story with computer implants and weak imagery" then Shirley is for you. I had enough of the score of cyberpunk imitators and Shirley broke out of the mold but retained enough of the cyberpunk sensibilities that he has the tech in the novels but it not the star. Yes, I concede that "Johnny Mnemonic" would have gone nowhere without the tech, but all flash and no substance gets old after a while, like subsisting on cotton candy for a week--not recommended.

Buy these books.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's inexplicable that I am just now coming across this book! I read City Come A'Walking years ago and loved it. But not as much as this one! All the best elements of the Cyberpunk Troika of Gibson, Sterling and Stephenson are present here....the world-building and attention to detail of Sterling, the stylized writing of Gibson and the "mood of scene" skills of Stephenson. I am wildly impressed. The characters were all intriguing and well-drawn...regrettable hardly any survived!!
I would have become weary of the Paris battle/fight parts but they were written so well that I was not inclined to skim them! One single geographical mis-step stood out: Hard-Eyes and Rickenharp were at a MacDonalds on the Champs Élysées (which the Parisians would never have allowed!!!) and proceeded to make their way to the Parc Butte Chamont, which is way the hell and gone in the far NE of the city. Add rubble and SA to avoid and there is no way it would have taken less than a full day to get there! Plus, the geography of the park is super-hilly...no flat fields for pod landing. I also wish there had been a section detailing Claire and Bonhams flight to Earth.
A small thing, of course....I have the other two books on order.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the finest cyberpunk novels

John Shirley belongs to the generation of science fiction writers led by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling who are known as cyberpunks. Shirley was one of the early proponents of cyberpunk fiction. "Eclipse", the first in his "A Song Called Youth" trilogy, is a vivid, stylistically hip mix of politics, rock and roll and computers. His lean prose is almost as elegant as Gibson's; here he depicts a near future in which Europe falls under the sway of a Neo-Nazi Christian fundamentalist tyranny, the Second Alliance (SA), in the aftermath of a limited nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union. Opposing the SA are a motley band of rock musicians and socialist guerrillas known as the New Resistance. Those interested in reading some great cyberpunk fiction should acquire John Shirley's "A Song Called Youth" trilogy.

(Reposted from my 2001 Amazon review)

[Jordan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I mostly know John Shirley from his horror writing. So it was interesting to see his take on Cyberpunk. Like all good cyberpunk, there’s something eerily prophetic about. I was a bit hesitant about the number of unconnected story threads and characters early on in the novel. But by the end, they had been mostly all woven together. Although, my copy of the book had a terrible cover. It makes sense at the end of the book, but it’s still pretty bad.

Re-read review:

John Shirley saw the writing on the wall with the threat of American christofascism, even the return of a Le Pen to France, back in the 80s. There's still some cool Rock and Rebellion, but it's a fairly grim cyberpunk vision.

I disagree with past me's assessment of the number of characters and the cover.

[Wynne McLaughlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

John Shirley's seminal cyberpunk trilogy, "A Song Called Youth" (aka "The Eclipse Trilogy") was first published in 1985 and revised by John in 2000. This trilogy had as much influence on my own writing as Neuromancer or Lord of the Rings. If you're a fan of cyberpunk and you haven't read these, you're missing out big time. They helped define the genre. They are also frighteningly prescient given the geopolitical shitstorm we find ourselves in today. I seriously love these books. You should read them.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this off a list of cyberpunk books back in the late 80s. This is the first of a 3 part epic telling the story of the rise of fascist powers in post-WWIII Europe. It reminds me a great deal of the new Battlestar Galactica series in tone and pacing. This is one of those books I reread every few years and will never not own a copy of it.

[Erik · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cyberpunk novel about an ongoing WW3 written in the mid-1980s, marred by the author updating it in this late 90s edition. Would rate higher if the typesetting/proofreading weren't the worst I've ever seen in a professionally published novel.

[Bee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the original version, not the updated one.

[Hex75 · Rating 5 out of 5]

può un libro essere datato e al tempo stesso attuale?
"eclipse" è indubbiamente datato: nel 1985 era probabilmente ancora plausibile l'idea di uno scontro tra usa e urss, solo pochi anni dopo sarebbe stato impossibile, ma non possiamo fare una colpa a john shirley di non averci preso, visto che all'epoca nessuno avrebbe potuto prevedere cosa sarebbe accaduto.
però è indubbio che il suo descrivere il consolidarsi del pensiero di estrema destra nella politica mondiale è oggi ancora più risonante: in un mondo in cui tutti guardavano allo scontro neoliberismo-comunismo shirley vedeva il sorgere di un mix di pensiero neofascista e fondamentalismo religioso che oggi sembra risuonare in non pochi paesi, con alle spalle una discreta preparazione in materia (passi per le citazioni del national front in uk e dell'ascesa di un nipote di le pen -facendo palo: l'astro nascente dell'estrema destra francese è LA nipote di le pen, marion maréchal...- due fenomeni famosi anche fuori dai loro confine nazionale, ma la citazione di stefano delle chiaie, neofascista italiano assai poco noto fuori dal paese? vabbè, questa è classe), ed in più vede una formidabile arma di propaganda nel mix tra la rete e l'onnipresente wordtalk, un mix che ricorda parecchio quello che avverrà coi social network.

è la storia? beh, è ricca di colpi di scena, di ambientazioni interessanti (l'europa dilaniata dalle guerre è assai realistica) e di parecchi personaggi, sui quali shirley spesso infierisce assai (se siete di quelli che piangono per la morte di un personaggio principale mollate il libro o compratevi una scorta di fazzoletti di carta...).

l'unico problema è che è la prima parte di una trilogia e al termine di un inizio così c'è sempre la paura che il percorso si rovini libro dopo libro...ma voglio essere ottimista: massimo dei voti, e avanti col secondo capitolo!

[KW · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read an excerpt from this in the Mirrorshades anthology and it left me curious for more, mostly because I loved Rickenharp even though he's an idiot. Great cast of characters to love and hate on, and powerful momentum, as well as unfortunately extremely plausible descriptions of a neo-fascist dystopian future controlled by the "Christian" Far Right. I'll be thinking about the scenes on Crandall's farm for a while, I think...IYKYK. I'm reading the 2012 omnibus publication version but you can still sort of feel the white-man-in-the-80s, Cold War sensibility peeking through it all, including some (light?) homophobia (I know this was written at the height of the AIDs crisis but in universe it's 2039, man! Why are the "good guys" using the f-slur?). Also warning: there is a LOT of world politics and military strategy which isn't what some people may be looking for out of their cyberpunk but I found it compelling enough anyway. My biggest complaint: racism and xenophobia are explicit talking points, so why aren't any of the main characters, especially in the NR, described as people of color, besides Yukio? Unless I've overlooked someone (I do tend to forget character descriptions, but it seems to be always commented upon if someone is not to be assumed default white), black and brown people and even the technickis are only ever sort of described as collateral, or means to an end, which imo doesn't serve the story or its themes at all. I plan to read on so I hope we get to see a working class or black hero later, but tbh I'm not holding my breath. That said, I'm a sucker for genre and I want to know what happens next, so on to Eclipse Penumbra.

[William Marshall · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read a used 1987 Warner Books used version with copy write 1985. John Shirley created a vivid world that appears to be a post apocalyptic and in the throws of a limited nuclear world war. As always, it is fascinating to see what great minds like John Shirley foresaw for the future back in the pre-internet 1980's.
The rise of a new, small 'f' fascism is prophetic, but the circumstances regarding its reemergence were more dramatic than the mundane race to the bottom we see today. Christian fanaticism was just beginning to be an issue back then and Handmaiden's tale was another dystopian novel published in the same year.
He foresaw surveillance drones before they were a real thing. He also predicted the rise of contractors as law enforcement and security in war zones and I don't recall them really existing much before the occupation of Iraq.
Perhaps it is still too early to judge whether or not his other predictions will come to pass, but many other authors tend to compress time to show a greater rate of technological change than is really possible.
His prose was excellent, but there were a lot of subplots and characters. I suppose this was necessary as a setup for the trilogy but it made for some jumpy reading when he frequently switched back and forth between different worlds. Regardless, it was a very enjoyable read and the conclusion was satisfying.

[mg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am very torn by this book. When I purchased it I had no idea it was set in year 2020. It’s amazing how much Shirley got right 30+ years ago. (The original version)

On one hand, it’s near-perfect cyberpunk fare, full of sex drugs & rocknroll. But on the other, there’s so many peripheral storylines, that I found it hard to stay interested because I just wanted to skip ahead to the interesting bits.

I get that this is book 1of3, but I felt there was too much background and philosophical explanation.

This is a slow slow SLOW burn of a book. And I suppose it could be my fault for having preconceived ideas.

In my opinion, once it got interesting, it fell back into the doldrums. I also feel the ‘colony’ was superfluous and didn’t serve a real purpose if it was only to be destroyed by the end of the novel.

Further, the one character I cared about meets his (supposed) death at the end!

However, It’s evident Shirley put a lot of time and thought to this novel. There’s a lot background for each character, and a lot of reference to the ideologies in the book. This is all impressive, but also seemed excessive.

All this said, I suppose this is a set up to the next novels, but if the character dies at the end, (whom I thought had the perfect set up for redemption storyline that could’ve lasted the whole trilogy), then unfortunately I’m not interested :(

[Servaas · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was kind of a tough read, and will a bit of a spotty review.

I stopped reading this book about two thirds in, and only picked it up again after finishing a couple of other books, so my recollection of the first part is a bit muddled.

This is one of those books of which I'm not really sure about how I got to reading it. I assume it was labeled "cyberpunk" on a list somewhere, but one should be aware that this is one of those novels where the dystopian angle is a lot more present than the technology / sci-fi angle.

On to the book itself. If you start this book, also be mindful of this being the opening novel of a series. A lot of it is world building and setting the scene, so the story itself feels a bit scattered and open ended. (I did like the end though)

The future this book envisions is massively bleak and depressing btw. Its dystopian vision is all the more gripping and compelling because parts of it feel creepily plausible.

There are some minor anomalies in the book's portrayal of certain European countries (like people from Belgium speaking "Belgian"), I'm not sure this is an intentional fictionalized aspect or a genuine error.

In summary: if you are into (very) dystopian sci-fi, this novel is for you. For me it was a bit of a struggle to get through.

[Kevin Phyland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set during a bitter war between NATO and Russia, in a world remarkably similar in some aspects to the present, the far right has risen across the globe and is in the process of taking over government in most countries. The fascist SA, under the guise of a global security corporation, is being utilised to quell 'dissidents' - the usual suspects like Jews, Muslims, POC and lefties - through invasive techniques developed by media giants which can steal ideas and memories straight from the mind. Into this farrago of right-wing powerbrokers comes the New Revolution and the NR is recruiting some very odd people indeed - some exiled militants, some disenfranchised punks and a faded retrorocker - intent on exposing the global putsch and freeing the space colonies. John Shirley has given us a near-future of terrifying intrusion and its prescience is the most scary. Written in 1985 it could have been written yesterday and even names a Le Pen (far-right French politician), but the story has just started. First book of a trilogy. The ebook is updated and I alternated between versions so I may have missed some niceties, but well worth a read!

[Nis Sperling · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very 80ties. Loved the premise and setting (Escape from New York meets cold war sci-fi). The writing is about as subtle and elegant as a brick through a window and you have to sit through lots and lots of exposition. The version I read was apparently the updated one, where stuff like facebook has been added to the universe, probably to make it feel less outdated. It did not work for me at all. I'd rather just have it be obsolete in certain places rather than a constant mishmash of old and new. Also I want to know what happened to Denmark and Sweden which are (apparently) the only countries not invaded by the Russkies. How did we defend ourselves? Was it simply the Viking heritage that scared off the red threat? Joking aside I enjoyed the premise and setup but in the end it was too longwinded and oddly paced to really engage.

[Pavell · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first book in the series sets the stage of this global ongoing war with key settings in war torn Europe and mankinds first outpost in space. Indeed the first quater can be a bit tedious to get through, but some story lines and character introductions are very captivating from the get go. Also Shirely winds up loose story ends quite efficiently towards the end of this first book in the series. His way of doing it adds a bit of unpredictability to the overall story.

The topic of remergence of facism banking on tools such as popularizing racism and subconcouse influence of the masses via media appear more relevant than ever - despite its conceptions 35+ years ago.

The unfinished story lines, which hopefully will be picked up in the sequels, certainly spark interest for more. As one of the first novels in the (back then) nascent cyber punk genre, this is a must-have-read.

[Bill Philibin · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3.5 Stars)

This book started off really slow, but once it picked up pace, it became a decent book.

In a future world, all too eerily similar to our current one, is an almost cyberpunk-like hellscape not very different from our own. Russian aggression is causing global discontent. The Entertainment Industry is ranked as important as governments. Governments and politicians are corrupt and deceitful. And sexuality is weaponized as a means of control. And, of course, racism and prejudice play integral roles in all parts of society.

In content and style it was very reminiscent of Huxley's Brave New World mixed with Rucker's Ware Tetralogy. The descriptions are vivid, and the characters are... realistically unrealistic (I don't know how else to describe it). Slightly banal, but with redeeming moments that carry them along and make them likeable.

[Xenodream G thornton · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit disappointing, for two reasons. First, it is billed as cyberpunk, but it is mostly conventional, relatively slow with a lot of historical exposition, and the style only flips into cyberpunk mode when one character is in particular environments. Second, it is split between a lot of characters so you don't get to engage much with main protagonists. Competent enough military dystopia but altogether less satisfying than almost every other cyberpunk book and series I've read, and not particularly exciting as straight SF either.

[Luna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked this book because it made me think of our own society and it made me quite uncomfortable. But I thought most of the characters were quite week and hard to relate to (except Smoke and his Rawen) and part of the plot felt quite drawn out. But since it was first written in the 80s it was quite an impressive prediction of our future.

[Bruce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written in 1999, the book is remarkably prescient, predicting the rise of fascism and/or white supremacy in the United States, and Russia, a failing state, attacking its neighbors in a bid to make Russia great again. Although both movements may be more successful in the book than they have been so far in real life. The author does a great job of world building.

[Puma Theman · Rating 5 out of 5]

illuminante, precursore degli eventi d'oggi, una lettura bellissima, non si spiega come Shirley abbia immaginato nel 1985 gli accadimenti che si sono verificati oggi.
leggete questa favolosa trilogia.

[Cesar Felipe · Rating 4 out of 5]

If they hadn't killed my favorite character in a kickass blaze of glory, I probably would have kept reading the sequels.