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Metropolitan #1
Metropolitan
Meting out the energy source known as plasm in a future world, Aiah learns of the substance's powers to heal, kill, and fulfill dreams, and when she locates an unlimited supply, she plans to overthrow her oppressive government. Reprint.
359 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published July 1, 1995
112 people are currently reading
1620 people want to read
About the author
Walter Jon Williams
238 books894 followersWalter Jon Williams has published twenty novels and short fiction collections. Most are science fiction or fantasy -Hardwired, Voice of the Whirlwind, Aristoi, Metropolitan, City on Fire to name just a few - a few are historical adventures, and the most recent, The Rift, is a disaster novel in which "I just basically pound a part of the planet down to bedrock." And that's just the opening chapters. Walter holds a fourth-degree black belt in Kenpo Karate, and also enjoys sailing and scuba diving. He lives in New Mexico with his wife, Kathy Hedges.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 86 reviews
May 6, 2012
4.5 Stars
What an amazingly original piece of what could be best described as hard-fantasy. This novel is a hybrid cross of fantasy and science fiction. Much of it plays out like a cyberpunk novel, while at other times it feels like a steampunk alternate universe story. This is not an action based novel, nor is it a dialogue type novel. It is a superb piece of world building. Walter John Williams meticulously crafts an alternate world where Plasm(sort of like electricity)is a priceless commodity for mages. This world is inhabited by people, by god like "Ascended Ones", by genetically enhanced men, and even some sentient dolphins.
The whole concept of plasm for magic is really cool:
"And the power – plasm – resonates within the human mind. It is susceptible to control by the odd little particules of human will, and once controlled, can do almost anything – on the small, microcosmic end, plasm can cure illnesses, alter genes, halt or reverse aging, create precious metals from base matter and radioisotopes from precious metals.
On the macrocosmic and plasm can create life, any kind of life a person can think of,
can invade a target mind, destroy a person's will and make him a puppet for the manipulator, can burnout nerves or turn living bones to carbon ash, turn hatred to love or love to hate, can wreak death in any number of obscene forms, can fling missiles or bombs or people anywhere in the world, all in a snap of the fingers..."
Aiah is a good female lead that I would like to know more about. It is strange to me that even though she is basically the only point of view, we are never really let into her inner psyche. We needed more backstory on her and her family, and maybe the second book will shed more light. Although I liked Aiah, I fear that she may be forgettable.
Williams writing is outstanding. He takes world building and makes it the focus of this original story. I would have liked more action, but as an intellectual and social study type story, it worked. This book felt like Pashazade by Jon Courtenay Grimwood, and that is a good thing. I wish he would have penned more action as the few parts that he did, are all very good.
"She walks down Bursary Street,flame shooting from her fingertips. People scream and wither and die. Buildings explode outward at a wave of her arm. Glass shatters at her scream. Power rolls in her bones like a lake of fire."
I will remember this book because of its originality. It is a rare form of hard level fantasy. I will definitely read the sequel and highly recommend this book to fantasy readers that do not need all scenes to be blood, magic, and killings.
What an amazingly original piece of what could be best described as hard-fantasy. This novel is a hybrid cross of fantasy and science fiction. Much of it plays out like a cyberpunk novel, while at other times it feels like a steampunk alternate universe story. This is not an action based novel, nor is it a dialogue type novel. It is a superb piece of world building. Walter John Williams meticulously crafts an alternate world where Plasm(sort of like electricity)is a priceless commodity for mages. This world is inhabited by people, by god like "Ascended Ones", by genetically enhanced men, and even some sentient dolphins.
The whole concept of plasm for magic is really cool:
"And the power – plasm – resonates within the human mind. It is susceptible to control by the odd little particules of human will, and once controlled, can do almost anything – on the small, microcosmic end, plasm can cure illnesses, alter genes, halt or reverse aging, create precious metals from base matter and radioisotopes from precious metals.
On the macrocosmic and plasm can create life, any kind of life a person can think of,
can invade a target mind, destroy a person's will and make him a puppet for the manipulator, can burnout nerves or turn living bones to carbon ash, turn hatred to love or love to hate, can wreak death in any number of obscene forms, can fling missiles or bombs or people anywhere in the world, all in a snap of the fingers..."
Aiah is a good female lead that I would like to know more about. It is strange to me that even though she is basically the only point of view, we are never really let into her inner psyche. We needed more backstory on her and her family, and maybe the second book will shed more light. Although I liked Aiah, I fear that she may be forgettable.
Williams writing is outstanding. He takes world building and makes it the focus of this original story. I would have liked more action, but as an intellectual and social study type story, it worked. This book felt like Pashazade by Jon Courtenay Grimwood, and that is a good thing. I wish he would have penned more action as the few parts that he did, are all very good.
"She walks down Bursary Street,flame shooting from her fingertips. People scream and wither and die. Buildings explode outward at a wave of her arm. Glass shatters at her scream. Power rolls in her bones like a lake of fire."
I will remember this book because of its originality. It is a rare form of hard level fantasy. I will definitely read the sequel and highly recommend this book to fantasy readers that do not need all scenes to be blood, magic, and killings.
May 18, 2020
An odd mix of fantasy and science fiction with a steampunk edge. Great world-building.
August 21, 2021
What's the worst thing in a city that covers the world?
To live forever with the object of desire and not to possess it.
—p.7
Walter Jon Williams' Metropolitan (along with its sequel, City on Fire) were a wonderful beginning to a trilogy that never quite ended. Williams himself says, in the FAQ on his website:
Writing the third book will involve getting the first two back from the publisher and then packaging them with the third. This will take a while, and in the meantime I need to eat, so I’ve sold other books elsewhere.I don't know how old that update is, but it's been more than a quarter-century since Metropolitan came out. At this point I doubt Williams will ever produce a third volume—but (unlike a certain rather more prominent author I could name), at least Williams hasn't teased us readers unbearably about it in the meantime.
But really. I’ll get back to Aiah and Constantine as soon as I can.
*
I do think that Williams can be credited here with inventing an entirely new kind of urban fantasy—with equal emphasis on both those words. The world of these books is almost entirely urbanized: buildings and streets extend from pole to pole, covering the seas and spreading up the slopes of all but the most active of volcanoes. It's more of a science-fictional concept than fantasy, whose roots stretch back to Isaac Asimov's Trantor. But Metropolitan is a fantasy, too, in which a magical fluid called plasm wells up naturally whenever the relationships between human structures are just right.
Plasm can be collected, channeled, concentrated... and used.
*
Williams often tosses off names without defining them, or even mentioning them more than once. You learn what you need to—an Elton is a more luxurious vehicle than a Geldan, and the upcoming chromoplay "Lords of the New City" features the broodingly intense opera singer Kherzaki in the lead role. Gargelius Enchuk sings the music of your soul. And so on.
Some of these tidbits turn out to be more important than others. You have to pay attention to any and all details, just in case.
Kind of like real life, that way.
And, despite a few tantalizing hints, the world of Metropolitan is not just our own Earth transformed by magic and time. The differences are sometimes tiny (beer comes in ten-packs, for reasons unknown) and sometimes huge—like the glowing, impervious Shield that encases the entire planet, cutting it off from the Ascended who left the world behind thousands of years ago.
The biggest difference between Metropolitan's Earth and our own, though, is plasm. In the right hands—that is, when used by qualified geomancers and mages—plasm can heal the sick, extend life, teleport objects, delve into the minds of individuals... just about anything you'd ever want a wizard to do. In the wrong hands... well, let's just say that Williams is well aware that power corrupts.
The most frequent and visible manifestation of plasm use? Two words: "plasm adverts." Of course...
*
An interesting setting isn't much without interesting people, though—and this is where Metropolitan rises above the level of a mere "neat conceit." Aiah, our protagonist, is one of the Barkazil—the "Cunning People" (and yes, that's a pejorative, but one that the Barkazil have adopted and made their own). The Barkazil's own City fell, centuries ago, victim of an excess of... enthusiasm, and now they are a refugee people, an ethnic minority—not Romany, nor Jewish, nor Somali, but their history is akin to all of these.
"Why do we celebrate? Why aren't we all weeping?"
Aiah looks at her. "Because we get the day off?"
—p.60
Aiah has never met Constantine, a dark-skinned Cheloki who is famous for having led, and lost, a war that happened long ago and far away:
"His name and image and cause had hypnotized half the world."Both Aiah and Constantine now live in the same metropolis: the Scope of Jaspeer, where neither can feel entirely at home among the paler Jaspeeri.
—p.47
*
You see, Williams uses his exotic fantasy world, completely urbanized and evenly bathed in Shieldlight, to explore the consequences of entrenched racism and classism, often in very realistic ways—from overt examples, such as the all-too-familiar "Jaspeeri Nation" extremists, to the subtle.
Take this typical Barkazil commute:
But she doesn't take the pneuma this time, because it doesn't connect to Old Shorings—instead she has to use the trackline and transfer, Circle Line to Red Line to New Central Line—and every single car on Aiah's journey is overdue for service on its suspension and tires. It's a tooth-rattling ride, and by the end Aiah's kidneys ache and her bladder is full.Or consider the simple precarity of having to make rent:
—p.18
Gil had been sending what he could, but Aiah couldn't make up the difference on her own. Payments were falling behind, each by another day or two. Late penalties were piling up.
—p.20
And, from later on in Metropolitan, here's more about being Barkazil in Jaspeer:
He nods, but Aiah can't tell if he understands. That every step upward is a struggle against great weight, against her own family dragging her back, against those above her whose ponderous weight of privilege holds her down... a hopeless, endless struggle, wearying and so full of frustrations that, finally, she'd done something so dangerous she didn't even dare tell him.
—p.213
*
Metropolitan wasn't my first Walter Jon Williams book, but it was and remains, I think, one of his most impressive. The worldbuilding ends on an open note, but not an unsatisfying one... leaving me eager to reexperience City on Fire.
April 29, 2012
Inspired by the recent reissue digitally I read again (it is either 4th or 5th time overall, not sure though I think it is 5th) the Metropolitan/City on Fire sequence; the one distinction this time was that I read the two books the first time after a heavy dose of fantasy reading from 2008-2011 when to a large extent I exhausted my interest in most of the genre the way i did with mysteries 20+ years ago.
And Metropolitan was still fresh and interesting and did not read like a fantasy (of 2012 or of 1995 for that matter) showing once again how much ground is to explore if people (writers and readers btw) would stay away from the usual rut of faux-medieval or vampires/zombies somehow thrown together with modern tech, while still having superb worldbuilding, great characters etc...
And despite the author's insistence on calling Metropolitan a fantasy, its mindset is still sfnal and that imho is the fundamental divide between the two (fantasy - conservative, pre-modern based on the superiority of blood and lineage "you are who you are born" though of course you may just be of noble blood in disguise, sf - progressive, modern, based on the superiority of human intellect expressed in science and technology, "you are what you can achieve")
Back to the book, this is the story of a World City (though still racially diverse and divided into many states) and of Aiah a 25 year old born and living in Jasper, an ordinary bureaucratic and stale state of the World City, but being from the Barkazil, a despised stateless minority usually relegated to the dole and petty thieving, who somehow raised herself to continue school, work for the government (still better than the dole after all), have a Jasperii lover with whom she bought an upper middle class apartment in a new tower...
Having a talent for plasma work (the magical source of power of the universe), Aiah could not continue her studies in the field but at least after a few years of field work, she now works as (the most junior) investigator for the Authority, the government department in charge of regulating the plasma use (metered like electricity in our world, but with pockets of "wild plasma" here and there plus with the usual thefts and contraband...).
When an outbreak of wild plasma manifests itself spectacularly (and deadly), the Authority brass decides it must come from some usually troublesome area, but Rohder, an old hand at dealing with plasma with great seniority though now in a sort of "golden parachute exile" in the Authority, feels differently and with whatever clout he still has, manages to get the brass to appoint someone to investigate - and of course it is the most junior and unimportant investigator, Aiah.
One problem is that the place (an abandoned factory and train terminal) is in a slum, but one populated in part by the racist "Jaasperi nation" gangs where Aiah's brown skin is unwelcome; still with two Authority field hands at her back (the sort of blue collar workers of the time as opposed to the white collar Aiah) and despite the usual heckling, snubbing (eg Aiah is refused food from a stall under some silly pretexts), Aiah does her duty and by chance discovers a very powerful source of wild plasma in the area, luckily when her helpers were somewhere away.
Thinking hard about the future and pressed by financial troubles (her fiancee Gil is on an assignment away which keeps his cash flow under stress so his contribution toward the mortgage etc are less than expected...), Aiah decides to conceal her discovery and try and sell it.
In the meantime Jaasper is also home to exiled (former) Metropolitan (President/Supreme Leader etc) of (half way around the world) Cheloki, one Constantine (black skinned racially as it happens, opposed to the white Jaasperi and the brown Barkazil), plasma wizard, very rich, but whose semi-idealistic New City movement scared Cheloki's conservative neighbors so badly that they ganged up, invaded and deposed Constantine some decades ago.
Living a seemingly idle life of a rich retired magnate, Constantine still has some devoted followers (some from idealism as the New City ideology is still very appealing to many, especially the poor and downtrodden, though as we see later it is mostly a form of our democratic capitalism btw, some from habit, some like his right hand woman, lover and confidant with a pet black panther, Sorya from believing Constantine still not washed out and a ticket to power).
And while secretly sponsoring shows that keep his name in the "news" and plotting with various disaffected factions in various states, Constantine is still mostly washed out until of course Aiah comes around with her offer (money for the wild plasma).
And as a very corrupt state Caraqui (not quite near Jaasper as even Constantine is wise enough to know that he cannot p..s off the Jaasperi who give him asylum how much he despises their fossilized bureaucratic government) is teetering on the brink of revolution, Aiah's plasma may make all the difference between another chance at the New City and final defeat...
And of course Aiah's part idealism, part cynical realism is caught with Constantine's charisma and his offer to teach her "real" plasma use, so Aiah starts becoming involved in the "great game" too; not to speak that despite their ineptness, the Jasperi police cannot ignore the obvious at some point (running a plasma war machine from Jaasper tends to be spectacular) so Aiah may find herself into trouble there too.
All in all just a masterpiece and witha great ending to boot; lots of interesting secondary characters (Barkazil mostly as in Aiah's extended family, but also the Caraqui, some quite strange as the city is watery so has sentient dolphins, and genetically deformed humans among its inhabitants), though Aiah, Constantine and Soryah in her occasional appearances just shine.
After all there is a reason I read this book 4-5 times so far and I expect i will read it a few more times...
And Metropolitan was still fresh and interesting and did not read like a fantasy (of 2012 or of 1995 for that matter) showing once again how much ground is to explore if people (writers and readers btw) would stay away from the usual rut of faux-medieval or vampires/zombies somehow thrown together with modern tech, while still having superb worldbuilding, great characters etc...
And despite the author's insistence on calling Metropolitan a fantasy, its mindset is still sfnal and that imho is the fundamental divide between the two (fantasy - conservative, pre-modern based on the superiority of blood and lineage "you are who you are born" though of course you may just be of noble blood in disguise, sf - progressive, modern, based on the superiority of human intellect expressed in science and technology, "you are what you can achieve")
Back to the book, this is the story of a World City (though still racially diverse and divided into many states) and of Aiah a 25 year old born and living in Jasper, an ordinary bureaucratic and stale state of the World City, but being from the Barkazil, a despised stateless minority usually relegated to the dole and petty thieving, who somehow raised herself to continue school, work for the government (still better than the dole after all), have a Jasperii lover with whom she bought an upper middle class apartment in a new tower...
Having a talent for plasma work (the magical source of power of the universe), Aiah could not continue her studies in the field but at least after a few years of field work, she now works as (the most junior) investigator for the Authority, the government department in charge of regulating the plasma use (metered like electricity in our world, but with pockets of "wild plasma" here and there plus with the usual thefts and contraband...).
When an outbreak of wild plasma manifests itself spectacularly (and deadly), the Authority brass decides it must come from some usually troublesome area, but Rohder, an old hand at dealing with plasma with great seniority though now in a sort of "golden parachute exile" in the Authority, feels differently and with whatever clout he still has, manages to get the brass to appoint someone to investigate - and of course it is the most junior and unimportant investigator, Aiah.
One problem is that the place (an abandoned factory and train terminal) is in a slum, but one populated in part by the racist "Jaasperi nation" gangs where Aiah's brown skin is unwelcome; still with two Authority field hands at her back (the sort of blue collar workers of the time as opposed to the white collar Aiah) and despite the usual heckling, snubbing (eg Aiah is refused food from a stall under some silly pretexts), Aiah does her duty and by chance discovers a very powerful source of wild plasma in the area, luckily when her helpers were somewhere away.
Thinking hard about the future and pressed by financial troubles (her fiancee Gil is on an assignment away which keeps his cash flow under stress so his contribution toward the mortgage etc are less than expected...), Aiah decides to conceal her discovery and try and sell it.
In the meantime Jaasper is also home to exiled (former) Metropolitan (President/Supreme Leader etc) of (half way around the world) Cheloki, one Constantine (black skinned racially as it happens, opposed to the white Jaasperi and the brown Barkazil), plasma wizard, very rich, but whose semi-idealistic New City movement scared Cheloki's conservative neighbors so badly that they ganged up, invaded and deposed Constantine some decades ago.
Living a seemingly idle life of a rich retired magnate, Constantine still has some devoted followers (some from idealism as the New City ideology is still very appealing to many, especially the poor and downtrodden, though as we see later it is mostly a form of our democratic capitalism btw, some from habit, some like his right hand woman, lover and confidant with a pet black panther, Sorya from believing Constantine still not washed out and a ticket to power).
And while secretly sponsoring shows that keep his name in the "news" and plotting with various disaffected factions in various states, Constantine is still mostly washed out until of course Aiah comes around with her offer (money for the wild plasma).
And as a very corrupt state Caraqui (not quite near Jaasper as even Constantine is wise enough to know that he cannot p..s off the Jaasperi who give him asylum how much he despises their fossilized bureaucratic government) is teetering on the brink of revolution, Aiah's plasma may make all the difference between another chance at the New City and final defeat...
And of course Aiah's part idealism, part cynical realism is caught with Constantine's charisma and his offer to teach her "real" plasma use, so Aiah starts becoming involved in the "great game" too; not to speak that despite their ineptness, the Jasperi police cannot ignore the obvious at some point (running a plasma war machine from Jaasper tends to be spectacular) so Aiah may find herself into trouble there too.
All in all just a masterpiece and witha great ending to boot; lots of interesting secondary characters (Barkazil mostly as in Aiah's extended family, but also the Caraqui, some quite strange as the city is watery so has sentient dolphins, and genetically deformed humans among its inhabitants), though Aiah, Constantine and Soryah in her occasional appearances just shine.
After all there is a reason I read this book 4-5 times so far and I expect i will read it a few more times...
June 16, 2022
Science-fantasy, social commentary, romance, dystopian adventure
This is a very ambitious book that demands a lot of the writer and reader, so requires some work on your part to understand the world that WJW has built, and then put together the plot puzzle pieces along with the main characters. As I was listening in audiobook and was particularly distracted with real life (and screeching sounds on the London Underground), I found it impossible to get into both the world-building and the storyline, party because I really, really dislike the way narrator Emily Woo Seller does men's voices, more of a caricature than a characterization (she butchered Neal Stephenson's Seveneves, itself a very turgid novel to begin with), so in the end I'm not sure whether to blame the story, the circumstance, or the narrator for me finding in just totally impossible to engage or even care about the characters and events of the story. Quite disappointing as I had high expectations based on really liking his earlier cyberpunk novels Hardwired and Voice of the Whirlwind, and Days of Atonement.
This is a very ambitious book that demands a lot of the writer and reader, so requires some work on your part to understand the world that WJW has built, and then put together the plot puzzle pieces along with the main characters. As I was listening in audiobook and was particularly distracted with real life (and screeching sounds on the London Underground), I found it impossible to get into both the world-building and the storyline, party because I really, really dislike the way narrator Emily Woo Seller does men's voices, more of a caricature than a characterization (she butchered Neal Stephenson's Seveneves, itself a very turgid novel to begin with), so in the end I'm not sure whether to blame the story, the circumstance, or the narrator for me finding in just totally impossible to engage or even care about the characters and events of the story. Quite disappointing as I had high expectations based on really liking his earlier cyberpunk novels Hardwired and Voice of the Whirlwind, and Days of Atonement.
May 23, 2012
There are three scientific factors that are important to the world: the metropolis, the shield and plasm. (You can read more about them at my blog review: http://yaykisspurr.wordpress.com/2012...)
Each of these ideas had merit but none of them fully worked for me. The gigantic planet sized city had the most potential and most everything connected to it worked. So the idea that buildings built on top of other buildings on top of other buildings creating their own energy makes a kind of sense to me. The idea of a shield around the planet doesn’t. At least not as explained. It seems to come out of nowhere. I did appreciate that he tried to connect any explanations to plot elements and happenings but many times I felt I got a bunch of extra details I didn’t need at the time. This is when contrivance comes out to play and it’s appearance does not make for happy readers.
So from a hard science aspect I didn’t get my friend’s thought that I would get anything from it. Also since it failed from the hard science idea aspect I kind of felt like this whole idea would have been better spent in some kind of fantasy world. During my research for the post I found on Wikipedia it said Metropolitan was arcanepunk: “Arcanepunk refers to a fantasy world where both magic and science exist.” Huh? This didn’t feel like a fantasy world to me in the least, though the idea would fit into that kind of world.
In fact, the world didn’t work to me either because it felt rather reminiscent of the 50s sort of hard science literature. At first, I thought maybe it was written in the 70s from the book cover. It wasn’t until I was doing research for this post that I realized the book was published in 1995. This fact made the hard science aspect fail even more so as it wasn’t written that long ago. I think it’s appalling that I couldn’t tell that this was a fantasy world or that it used hard science facts from 1995! These are major aspects of the world that just didn’t make sense.
I was really open to this book because I wanted to like it. I wanted to be able to suggest to my friend that he read it and enjoy the purchase he had made. In the end though I could not do so.
In the positive, I started out really liking the character, Aiah. She sounded like a supremely modern person, struggling with financial difficulties, a dislike of her really practical job and a marriage on the rocks due to separation and the #1 reason for divorce, money. In fact, the more I write about her the more depressed I get about her life.
So basically I’m saying the character had a ton of modern problems. Knowing what I know now it makes sense she was written in more recent times, but it makes even less sense that this book felt like it was set in a modern take of the 50s or even the 70s. The book’s plot continues in this same vein in a rather senseless sprawl around the idea of plasm. The set up really worked for me. A huge multi-story burning woman…then we plunge into Aiah’s life and the mystery of the flaming woman. We get an answer about the how and why a huge woman is even possible let alone her walking around killing people. So there really wasn’t a mystery involved though it seemed to start out that way. We get introduced to perhaps the best character in the entire book right at the beginning as well…a Plasm Authority man who is under utilized and wasted.
In the end I read just to see if this character would play out in any satisfying way… you guessed it, he didn’t!
Each of these ideas had merit but none of them fully worked for me. The gigantic planet sized city had the most potential and most everything connected to it worked. So the idea that buildings built on top of other buildings on top of other buildings creating their own energy makes a kind of sense to me. The idea of a shield around the planet doesn’t. At least not as explained. It seems to come out of nowhere. I did appreciate that he tried to connect any explanations to plot elements and happenings but many times I felt I got a bunch of extra details I didn’t need at the time. This is when contrivance comes out to play and it’s appearance does not make for happy readers.
So from a hard science aspect I didn’t get my friend’s thought that I would get anything from it. Also since it failed from the hard science idea aspect I kind of felt like this whole idea would have been better spent in some kind of fantasy world. During my research for the post I found on Wikipedia it said Metropolitan was arcanepunk: “Arcanepunk refers to a fantasy world where both magic and science exist.” Huh? This didn’t feel like a fantasy world to me in the least, though the idea would fit into that kind of world.
In fact, the world didn’t work to me either because it felt rather reminiscent of the 50s sort of hard science literature. At first, I thought maybe it was written in the 70s from the book cover. It wasn’t until I was doing research for this post that I realized the book was published in 1995. This fact made the hard science aspect fail even more so as it wasn’t written that long ago. I think it’s appalling that I couldn’t tell that this was a fantasy world or that it used hard science facts from 1995! These are major aspects of the world that just didn’t make sense.
I was really open to this book because I wanted to like it. I wanted to be able to suggest to my friend that he read it and enjoy the purchase he had made. In the end though I could not do so.
In the positive, I started out really liking the character, Aiah. She sounded like a supremely modern person, struggling with financial difficulties, a dislike of her really practical job and a marriage on the rocks due to separation and the #1 reason for divorce, money. In fact, the more I write about her the more depressed I get about her life.
So basically I’m saying the character had a ton of modern problems. Knowing what I know now it makes sense she was written in more recent times, but it makes even less sense that this book felt like it was set in a modern take of the 50s or even the 70s. The book’s plot continues in this same vein in a rather senseless sprawl around the idea of plasm. The set up really worked for me. A huge multi-story burning woman…then we plunge into Aiah’s life and the mystery of the flaming woman. We get an answer about the how and why a huge woman is even possible let alone her walking around killing people. So there really wasn’t a mystery involved though it seemed to start out that way. We get introduced to perhaps the best character in the entire book right at the beginning as well…a Plasm Authority man who is under utilized and wasted.
In the end I read just to see if this character would play out in any satisfying way… you guessed it, he didn’t!
January 1, 2023
A classic, one of WJW's very best. Don't miss!
Do be aware, it's #1 of 2, and vol.1 just, well, stops. The good news is, the sequel is (if anything) even better!
The bad news? WJW planned a third book and a climax, but it never happened, so #2 also just stops. His website has some of the sad story. But what we have is near-great. 4+ stars.
The review to read is Jo Walton's, https://www.tor.com/2011/09/27/transf...
Do be aware, it's #1 of 2, and vol.1 just, well, stops. The good news is, the sequel is (if anything) even better!
The bad news? WJW planned a third book and a climax, but it never happened, so #2 also just stops. His website has some of the sad story. But what we have is near-great. 4+ stars.
The review to read is Jo Walton's, https://www.tor.com/2011/09/27/transf...
December 28, 2019
Storyline: 3/5
Characters: 4/5
Writing Style: 4/5
World: 5/5
This is a book that starts the reading running—no gently walking your way into this one. A spectacle stars the first sentence, and one is quickly thrown into a world with abilities, threats, culture, and organization different from the real world—different from most other science fiction and fantasy, in fact. The protagonist is informed, knows the ropes. And readers navigate Metropolis with her, learning the world as she navigates the dramas of her life. This gives the reader two streams two follow: the one piecing together the clues and details to form a mental picture and reference book to better comprehend the rules and possibilities of the created environment, the other the limited third person point of view which takes us through the real-time dramas of life in that environment. Walter Jon Williams handles this superbly, giving readers a path with much to view and adventures along the way, avoiding dry background-informing passages and giving all the information required to understand what is at stake for the main character and the choices she has to make.
It is a wonderfully built world, the reader never sure which details are going to be explained and significant for the plot and which are enriching embellishments. The early portions of the story make it seem as though this is science fiction, but it slowly becomes clear that it is really an urban fantasy novel where magic has been grounded in and developed as a science. The reward resulting from this science-magic meld is a socially and politically complicated world that follows from the premises. Rather than forcing one to choose a label of either science fiction or fantasy, it is more importantly a dystopia, doing the very things that dystopias excel at: showing us the gloomy ending that will follow is some worrying trend is not changed. Fundamentally, this book is about oppression—racial, class-based, or the intersection of the two. It is very much sociological book, looking at the ramifications of wide-spread oppression and the lives that grow to survive.
The book’s first couple of chapters were among the best I have ever read in science fiction and fantasy. Thereafter the chapters plateau. A disappointment in one sense, since one always wants more and better. But plateauing at such a high altitude is a feat in itself. The book avoids dips and pitfalls, and the rest of the book continues with revelations, developments, and insights that follow from the beginning. One curious feature of the story and writing is that Walter Jon Williams has a lot of social commentary—a lot to say about the world, what is wrong with it, ethics, and empathy for those struggling to figure out how to live in it. But Williams seldom comes out directly and says what he believes about these things. The protagonist, as well, rarely confronts these issues directly, never comes to firm resolutions in her mind about right and wrong, moral or immoral. The main character, in fact, often actively avoids these confrontations. Instead of building her life and making her decisions along abstract principles, she goes with what she believes or feels is right or what she wants in the moment. This makes for a rather remarkable character because she justifies her decisions to herself and to her friends along ethical lines. She rationalizes her choices as a consequence of the injustice of the system, the bigotry of others. Williams does not narrate this character development, does not tell you what he is doing or what one should believe. What is built, instead, is a very sympathetic character with flaws and inconsistencies. Williams shows us a person who would outwardly, fully and aggressively justify what she does and the necessity of doing it all while giving us looks at her internal monologue, letting us readers in on the fact that she not only has doubts herself but that she often uses the world’s prejudice against her as a excuse to do engage in some behavior that she would vilify in someone else. Our main character never tries to reconcile these, never attempts to address the gap. Williams also keeps his distance, never reverting to an omniscient, authorial voice to moralize. This was an especially subtle development of a morally gray character. Throughout the tale Williams uses this approach to critique our world—the ones readers are living in. Those readers hoping for finality or vindication will not find that here. Readers looking for a complex, realistic world with dilemmas having to be settled by flawed people who don’t have all the answers—you should get the book and read it.
Characters: 4/5
Writing Style: 4/5
World: 5/5
This is a book that starts the reading running—no gently walking your way into this one. A spectacle stars the first sentence, and one is quickly thrown into a world with abilities, threats, culture, and organization different from the real world—different from most other science fiction and fantasy, in fact. The protagonist is informed, knows the ropes. And readers navigate Metropolis with her, learning the world as she navigates the dramas of her life. This gives the reader two streams two follow: the one piecing together the clues and details to form a mental picture and reference book to better comprehend the rules and possibilities of the created environment, the other the limited third person point of view which takes us through the real-time dramas of life in that environment. Walter Jon Williams handles this superbly, giving readers a path with much to view and adventures along the way, avoiding dry background-informing passages and giving all the information required to understand what is at stake for the main character and the choices she has to make.
It is a wonderfully built world, the reader never sure which details are going to be explained and significant for the plot and which are enriching embellishments. The early portions of the story make it seem as though this is science fiction, but it slowly becomes clear that it is really an urban fantasy novel where magic has been grounded in and developed as a science. The reward resulting from this science-magic meld is a socially and politically complicated world that follows from the premises. Rather than forcing one to choose a label of either science fiction or fantasy, it is more importantly a dystopia, doing the very things that dystopias excel at: showing us the gloomy ending that will follow is some worrying trend is not changed. Fundamentally, this book is about oppression—racial, class-based, or the intersection of the two. It is very much sociological book, looking at the ramifications of wide-spread oppression and the lives that grow to survive.
The book’s first couple of chapters were among the best I have ever read in science fiction and fantasy. Thereafter the chapters plateau. A disappointment in one sense, since one always wants more and better. But plateauing at such a high altitude is a feat in itself. The book avoids dips and pitfalls, and the rest of the book continues with revelations, developments, and insights that follow from the beginning. One curious feature of the story and writing is that Walter Jon Williams has a lot of social commentary—a lot to say about the world, what is wrong with it, ethics, and empathy for those struggling to figure out how to live in it. But Williams seldom comes out directly and says what he believes about these things. The protagonist, as well, rarely confronts these issues directly, never comes to firm resolutions in her mind about right and wrong, moral or immoral. The main character, in fact, often actively avoids these confrontations. Instead of building her life and making her decisions along abstract principles, she goes with what she believes or feels is right or what she wants in the moment. This makes for a rather remarkable character because she justifies her decisions to herself and to her friends along ethical lines. She rationalizes her choices as a consequence of the injustice of the system, the bigotry of others. Williams does not narrate this character development, does not tell you what he is doing or what one should believe. What is built, instead, is a very sympathetic character with flaws and inconsistencies. Williams shows us a person who would outwardly, fully and aggressively justify what she does and the necessity of doing it all while giving us looks at her internal monologue, letting us readers in on the fact that she not only has doubts herself but that she often uses the world’s prejudice against her as a excuse to do engage in some behavior that she would vilify in someone else. Our main character never tries to reconcile these, never attempts to address the gap. Williams also keeps his distance, never reverting to an omniscient, authorial voice to moralize. This was an especially subtle development of a morally gray character. Throughout the tale Williams uses this approach to critique our world—the ones readers are living in. Those readers hoping for finality or vindication will not find that here. Readers looking for a complex, realistic world with dilemmas having to be settled by flawed people who don’t have all the answers—you should get the book and read it.
March 7, 2021
Notes:
Currently on Audible Plus
- One of the worst narrations I've heard by Emily Woo Zeller. Lifeless. Dull. Bored. Deadpan.
- Recommend reading vs listening to the audio.
- I like the way WJW can make the bizarre normal. Interesting setting & self-involved people messing around with politics & social structure. I'll probably try the next book if I can find it at the library/etc.
Currently on Audible Plus
- One of the worst narrations I've heard by Emily Woo Zeller. Lifeless. Dull. Bored. Deadpan.
- Recommend reading vs listening to the audio.
- I like the way WJW can make the bizarre normal. Interesting setting & self-involved people messing around with politics & social structure. I'll probably try the next book if I can find it at the library/etc.
February 12, 2013
"Chapter 1
A burning woman stalks along the streets. Ten stories tall, naked body a whirling holocaust of fire."
Forget the color of the sky. It's got the *punk!
An odd concept.
Wizards meet bureaucrats and gangsters in a quaint noirish setting (more than Metropolis, think Dark City meets Tokyo). Nietzschean fantasies and wish-fulfillment romance play out in a social realist novel. The detailed fantasy world is extraordinarily implausible yet internally consistent.
The story goes in many directions and shows off different aspects of the setting. That's immersive but on the other hand means very little resolution ends up being provided in this installment of the series. And the way in which the book was wrapped up (basically with a sudden concession) makes it worse. If you decide to make it to the end, make it your business to obtain the sequel!
The author apparently let his imagination go wild and ended up overwhelmed.
The Big Idea is dazzling and ludicrous yet full of potential: magical power as a tradable industrial commodity. It's sort of like natural gas except it's produced by geomancy instead of geology and can do almost anything. And it's more easily transported, making it very close to commodity money.
Fantasy allowed Williams to simplify economic relationships considerably. In this world, the rich don't need institutions to exercise the power of money (though they find them convenient of course). If they're magicians or have a few magicians at their side, they can directly change the world by spending money. It's kind of like finance mysticism and conspiracy theories about bankers come true.
You'd expect a mix of police state(s) and gangsterism given the monopolistic nature of such a resource economy. And there's a lot of that in the story. But the setting is not as violent as you might imagine, apparently because industry is big as well (judging from how omnipresent advertising for mundane products is). The society isn't too far off from our own in any case.
- SPOILERS BELOW -
Though the characters occasionally wax political or economic philosophy (Nietzsche warning!), the core of the story is actually a wish-fulfillment fantasy where the upwardly-mobile but insecure working-class girl gets the total alpha male who has mastered hermetic sex magic. Her hidden talents are discovered and she naturally gets rich too. We're even treated to her dysfunctional mother and their conflictual relationship.
It's not all dull though. First because it's not all smooth sailing since the characters' relationships are intertwined with class/race politics, all manner of law-breaking and the overthrowing of a government. The unlikely lovebirds are clearly using each other in their own way and the romance ended up unusually believable as far as these things go. There's also a couple of love triangles of course but they're downplayed relative to the politics.
Then because she goes on a power trip (sometimes literally) and that's well done, with a good contrast with the downbeat setup and her day job. Magic made that part interesting.
And finally because of the main character's (mostly legitimate) angst and of the overall cynical tone. Much of the messy plot hangs on her indecisivess.
An odd mix of realism and wish-fulfillment really.
Bonus points for the made up religions which are for once tragically lacking in Buddhism (though not in ascetism).
Some might find it a bit sickening how badly the girl becomes dependent on the guy's approval and how much she throws away for him. Her vulnerability is endearing and understandable given the circumstances but if you don't like this sort of character development...
There's also supposed to be some Spinoza in there but I didn't get it. Do tell if you got it!
A burning woman stalks along the streets. Ten stories tall, naked body a whirling holocaust of fire."
Forget the color of the sky. It's got the *punk!
An odd concept.
Wizards meet bureaucrats and gangsters in a quaint noirish setting (more than Metropolis, think Dark City meets Tokyo). Nietzschean fantasies and wish-fulfillment romance play out in a social realist novel. The detailed fantasy world is extraordinarily implausible yet internally consistent.
The story goes in many directions and shows off different aspects of the setting. That's immersive but on the other hand means very little resolution ends up being provided in this installment of the series. And the way in which the book was wrapped up (basically with a sudden concession) makes it worse. If you decide to make it to the end, make it your business to obtain the sequel!
The author apparently let his imagination go wild and ended up overwhelmed.
The Big Idea is dazzling and ludicrous yet full of potential: magical power as a tradable industrial commodity. It's sort of like natural gas except it's produced by geomancy instead of geology and can do almost anything. And it's more easily transported, making it very close to commodity money.
Fantasy allowed Williams to simplify economic relationships considerably. In this world, the rich don't need institutions to exercise the power of money (though they find them convenient of course). If they're magicians or have a few magicians at their side, they can directly change the world by spending money. It's kind of like finance mysticism and conspiracy theories about bankers come true.
You'd expect a mix of police state(s) and gangsterism given the monopolistic nature of such a resource economy. And there's a lot of that in the story. But the setting is not as violent as you might imagine, apparently because industry is big as well (judging from how omnipresent advertising for mundane products is). The society isn't too far off from our own in any case.
- SPOILERS BELOW -
Though the characters occasionally wax political or economic philosophy (Nietzsche warning!), the core of the story is actually a wish-fulfillment fantasy where the upwardly-mobile but insecure working-class girl gets the total alpha male who has mastered hermetic sex magic. Her hidden talents are discovered and she naturally gets rich too. We're even treated to her dysfunctional mother and their conflictual relationship.
It's not all dull though. First because it's not all smooth sailing since the characters' relationships are intertwined with class/race politics, all manner of law-breaking and the overthrowing of a government. The unlikely lovebirds are clearly using each other in their own way and the romance ended up unusually believable as far as these things go. There's also a couple of love triangles of course but they're downplayed relative to the politics.
Then because she goes on a power trip (sometimes literally) and that's well done, with a good contrast with the downbeat setup and her day job. Magic made that part interesting.
And finally because of the main character's (mostly legitimate) angst and of the overall cynical tone. Much of the messy plot hangs on her indecisivess.
An odd mix of realism and wish-fulfillment really.
Bonus points for the made up religions which are for once tragically lacking in Buddhism (though not in ascetism).
Some might find it a bit sickening how badly the girl becomes dependent on the guy's approval and how much she throws away for him. Her vulnerability is endearing and understandable given the circumstances but if you don't like this sort of character development...
There's also supposed to be some Spinoza in there but I didn't get it. Do tell if you got it!
November 8, 2016
I was actually surprised how good this was and how much I liked it. Now I wish even more I remembered where I ran across it. It's an original-feeling story about a minor bureaucratic functionary who discovers a potential avenue to wealth and power and decides to make the best use of it she possibly can. The setting is detailed, believable, and makes a difference to the story, whether it's racial prejudice or long-ago-engineered man-dolphins who live in poisoned seas. The magic, which channels "plasm" as a natural resource to fuel wondrous effects, has plausible limits but retains its ability to amaze. One caveat to potential readers: there are two or three moderately explicit scenes in the story. The story's attitude toward sex is relatively open.
The question of whether this is fantasy or science fiction kind of needs its own discussion. Is there magic? Yes (so, fantasy). Is it set in a future dystopian world that makes a lot of sense naturally and is amazingly consistent? Yes (so, science fiction). Does the magic work according to rules? Yes (so, science fiction). Is the magic still amorphous and not extremely well defined? Yes (so, fantasy). I give up. Read it and decide for yourself.
The question of whether this is fantasy or science fiction kind of needs its own discussion. Is there magic? Yes (so, fantasy). Is it set in a future dystopian world that makes a lot of sense naturally and is amazingly consistent? Yes (so, science fiction). Does the magic work according to rules? Yes (so, science fiction). Is the magic still amorphous and not extremely well defined? Yes (so, fantasy). I give up. Read it and decide for yourself.
August 23, 2020
La recensione vale per tutti e tre i libri, che ho letto uno di seguito all'altro. Complice le vacanze al mare, ho voluto leggere quest'opera importante (sono quasi 1000 pagine dei vecchi Urania) di uno degli autori che preferisco. Ho fatto male a lasciarla sullo scaffale per oltre 10 anni, in quanto è un'opera veramente di primissimo livello, molto moderna sia nello svolgimento che, e soprattutto, nei temi. I personaggi primari sono ben delineati e crescono col passare delle pagine, mentre i secondari sono veramente variegati e molto differenti. Tanta SF tecnologica, ma con un'impronta weird che è assolutamente integrata con il resto del testo. C'è azione (tanta), c'è approfondimento sociale e tanto altro. Ho letto in parallelo il secondo volume della Terra Infranta della Jemisin, e mi sento di poterlo assolutamente affiancare a quest'opera, sia per l'intreccio che per le tematiche. Curiosamente in entrambe le trilogie, sia cerca di raggiungere o recuperare la Luna. Da leggere, per chi non lo avesse ancora fatto e che fosse in grado di recuperarlo.
July 25, 2016
A enjoyable story, but what is it about? Metropolitan is a wonderfully realised world, and Williams threads a compelling story through it, but I was repeatedly forced to ask the question - why? It's hard to feel passionately about the motives of any person or faction. It's hard to even understand how the stakes are even relevant at key points in the story. The meaningless of the narrative comes to a head in the action-packed climax, where the protagonist, Aiah, witnesses the violent coup that the story inexorably leads up to. Her detachment from the events seems almost deliberate - as if to show the reader that this world is meaningless, and so are all of its conflicts. But if that is so, why then does she eventually dive into the fight? What does she gain if the coup succeeds? What does she lose if it fails? In the end it doesn't seem to make any difference at all, leaving me a little cold as I finished what could have been an excellent book.
May 25, 2021
And again with a recommendation of a strong female protagonist that ended up a simpering mess around a strong man.
A woman on a mission meets a famous and powerful man and sleeps with him. He does things for her. It is like a magical version of Fifty Shades of Grey. It is written better than that book though. Hell, I've read shopping catalogues written better than that Fifty Shades.
I wanted to like this. In the middle, I wanted it to end. In the end, I knew I wouldn't continue the series.
2 power ups out of 5.
A woman on a mission meets a famous and powerful man and sleeps with him. He does things for her. It is like a magical version of Fifty Shades of Grey. It is written better than that book though. Hell, I've read shopping catalogues written better than that Fifty Shades.
I wanted to like this. In the middle, I wanted it to end. In the end, I knew I wouldn't continue the series.
2 power ups out of 5.
March 18, 2016
Writers who break with established genres have their work cut out for them. Genre familiarity isn't just a crutch for readers. Genre helps set baseline expectations. If a book is fantasy and character shows up and claims to be a wizard capable of magic, I accept what he says. If that same book is a detective thriller, I am rather less credulous.
When a writer forges into new territory that doesn't fall within the traditional bounds of 'fantasy' or 'science fiction', the reader no longer has clear markers to judge what is possible or plausible within this new fictional world.
For example: Walter Jon Williams' Metropolitan starts with its main character looking out the window at a ten story tall woman who is rampaging through the city while on fire. Is this a dream? Is this real? Is this a commonplace event in this city, or is there a war on? The reader, being new to this world, has no answers. It is up to the author to provide them, and quickly, before the reader is mired in confusion.
Fortunately, Williams is up to the task. We quickly learn that this is NOT a dream, nor is it commonplace in this city. However, this city is quite unlike any we are familiar with. It is a city that sprawls endlessly, spanning the entire world, and it is situated not beneath an open sky but an immense enclosure called The Shield, which provides endless illumination, and which nothing can penetrate. This immense and endless city is home to a kind of energy called Plasm, which is somehow generated by its architecture, and which can be used to enhance health, prolong life, teleport, travel outside one's body, power vehicles and engines, build weapons, and for many other persons. It can also, if not carefully controlled, turn someone into a 10-story-high flaming woman.
Our heroine is Aiah, a young woman in a minor goverment role at the local Plasm Authority. Aiah is a dark-skinned minority in a mostly light-skinned city. She's had to fight scrape to get to where she is, and she has little trust for authority. So when she is assigned to look for the Plasm source that caused the giant flaming woman disaster, she expects that she is being setup to fail. And when she actually does find the source, and discovers it is a huge well of energy that could make someone rich, she decides to keep it a secret and use it as a bargaining chip. Aiah approaches Metropolitan Constantine, a legendary man who once tried and failed to reform the city system. She offers him a chance to try again, in return for a reward, of course. And, maybe, a chance to help.
Once I started to grok the world the author had crafted I really started to enjoy it. Williams also does an excellent job, as always, of writing sympathetic characters who are also flawed in a realistic ways. And he keeps the plot moving.
The genre, by the way, is perhaps more steam-punk than anything else, but still such a hybrid of magic and science fiction that it takes some getting used to. This is either a world so far in the future that technology seems like magic, or a fantasy world where magic has unusually scientific rules. I imagine the answer to which will become clear in the next few couple of books.
I intend to read them.
When a writer forges into new territory that doesn't fall within the traditional bounds of 'fantasy' or 'science fiction', the reader no longer has clear markers to judge what is possible or plausible within this new fictional world.
For example: Walter Jon Williams' Metropolitan starts with its main character looking out the window at a ten story tall woman who is rampaging through the city while on fire. Is this a dream? Is this real? Is this a commonplace event in this city, or is there a war on? The reader, being new to this world, has no answers. It is up to the author to provide them, and quickly, before the reader is mired in confusion.
Fortunately, Williams is up to the task. We quickly learn that this is NOT a dream, nor is it commonplace in this city. However, this city is quite unlike any we are familiar with. It is a city that sprawls endlessly, spanning the entire world, and it is situated not beneath an open sky but an immense enclosure called The Shield, which provides endless illumination, and which nothing can penetrate. This immense and endless city is home to a kind of energy called Plasm, which is somehow generated by its architecture, and which can be used to enhance health, prolong life, teleport, travel outside one's body, power vehicles and engines, build weapons, and for many other persons. It can also, if not carefully controlled, turn someone into a 10-story-high flaming woman.
Our heroine is Aiah, a young woman in a minor goverment role at the local Plasm Authority. Aiah is a dark-skinned minority in a mostly light-skinned city. She's had to fight scrape to get to where she is, and she has little trust for authority. So when she is assigned to look for the Plasm source that caused the giant flaming woman disaster, she expects that she is being setup to fail. And when she actually does find the source, and discovers it is a huge well of energy that could make someone rich, she decides to keep it a secret and use it as a bargaining chip. Aiah approaches Metropolitan Constantine, a legendary man who once tried and failed to reform the city system. She offers him a chance to try again, in return for a reward, of course. And, maybe, a chance to help.
Once I started to grok the world the author had crafted I really started to enjoy it. Williams also does an excellent job, as always, of writing sympathetic characters who are also flawed in a realistic ways. And he keeps the plot moving.
The genre, by the way, is perhaps more steam-punk than anything else, but still such a hybrid of magic and science fiction that it takes some getting used to. This is either a world so far in the future that technology seems like magic, or a fantasy world where magic has unusually scientific rules. I imagine the answer to which will become clear in the next few couple of books.
I intend to read them.
January 17, 2020
This book had some interesting world-building, but the story is just OK and the main characters are fantastically unlikable. The only person I really wanted to learn more about was Rohder, and he is a super minor background character for the most part.
I am not sure if I'm being entirely fair to this book because basically I don't like the position it takes and the kind of story it's telling. It seems to be simultaneously boring and straightforward and also outside the norm in terms of stories that reward "social desirability".
Honestly, it's a fairly interesting way to go with a book, but I am not convinced that the execution worked well enough. Maybe I will change my time as it marinates in my brain, but I feel like the book doesn't have a big enough payoff for me. At some point it feels either the point is something I really don't disagree with ("charismatic rebel politicians are good" or something?), or there wasn't really a point and this was just an exercise in world-building. If it was an exercise in world-building, he did not spend enough time exploring the world he created.
Still, I managed to bump this up a full half-star just by organizing my thoughts into this review, since it revealed a bit more structure than I had realized, so maybe this is worth further consideration.
3 of 5 stars
I am not sure if I'm being entirely fair to this book because basically I don't like the position it takes and the kind of story it's telling. It seems to be simultaneously boring and straightforward and also outside the norm in terms of stories that reward "social desirability".
Honestly, it's a fairly interesting way to go with a book, but I am not convinced that the execution worked well enough. Maybe I will change my time as it marinates in my brain, but I feel like the book doesn't have a big enough payoff for me. At some point it feels either the point is something I really don't disagree with ("charismatic rebel politicians are good" or something?), or there wasn't really a point and this was just an exercise in world-building. If it was an exercise in world-building, he did not spend enough time exploring the world he created.
Still, I managed to bump this up a full half-star just by organizing my thoughts into this review, since it revealed a bit more structure than I had realized, so maybe this is worth further consideration.
3 of 5 stars
September 25, 2025
5 stars!
Great world building, interesting characters, an original magic source called "plasm", an energy that can be manipulated by human will and used by trained "mages" in this 1995 fantasy/sci-fi novel.
The protagonist, Aiah, is a low level employee at the Plasm Authority which controls the plasm supply and sells it to business and people of Jaspeer who can afford it. She discovers an unlimited source of plasm and decides to sell it to an exiled Metropolitan (Leader) named Constantine, who needs the newfound plasm to fulfil his revenge plan.
Most of the action is packed in the last 20% of the book. There is a military coup in another Metropolis and battles between the military and mages using plasm to overcome them. There are some confusing battle scenes but overall the book kept my interest to the end. Looking forward to reading "City on Fire", the second book in the series.
Great world building, interesting characters, an original magic source called "plasm", an energy that can be manipulated by human will and used by trained "mages" in this 1995 fantasy/sci-fi novel.
The protagonist, Aiah, is a low level employee at the Plasm Authority which controls the plasm supply and sells it to business and people of Jaspeer who can afford it. She discovers an unlimited source of plasm and decides to sell it to an exiled Metropolitan (Leader) named Constantine, who needs the newfound plasm to fulfil his revenge plan.
Most of the action is packed in the last 20% of the book. There is a military coup in another Metropolis and battles between the military and mages using plasm to overcome them. There are some confusing battle scenes but overall the book kept my interest to the end. Looking forward to reading "City on Fire", the second book in the series.
September 27, 2014
Hard to say! I liked a lot about the world and the cultures, especially that the protagonist was a woman of color in a society that has racial dynamics similar to our own. The magical technology was interesting.
But so much of the story revolved around who was being used and who was doing the using. That kind of cynical manipulation doesn't appeal to me in general; and I was particularly uncomfortable watching the protagonist do things that she framed to herself as either manipulating others or being inspired by them, but which looked an awful lot like stupidity and allowing herself to be taken advantage of.
And, by the end of the book, it's still not entirely clear which it was.
I'm not particularly motivated to read the sequel.
But so much of the story revolved around who was being used and who was doing the using. That kind of cynical manipulation doesn't appeal to me in general; and I was particularly uncomfortable watching the protagonist do things that she framed to herself as either manipulating others or being inspired by them, but which looked an awful lot like stupidity and allowing herself to be taken advantage of.
And, by the end of the book, it's still not entirely clear which it was.
I'm not particularly motivated to read the sequel.
July 27, 2019
4.0 Stars
Despite some medium sized annoyances in the plot and characters, this one did eventually grip me by the end.
A very cool world with a solid climax (even if the journey to get there was a little slow) and unique premise makes this one stand out years after it's initial release. While not as strong as my previous read from Walter Jon Williams (The Praxis), reading this made me feel like an archaeologist who had uncovered a wonderful little gem of a book that seems to have faded into obscurity.
Despite some medium sized annoyances in the plot and characters, this one did eventually grip me by the end.
A very cool world with a solid climax (even if the journey to get there was a little slow) and unique premise makes this one stand out years after it's initial release. While not as strong as my previous read from Walter Jon Williams (The Praxis), reading this made me feel like an archaeologist who had uncovered a wonderful little gem of a book that seems to have faded into obscurity.
November 26, 2025
this novel has everything i look for. first, it's set on an ecumenopolis, actually future earth set maybe thousands of years in the future, when the whole planet is covered by a global shield, so long ago that general knowledge of how it came to be is foggy. the seas seem to mostly be covered by megacities built on pontoons. but it's a still-warring world, split into city states, people still fighting on the basis of ethnicity. the world feels very cyberpunk and decopunk.
we spend time in slums, in homes and cars of the mega rich, in art deco style office towers and bureaucracies straight out of Gilliam's Brazil. we get to watch a street parade at one point that offers a glimpse of this world's history, the perfect kind of deep but drop-you-in-blind taste of rich cultures (which introduces the dolphins – later clarified as yeah, intelligent talking dolphins. love it). we also get coin-operated printable news machines tucked away in businesses. incessant ads beaming from airship bellies and the actual sky shield. the world's movies are called chromographs. Williams' worldbuilding is incredible as always.
the protagonist is an anti-hero of sorts, doing bad and selfish things because she's trying to get a leg up in an unfair and stagnant world. anti-heroes are much more thought-provoking MC's than ones you must clearly root for. and the eponymous Metropolitan is a fascinating billionaire/trillionaire revolutionary with a lot of inherent contradictions.
the whole book is built on how this future Earth uses plasm, something that was discovered, a sort of dark matter, energy found in the ether between all matter, harnessed and used as some kind of electricity for ordinary use (alongside existing electricity) but also, naturally, used by people or tamed as a kind of magic that you can ride and weaponize at far distances (i liked to think of this as Williams' take on "jacking in" or "hacking" but in a satisfyingly creative way – this was written at the tail end of cyberpunk in 1995). overall i don't think of this as fantasy but a feasibly grounded sci-fi (in the same way any made-up tech in sci-fi is).
4.5 stars. gonna jump into the sequel City on Fire
we spend time in slums, in homes and cars of the mega rich, in art deco style office towers and bureaucracies straight out of Gilliam's Brazil. we get to watch a street parade at one point that offers a glimpse of this world's history, the perfect kind of deep but drop-you-in-blind taste of rich cultures (which introduces the dolphins – later clarified as yeah, intelligent talking dolphins. love it). we also get coin-operated printable news machines tucked away in businesses. incessant ads beaming from airship bellies and the actual sky shield. the world's movies are called chromographs. Williams' worldbuilding is incredible as always.
the protagonist is an anti-hero of sorts, doing bad and selfish things because she's trying to get a leg up in an unfair and stagnant world. anti-heroes are much more thought-provoking MC's than ones you must clearly root for. and the eponymous Metropolitan is a fascinating billionaire/trillionaire revolutionary with a lot of inherent contradictions.
the whole book is built on how this future Earth uses plasm, something that was discovered, a sort of dark matter, energy found in the ether between all matter, harnessed and used as some kind of electricity for ordinary use (alongside existing electricity) but also, naturally, used by people or tamed as a kind of magic that you can ride and weaponize at far distances (i liked to think of this as Williams' take on "jacking in" or "hacking" but in a satisfyingly creative way – this was written at the tail end of cyberpunk in 1995). overall i don't think of this as fantasy but a feasibly grounded sci-fi (in the same way any made-up tech in sci-fi is).
4.5 stars. gonna jump into the sequel City on Fire
December 1, 2018
Williams writes interesting worlds - intricate, complicated, wildly imagined. One of the things I enjoy: He doesn’t explain all the terms used in painting the milieu for the story. You get to figure out what, for example, “plasm” is, or who or what a “Barkazil” might be. The main character is in a dead-end government job (aren’t they all?) and is sent out to find who is pirating plasm, which is heavily regulated by the government.
The thot plickens...
Pretty good story, with plenty of action, which gets intense.
The thot plickens...
Pretty good story, with plenty of action, which gets intense.
October 25, 2021
Enjoyed this one. It had good ideas, characters and plot. It was in with a shout of 5 stars but got rounded down because I wasn't totally satisfied with the ending.
December 24, 2012
Williams has made a wonderfully put together world that moves shakes
and flushes. People use plasm left and right to fix wounds & fatigue
in the sprawling city world. Plasm is like what the electric company
supplies to work your household needs, but hospitals use this energy
too. Plasm can be used with a projection of the mind to sneak around
invisible or manifest yourself in a flaming 10 story tall person on
fire as the first few sentences describe a victim. Some people suck
on it all day and over the years mutate into hanged men, saucer eyed
twistos or slugs with lips. All hinted at...
He has a problem with working out what he's going to do with this
well put together world except maybe write steam-lined story, dropping
any side conspiracies, or a sequel. Sub plots come and go quickly,
she grins thru them getting on and ahead in her life. She goes from
hovelhole to eating rare fruit without a thought to money. You meet
different police types, introduced to new strange figures (in a few
paragraphs then.....poof! gone.), and get taken everyday thru the
ghetto where the main character lives by the hand. She's working for
the authority who manages plasm for the masses and has to investigate
people tapping into stray or regulated plasm. She has a big problem
with the govt. being a minority and would like the world to be
different/better, I think mostly she's out for herself although you
never really....know....what the heck she is really thinking. I might
hate her more. She glides thru this book like it was easy as pie
(usually like a full blown 2 faced wishy-washy jerk who makes 'passu'
of people: rungs to success via lies) being who she is even though
she is catastrophic in the book-scope and plot.
I loved how Williams paints this gut ugly future world with it's
bronze net over it (catching stray plots, unfortunately ... and the
plasm) and want to read the follow up book to this. I wish we
could've followed his little stray plot with keys to the armory so
there would've been more showdowns and bizarrities.
Go to the volcano, look around, come back. I hope all this great foundation
laying in METROPOLITAN is leading to something even better (ie: book
2), because if it isn't.....heads will roll!!
and flushes. People use plasm left and right to fix wounds & fatigue
in the sprawling city world. Plasm is like what the electric company
supplies to work your household needs, but hospitals use this energy
too. Plasm can be used with a projection of the mind to sneak around
invisible or manifest yourself in a flaming 10 story tall person on
fire as the first few sentences describe a victim. Some people suck
on it all day and over the years mutate into hanged men, saucer eyed
twistos or slugs with lips. All hinted at...
He has a problem with working out what he's going to do with this
well put together world except maybe write steam-lined story, dropping
any side conspiracies, or a sequel. Sub plots come and go quickly,
she grins thru them getting on and ahead in her life. She goes from
hovelhole to eating rare fruit without a thought to money. You meet
different police types, introduced to new strange figures (in a few
paragraphs then.....poof! gone.), and get taken everyday thru the
ghetto where the main character lives by the hand. She's working for
the authority who manages plasm for the masses and has to investigate
people tapping into stray or regulated plasm. She has a big problem
with the govt. being a minority and would like the world to be
different/better, I think mostly she's out for herself although you
never really....know....what the heck she is really thinking. I might
hate her more. She glides thru this book like it was easy as pie
(usually like a full blown 2 faced wishy-washy jerk who makes 'passu'
of people: rungs to success via lies) being who she is even though
she is catastrophic in the book-scope and plot.
I loved how Williams paints this gut ugly future world with it's
bronze net over it (catching stray plots, unfortunately ... and the
plasm) and want to read the follow up book to this. I wish we
could've followed his little stray plot with keys to the armory so
there would've been more showdowns and bizarrities.
Go to the volcano, look around, come back. I hope all this great foundation
laying in METROPOLITAN is leading to something even better (ie: book
2), because if it isn't.....heads will roll!!
April 7, 2012
An excellent hard-fantasy novel. In a world that may be far-future Earth, the world is surrounded by an impenetrable shield (the glow from which provides the heat and light the world needs) civilization depends on the magical substance "plasm" which powers magic (and accumulates in pools depending on the geometry nearby structures. But this magic doesn't mean that there are wizards and swordsmen around - rather, there is magical technology, metering out the limited supply of plasm to people who can pay for it. When our heroine, a low-level bureaucrat for the local plasm authority, discovers a previously undiscovered vast supply of plasm, she has the chance to change her life, and throws in with a deposed aristocrat (a Metropolitan - so-called because the city-state is the largest form of government in this crowded, history filled world) who has a reputation for being forward-thinking, and soon finds her life completely out of her control.
I enjoyed this book very much - the sense of an ancient, tired, constrained world, where the sense that everything has been done drives the protagonist to seek something new was conveyed very well, as was her status as a permanent outsider (as a member of an ethnic group whose city had been destroyed, leaving them all as refugees, and salving their pride with cultural myths about their group's (supposed) preternatural cunning). The sequel was also great - I'd love to see the originally planned third book, but I'm not sure it will ever happen.
I enjoyed this book very much - the sense of an ancient, tired, constrained world, where the sense that everything has been done drives the protagonist to seek something new was conveyed very well, as was her status as a permanent outsider (as a member of an ethnic group whose city had been destroyed, leaving them all as refugees, and salving their pride with cultural myths about their group's (supposed) preternatural cunning). The sequel was also great - I'd love to see the originally planned third book, but I'm not sure it will ever happen.
October 1, 2013
Finally got a copy of this (I'd had the sequel on my shelf for years), and I'm very glad to have read it.
It's a far-future science fantasy: geomantic energy called plasm runs the world. There's some minor frustrations: Why do two characters (Gil and Constantine) have names familiar to us, but everyone else has a name not mappable to English language, and while electricity, cars, etc. are still there, computers seem to be mechanical, and there's a lot of other tech lower than today (the closest thing to an internet -- The Wire -- looks more like Teletext, but this is from 1995 after all). Probably nothing is more frustrating than the nonsensical cover blurb "When you live forever, the object of desire is posession" which has nothing at all to do with the story.
As Orson Scott Card says, the theme of fantasy is the price of power, and that absolutely applies here: What happens when you find a source of power, a way to use it, and a way to break out of a dead-end job? What happens when you find out how that power is used, and your morals have to slip bit by bit?
The writing is beautiful, the tech cool, the characters strong. "City on Fire" is on my short list for reading soon.
It's a far-future science fantasy: geomantic energy called plasm runs the world. There's some minor frustrations: Why do two characters (Gil and Constantine) have names familiar to us, but everyone else has a name not mappable to English language, and while electricity, cars, etc. are still there, computers seem to be mechanical, and there's a lot of other tech lower than today (the closest thing to an internet -- The Wire -- looks more like Teletext, but this is from 1995 after all). Probably nothing is more frustrating than the nonsensical cover blurb "When you live forever, the object of desire is posession" which has nothing at all to do with the story.
As Orson Scott Card says, the theme of fantasy is the price of power, and that absolutely applies here: What happens when you find a source of power, a way to use it, and a way to break out of a dead-end job? What happens when you find out how that power is used, and your morals have to slip bit by bit?
The writing is beautiful, the tech cool, the characters strong. "City on Fire" is on my short list for reading soon.
January 7, 2022
A very different world, in which magic ('plasm') is controlled, managed and charged for like electricity is in our world. The story tells of how Aiah, a poor member of a repressed minority, finds an untapped source of plasm, and what she does with it.
One odd thing is that the world has been completely shielded by 'Ascendents', blocking sight of the sun and the moon and preventing any space travel. This is treated as a simple fact of life, and is never really discussed - I like that, that Williams introduces this oddity without feeling the need to explain it (unless he does in a sequel).
One slight problem is that the story is set hundreds, if not thousands of years in the future, but the technology is not at all advanced - possibly a deliberate choice.
Re-reading this, I was struck by a thought - the clearest distinction between fantasy and science-fiction is that fantasy usually involves magic. As I said, in this world there is magic, but the book is clearly science-fiction, leaving us to ponder Arthur C Clarke's third law: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
One odd thing is that the world has been completely shielded by 'Ascendents', blocking sight of the sun and the moon and preventing any space travel. This is treated as a simple fact of life, and is never really discussed - I like that, that Williams introduces this oddity without feeling the need to explain it (unless he does in a sequel).
One slight problem is that the story is set hundreds, if not thousands of years in the future, but the technology is not at all advanced - possibly a deliberate choice.
Re-reading this, I was struck by a thought - the clearest distinction between fantasy and science-fiction is that fantasy usually involves magic. As I said, in this world there is magic, but the book is clearly science-fiction, leaving us to ponder Arthur C Clarke's third law: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
December 22, 2023
Metropolitan is an “Urban Fantasy” where the fantastic arises from the nature of the city, rather than just transporting elves downtown. On a world completely covered in buildings and urban development, the size and configuration of the buildings is what generates magical energy. It’s also so ubiquitous it’s metered and billed for like a public utility across the various city-states.
When a woman from an ethnic minority who works as a minor functionary in a municipal magic regulating agency comes across an undiscovered (and illicit) source of power, she must make a decision; report it to her agency, or sell it on the black market.
But the kind of people who could and would buy such power are the kinds who could and would use it.
“Metropolitan” is an excellent read both as a straight-up fantasy, and as a meditation on power and the philosophy of revolution. It would make a brilliant HBO series like Game of Thrones.
When a woman from an ethnic minority who works as a minor functionary in a municipal magic regulating agency comes across an undiscovered (and illicit) source of power, she must make a decision; report it to her agency, or sell it on the black market.
But the kind of people who could and would buy such power are the kinds who could and would use it.
“Metropolitan” is an excellent read both as a straight-up fantasy, and as a meditation on power and the philosophy of revolution. It would make a brilliant HBO series like Game of Thrones.
Read
March 22, 2017Just as I started liking the story and heroine it's changed, so far there is some scifi and fantasy but not exactly what I thought it would be like.
I am also very disheartened, Why is it that almost everytime there is a browned/dark skin woman in one of these books she is either a slut, a cheat or a a liar, in this she is all three. she is a liar a cheating slut and a thief. I didn't need to read about her vagina or her breast, been aroused. what does that have to do with science fiction or fantasy.
I don't see how I could possible root for this woman, who steals and cheats without a thought. I know that, that's not what this is about but still, shouldn't the heroine be someone I can respect no matter the books genre?
This seems more romance with a side of scifi/fantasy.
I am also very disheartened, Why is it that almost everytime there is a browned/dark skin woman in one of these books she is either a slut, a cheat or a a liar, in this she is all three. she is a liar a cheating slut and a thief. I didn't need to read about her vagina or her breast, been aroused. what does that have to do with science fiction or fantasy.
I don't see how I could possible root for this woman, who steals and cheats without a thought. I know that, that's not what this is about but still, shouldn't the heroine be someone I can respect no matter the books genre?
This seems more romance with a side of scifi/fantasy.
March 20, 2014
A sealed off world covered by sprawling cities where magic is metered and sold as a utility. The rich have more magic, and magic means power. The main character finds an unmetered source and decides to sell it to a man plotting a revolution. This book was enjoyable, but odd. In some places things seem to play out a little too easily for the 'hero' of the tale. The world building is epic though. And leaves a lot of questions that I presume will be answered in the sequel.
June 10, 2021
Miss Aiah? Messiah? finds power and immediately sells it for some shoes. There’s a love triangle between her and a long nose man and a guy that kills people out of a sense of duty. It’s cyberpunk tho, so the love thing isn’t weird. Wizards play with their special water. Dolphins with explosives topple countries and also engage in flattery.
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