Negative Positive
Title: Holy Fire: Too Much Smoke, Not Enough Light
Review: I wonder why I continue to purchase Bruce Sterling's books. This is a good example of a second-rate work of science fiction that has achieved its prominence by riding on the coat-tails of the author's earlier work. Holy Fire is in dire need of new, novel ideas; Sterling merely rehashes old themes and concepts that have achived prominence through other writers' efforts. The concept of talking cyborg dogs has, for instance, been much better done in short stories such as Ron Goulart's classic "Prez."This book fails largely in two areas. First, characters were only given the most shallow descriptions. Second, the Mia's introspective processes were poorly explained and barely explored, a significant weakness in view of the book's focus on the tumoil of inner life in the age of synthetic utopia.In summary, this boring and disappointing book ultimately goes nowhere.
Is the review positive or negative? 