Review: The Difference Engine - William Gibson and Bruce Sterling

The Difference Engine is William Gibson and Bruce Sterling’s frolic into steampunk. As I mentioned, it’s the first steampunk novel I have read and I wasn’t sure what I would think. I’m not a fan of 19th century literature having waded through it in University. In his review, Robert J. Sawyer, describes the book as challenging. I have to agree. Like over period books, it is a challenging read but in terms of imagination and fascination it is worth the struggle to the end.



The novel is full of real life characters and events. The novel centralizes around the idea that Charles Babbage's general purpose mechanical computer was successfully created; throwing Victorian England into the alternative history of a technological revolution in the midst of the ongoing industrial revolution. The result is a strange play on the late 20th century's information technology revolution full of gears and steam on the smoky cobbled streets of London. Gibson and Sterling create an England obsessed with industry and science meticulously (and corruptibly) upheld by the ruling ‘Industrial Radical Party’.

The plot (which is a bit weak) is focused on the search for ‘clacking’ cards which are used to program Babbage's computer. The Difference Engine reminded me of Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway in the sense that although there is a plot, the main focus of the novel is the atmosphere and world that overwhelms the book. Also similar to Woolf, The Difference Engines’ plot is explored through a series of intertwined stories. Using several stories focusing on different characters and their worlds allows the reader to get a broader grasp of how this other London works and feels. I enjoyed this use of style, particularly because the first character (Sybil Gerald’s) accent and personality irritated me. Fortunately, she is only in the first story! In fact, in general the first and last sections of the book are slow. The first story is worth powering through and the last leaves you feeling without a resolution. If you like tidily finished novels, you probably won’t enjoy The Difference Engine. Each story has various ends untied and the mysterious clacker cards’ purpose is never truly brought about. I however, enjoyed this method as it gave the novel a sense of ‘real life’.

The novel does have some good plots. I particularly enjoyed the thread focusing on Mallory, a ‘savant’ or paleontologist/explorer who uncovers a Brontosaurus skeleton in Wyoming and then becomes involved in a thrilling mystery to find the illusive Captain Swing. This is followed by a murder mystery investigated by Oliphant, a secret agent of sorts who enjoys posing as a Journalist. These stories focus on interesting debates throughout the novel such as uniformitarian vs catastrophic geology, chaos theory, communism, media propaganda and influence which are alluded from the ‘kinotrope’ shows. This is done very well and showed signs of the deeper thought and meaning behind the novel that make the writers reputable.

This alternative history is saturated in impressively accurate Victorian detail and extravagant description of the steam and gear contraptions that keep London running. This is the true enjoyment of the novel; being drawn into a whole steampunk world stemming from the single idea of Baggage’s. It’s exciting to imagine the logistics of a giant mechanical data machine. Or indeed how the environment would cope with London as an industrial hub of smoke and pollution (well, maybe we all have an idea about that one!)

Ultimately, the novel reminding me a lot of Asimov in the sense that Gibson and Sterling created a fantastic world and through the story touched on issues and debates worth commentary. However, Asimov has an impeccable ability to make his description intricate yet simple to understand. A lot of The Difference Engine got shrouded in smoke for me. Also apart from Mallory, I didn’t have any empathy for the characters. So although it was enjoyable, the book will never be epic for me.