Customer Reviews

Dreaming Metal

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is excellent. It fits into the cyberpunk genre and runs alongside authors such as Neil Stephenson and William Gibson. The story is set on Persephone, where everyone lives under the planet's surface, except for outcasts and interplanetary cargo ships. Various castes, characters and lifestyles are clearly portrayed. Vivid imagery is presented surrounding the birth of true digital sentience.

Another example of Melissa Scott's ability to produce an interesting setting almost immediately, surrounding people's daily lives.

A few years after Dreamships, a young woman is basically a magician/illusionist, working with high tech robot type bodies. Her use of them, with some grey technology seems to cross the artificial intelligence line. This sort of thing has caused violence to erupt before, and the protagonists find themselves in danger again.

This was the first Melissa Scott book that I have read, and it definitely won't be the last. She is able to draw the reader into her worlds very easily. The atmosphere of this book is very very good. This is seriously one of my favorite books.

This book was the first I've read by Melissa Scott, and I was not disappointed. I had no idea that it was a sequel to an earlier work, and it read like a new piece. The story follows three characters seperately and does a fine job of keeping you interested in the different aspects of their lives. My favorite was Fortune, the dancer. Celeste was quite a surprise at the end, reminiscient of Arthur C. Clarke's Hal 9000. I recommend this book to any science fiction fan.

I had read Dreamships a number of years ago and it has become one of my favorite novels over the years, so I was delighted to find that Melissa Scott had written a companion novel set in the same milleu.

Dreaming Metal is not a traditional sequel, and can be read without any prior knowledge. However, it is a follow up to Dreamships and I think a reader who has read the earlier work will have a greater appreciation.

The novel picks up some 5 years after the events of Dreamships, and chronicles the creation and growth of an entity which may be an artificial intelligence. The cast of characters is slightly different, and the writing is in some places extraordinary. Like Dreamships this is a slow paced character driven novel of ideas rather than an action packed adventure story.

I think it compares favorably with the finest SF novels, and is one of my favorites.

I have read both Dreamships and Dreaming Metal, and Scott is now one of my favorite authors. Science fiction is hit or miss for me, I either love a book or can't stand it. If this sounds like you, read both.

I truly enjoyed this long awaited sequel to Dreamships. I felt angered and betrayed by Manfred's actions in Dreamships. Reverdy Jian should not have been used and violated that way. I was not disappointed by Dreaming Metal. Once I began this book, I could not put it down. I was intrigued by the changing perspective, with the same event being described by different eyes. Now there are more questions about the enigmatic Red as well as new people to worry about. I am now eagerly waiting to see what becomes of Celeste. Very few authors are able to engage the reader as Melissa Scott. The genre of cyberpunk is full of writers of incoherant technobabble who violate their own universal laws and throw in jargon to cover a weak storyline. Ms Scott does none of this. This is but the latest volume in a wonderful body of work that is enjoyable and inspiring. Now, if only I could get a skinsuit..