Metropolitan [Hardcover]

Walter Jon Williams (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1995

Pining away in a dead-end job for which she endlessly meters out a powerful energy substance known as plasm, Aiah discovers an unlimited plasm supply and arranges a daring plan with a mysterious rebel to overthrow the government.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The world created in Williams's (Aristoi) latest novel is similar enough to our own that the SF aspects blend with noir stylings to create a potent atmosphere of urban dystopia. Williams tells the tale of Aiah, a lower-level government functionary whose investigation of a "plasm" leak leads her into a macabre alliance with the powerful rebel Constantine, whose financial success has been built in part on a failed revolution he instigated several years before. Joined by Constantine's associate and occasional paramour Sorya (who declares, paraphrasing Leona Helmsley, that "laws are made by little people"), the three valiantly plan to restart the revolution. The action is often hectic, complete with several red herrings concerning who will betray whom first. Williams's great strengths, though, are his depiction of future society-in "the city that girdles the world," street vendors sell roasted pigeon-on-a-stick-and his understanding of the roots of political rebellion; here, he presents a solid case that rebellion arises not in response to large evils but to small slights. Ever the expert storyteller, Williams is also careful to provide more than enough suspense to maintain reader interest.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

As an executive employed by the Plasm Authority, an organization responsible for monitoring the distribution of the geo-plasmic energy that fuels the workings of the world's elite technomancers, Aiah dreams of escape from her confining and stagnant existence. When she discovers a limitless source of unregistered plasm, she embarks on a daring scheme that raises her to the threshold of political power. Set upon a planet dominated by one globe-spanning metropolitan sprawl, Williams's latest novel envisions a world in which magic and technology form an unbreachable coalition. Although the author of Days of Atonement (LJ 3/15/91) continues to explore new territory, his focus rests solidly on the creation of believable, sympathetic characters supported by a well-turned plot. Libraries should consider this a priority purchase.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 342 pages
• Publisher: Harper Prism; 1 edition (April 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061052124
• ISBN-13: 978-0061052125
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 5.9 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #532,249 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Really good story with a neat, original, SF/Fantasy world, June 6, 2001

By 

Richard R. Horton (Webster Groves, MO United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Metropolitan (Hardcover)

I've read quite a few Walter Jon Williams stories, generally with considerable enjoyment, but the only novels I've read by him are the first two Drake Majistral "entertainments". Those are fun, but light. For more serious Williams, people strongly recommended Metropolitan. And, indeed, this book is really good.

It fits in that genre called "Science Fantasy", in that it involves the use of magic, but that that magic is understandable and given a quasi-scientific backing. This seems to be set on Earth, possibly very far in the future or perhaps an alternate Earth. Millennia previously, the Ascended Ones have placed a "shield" around Earth. No one can escape. However, a source of (essentially magical) energy called "plasm" is available, and it is used for power generation, telepresence, and other uses both "magical" and "scientific" (also commercial). Plasm use is regulated and taxed, and the protagonist, Aiah, is a lowly functionary at the Plasm Authority. She is a talented member of the oppressed Barkazil ethnicity in an area dominated by the Jaspeeri. As such it has been a struggle for her to attend university and graduate to this job, and to get a decent apartment with her Jaspeeri lover, another functionary. One day she witnesses a burning woman, a manifestation of unregulated plasma gone out of control. She is assigned to the team tracking down the illegal plasma source. She's sent on what she thinks is a wild goose chase, but as it happens she finds the source, and on an impulse decides to hide her find and try to sell plasma on the black market. She has some difficulty finding a buyer, and finally stumbles on the notion of selling it to the prestigious, rich, former rebel Metropolitan (i.e. something like a mayor), Constantine. She finds herself far more involved with Constantine than she ever intended, and soon she is embroiled in his plans for engineering a coup and implementing his dream of the "New City".

It's an exciting novel, and it's built on a fascinating, original, SF/Fantastic notion. Some of the plot machinations were a bit creaky, I thought: I didn't quite buy the ease of her approach to Constantine, or his attraction to her. But all this leads to an end which asks some difficult moral questions, and doesn't provide answers either to the reader or to Aiah. She remains sympathetic, but many of her actions remain questionable. I thought this was very well handled.

This is a very fine book. There is a sequel, which I will have to seek out, but Metropolitan works very well on its own.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite williams book yet, July 12, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Metropolitan (Hardcover)

I just finished Metropolitan, and I really didn't think old W.J. could write such a cool tome.His previous books are good reads, but this thing is seriously excellent, creating a world that reflects ours through a dark and weirdly curved glass. Class, race, personal and cultural history shape many, many of the characters in interesting ways. Even the people that exist only for a page or two have more depth to them than you will find in most nebula winning novels

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Metropolitan and City on Fire, May 2, 2006

By 

Gustavo Lanzas "Reader" (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Metropolitan (Mass Market Paperback)

I recently re-read both these books, and I was again impressed with the quality of WJW's writing. I've read and enjoyed most of his other books (some notable ones being Aristoi, Voice of the Whirlwind, Angel Station, etc) and love the way he paints such a large landscape beyond the edges of the story. In Metropolitan, in particular, the descriptions of the world-city are a fascinating blend of hard-boiled urban noir, chrome-finned retrofuturism, and gritty realistic detail. Some parallels could be drawn to stories like "Perdido Street Station" by China Mieville.

All the main characters progress and grow over the story arc. The Aiah at the end of City on Fire is not the same girl we meet in the begining of Metropolitan.

Finally, I appreciate that WJW actually made his main characters have distinct and interesting ethnicities. The majority of american writers have no problem including all sorts of incredible aliens, but rarely have anyone who is not caucasian as a protagonist in the story. And race is actually a factor in the story line, not just a PC sop, ala Star Trek.

Highly recommend anything by this author.