this is a fabulous tongue in cheek romp through the near future. Great and interesting characters. Highly recommended

And a very catchy cover to get you in on first glance

Basic outline: Earth is being ravaged by war. A steel eating virus is sweeping Europe. The Reich is marching on Paris.

The precocious "daughter" of a French noblewoman, who is a governnment adviser, is sent to an exclusive school on the moon to escape the attentions of a used to be famous musician. There she is kidnapped in an attempt to influence the French to surrender.

The book tells the subsequent adventures.

Really clever and worth a read.

I have read criticism (see amazon.com reviews) that it is a bit derivative but I think there is enough new concepts here to make that criticism unfair. As that reviewer pointed out there are borrowed William Gibson concepts. But what the hell, Gibson really defined the genre. And as he or she also points out there is even a character called "gibson" but I have no doubt that this naming is deliberate.... there is also a ship called the "Shockwave Rider". This is also no doubt a deliberate nod in the direction of the marvellous and now rather old novel by John Brunner. Here I show my age as i can remember being blown away by that book when I read it in about 1979.

Be warned however that there are VERY graphic sex scenes. I a no prude but they are a bit out of place in this style of book. The sex was necessary for the story but not the great detail!!

And also a high level violence warning. But this is more "acceptable" (!!maybe!!!) as it is stylised and a bit "Matrixy" if you get my drift.

It would be a ten star but for the overdone sex and violence. Also maybe just maybe towards the end: the new found powers of LizAlec are just a bit hard to swallow

I will be seeking out more books by this author. Stay tuned.

Good luck and happy reading.


Release is planned for tonight (central australian summer time) the 15th January at the Honeypot Laundry so my new friend Grooble has a chance of picking it up

On reflection I like this book so much I may buy another copy or two to spread around

Released on Thursday, January 15, 2004 at laundromat, Honeypot Rd in Adelaide, South Australia Australia.

planned for tonight (the 15th).

Hopefully Grooble is around. You may like this. Who knows

and sorry grobble i got the first two numbers of bcin around the wrong way...as indicated in separate email. Please change it for me.

to be read, will post when done!

am halfway through it, and very much in favour of this book! many thanks to newk for putting me onto these authors (go and get Hyperion, too)


finished it! A wonderful read, very humorous too! I laughed out loud 5 or 6 times, thoroughly enjoying the fast-paced CyberPunk complexity of it all.

If I had read the blurb on the back, I wouldn't have ever read it, and am glad that bookcrossing and newk have introduced me to this author!

thanks, groobs! i'm looking forward to it... (got the right BCID from the newkster, so no worries!)

thanks again for being willing to pass this on. it's so cool that i found it (and you) via the 'recently released' box!