Rating: 
Summary: Sterling's Best Recent Work Depicting A Plausible Future
Review: "Holy Fire" is unquestionably Sterling's finest novel to date. Not only is it a fine novel of ideas percolating on virtually every page, it is also a powerful, extremely well written mediation on aging and the role of the elderly in a post-modern society. Mia Ziemann is one of Sterling's most intriguing creations, though admittedly, as one previous reviewer noted, her actions seem quite arbitrary, as though they were written just to move the plot along. And I was a bit dismayed with how Sterling reintroduces a major character towards the very end of "Holy Fire", after allowing her to vanish without a trace for most of the tale. Still, these criticisms are minor in stark comparison to the richly conceived future and intriguing characters Sterling has wrought. His vision of an early 22nd Century Europe is among the most plausible I have yet read. Fans of Sterling's previous work won't be disappointed. Without a doubt, it is one of the most important science fiction novels published in the last decade of the 20th Century.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: Bruce Sterling ( and William Gibson) has almost abandoned plot in their novels. There is a plot in this book but it is of the most perfunctory " Macguffin" type.
If you are looking for a book where you will be grabbed by the plot and pulled through the book desperate to finish it, then look elsewhere.
Sterling writes wonderfully in this book of the ennui of age. This is one of his best themes, and can be traced back to his earliest work. The extrapolations he makes are great such as the Fashion industry consisting of the eternally cosmetically altered young are great.
If you liked "Involution Ocean", "The Artificial Kid", or "Distraction" then you should love this book. Otherwise especially if you are more a fan of the more plot driven SF books
you may be a little baffled and disappointed by this book.
Still one of my favourites though.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: Holy fire is the second book I had read by Sterling and now my opinion of Sterling is in question. Heavy Weather by the same author was definitely in the area of 4 stars, while this book paled into insignificance by comparison.This book seemed to meander and stop and meander some more as though the author was just trying to fill the pages. The central character even had no vision or goal set and I think this was where the book failed in my opinion. There was no goal. There was little challenge and there was no ambition to the character. I kept hoping that there was going to be some massive revelation around the corner and instead it just fizzled out at the end. I was disappointed, but went into this book expecting to love or hate it based upon other reviews that I read before buying it.
Rating: 
Summary: Impressive Depiction of Age Extension in the Future
Review: Holy Fire, by Bruce Sterling is pretty impressive. Sterling really packs ideas onto the page! He furnishes his setting with detail after telling detail: there is a much greater sense, seems to me, that the future being depicted is really in the future, and not just now + a few changes, as in so many SF books. And the details are cleverly backgrounded: offhandedly mentioned here, revealed by a turn of phrase there, implied by a description...(Also, he does stop and lecture on occasion: but the lectures are interesting, not distracting, and important to his story.) Anyway, the way Sterling does this stuff is great fun (in his short fiction too), and he's pretty good at little jokes on the one hand, and telling aphorisms on the other hand. Holy Fire is set 100 years in the future, and the main character is a woman born in 2001 (a symbolic date, I'm sure; as the fact that the book opens with the death of her former lover, born in 1999, is symbolic too). This woman, Mia Ziemann, after attending her lover's "funeral", and receiving a mysterious "gift" from him (the password to his questionably legal Memory Palace) (a MacGuffin if there ever was one!) undergoes a crisis of sorts and decides that it is time to cash in her chips, as it were, and undergo the radical life-extension treatment which she has been planning. She comes out of the treatment a young woman in appearance, and a different person in attitude, and with a different name (Maya). As a result, she runs off (illegally) to Europe, trying to live the life of the late-21st century young people (it seems). The rest of the book follows her somewhat rambling adventures with a variety of Europeans, young and old, as well as eventually getting around to the meaning of the MacGuff -- er, I mean, Memory Palace. The book is very strong on the description and rationale for the culture and economics of a future dominated by medical treatment, life-extension methods, and (as a result of the previous two), old people. Sterling knows that if people live a long time, society will be very different, and he does a good job showing us one way it might be different. His views of both young (say, up to 60 or so) and old (up to 120 or more at the time of the book) people are very well done. Part of the book is an attempt to get at what the difference between a society of very-long-lived people (like up to 150 years or so), and a society of near-immortals (up to 1500 years or more) might be: and here he waves his hand at some neat ideas but kind of fails to really convince. Throughout it is readable, interesting, and funny. The resolution is solid, though as I have suggested, he waves at a more "transcendental" ending, and doesn't really succeed there. But Maya's story is honest and convincing, though Maya as a character is a little harder to believe. She seems to be whatever the plot needs her to be at certain times: this is partly explainable by the very real physical and psychological changes she must be undergoing: but at times it seems rather arbitrary.
Rating:
Summary: Truly great
Review: I really don't know what to say. This is an absolutely amazing novel. Sterling is a genius.
Rating:
Summary: Living Longer Better!
Review: Imagine yourself, as a very old person, suddenly made very young again. Would you want your old desires and passions back, if they were forced upon you? Most would say yes, and Bruce Sterling writes a wonderful and enlightening tale centering around a woman named Mia and how human desires and values change as we grow older and how our basic drives can be turned upside down if we became young again. Older people sometimes get set in established behavioral patterns and Sterling gives thought to this in addition to possible societal views and monetary structures that may accompany vastly extended life spans. Sterling writes of a world in the process of achieving the goal of extending human life spans indefinitely, set late in the 21st century. Sterling uses the term 'posthuman' often in this novel, I believe he should have used the term 'transhuman' as this term more accurately describes the characters in this novel. As I understand it, a posthuman is one who has access to very advanced medical care and his/her body is effectively immortal, or as much as is practical or theoretically possible, and yes, I am probably splitting hairs here. But in fact, one could argue we have transhuman medical care in existence already, with the advent of artificial hearts, etc.. This novel is wrote in an easy to read, flowing style, a pleasure to read, much of the plot had the character Mia living a wandering and aimless lifestyle, but the story was well executed. I found it a cute story, much human interest, with humor mixed in. It's premise of a society transformed by long life spans could be a portent of things to come, and how ultimately we may be able to use our science to bootstrap ourselves out of our own mortality.
Rating:
Summary: Intricate with a sence of humour
Review: In general, Sterlings' books are great. They have a coherent plot and a lot of interesting and inventive details (e.g. post-apocalyptic futuristic customs and technology). I find it difficult, however, to understand the motives and drives of a lot of the characters. Occasionally I wonder why they bother to do what they do. Maybe it's just me. Read it -- time well wasted.
Rating:
Summary: Wait for this novel in the 1/2 price used book store
Review: Like Gibson's "Idoru", Sterling's "Holy Fire" seriously needs some holy fire. What is this? Some post 20 century angst-soap opera-see Europe travel romp with a slap of the old cyberpunk paint brush? The innovations in this novel are far and few (enhanced talking dogs - nice touch) - the rejuvenation technique(s) almost a trival pretext for what seems to be a post-20th century remake of a Nathanel Hawthorne story: old person becomes young person and goes on European rutting expedition. I almost have the feeling Sterling is pandering to a certain politically correct crowd. Save your money and buy this novel in paperback at the 1/2 price book store.
Rating:
Summary: MIA SWALLOWED BY MAYA
Review: STERLING does a great job of showing the pain of transition for his initial central character, Mia, as she struggles to become a real woman, Maya. The Mia/Maya schizoid personality sustained conflict throughout the story. It works to the last line where Maya finally proves she has the Holy Fire to click her first true picture. Ambiguity arises, however, as to whether her Holy Fire results from her longevity drug treatment or whether her own will power gave her a second chance to find her muse. The question is: what motivates the old Mia to become the young at heart Maya? What did Sterling create in Maya? Was she a drug sculptured android without a real soul? Perhaps this was Sterling's underlying question--does Mia need a soul?
The author's distinction between gerontocrats and the vivid, young generation is suspect because if the longevity treatments were actually working the older class would stay young at heart--not just young of skin. This doesn't happen. So all the treatments to keep the body clicking are, in the main, cosmetic. Something else is missing here, most old people want to stay alive to enjoy their grand kids and great grand kids. Here the old seem to grow into a narcissistic, power driven shell, abandoning their own kid's lives. However, the story works because it exposes the hidden disconnect between just living and the quality of life. Sterling barely explains a lot of his jargon. His drug, lacrimogen, sounds like ecstasy. All it seems to do in the story is give the users a good cry! I'll bet no reader understood why Mia/Maya almost died in the immersion scene due to the interaction of the futuristic drugs inside her body with those in the pool. One must ask Sterling who he thinks his readers are--chemists? Sterling's projected growth in the medico-pharmaceutical industry is very thought provoking. It gives Sterling an opportunity to investigate the divide between the cult favoring longevity and the young x'ers. His sharpest statement is made when he has the young would be artist girl take the swan dive off the building. "To hell with your longevity!" she sang as she splattered to the ground.
Rating:
Summary: MIA SWALLOWED BY MAYA
Review: STERLING does a great job of showing the pain of transition for his initial central character, Mia, as she struggles to become a real woman, Maya. The Mia/Maya schizoid personality sustained conflict throughout the story. It works to the last line where Maya finally proves she has the Holy Fire to click her first true picture. Ambiguity arises, however, as to whether her Holy Fire results from her longevity drug treatment or whether her own will power gave her a second chance to find her muse. The question is: what motivates the old Mia to become the young at heart Maya? What did Sterling create in Maya? Was she a drug sculptured android without a real soul? Perhaps this was Sterling's underlying question--does Mia need a soul?
The author's distinction between gerontocrats and the vivid, young generation is suspect because if the longevity treatments were actually working the older class would stay young at heart--not just young of skin. This doesn't happen. So all the treatments to keep the body clicking are, in the main, cosmetic. Something else is missing here, most old people want to stay alive to enjoy their grand kids and great grand kids. Here the old seem to grow into a narcissistic, power driven shell, abandoning their own kid's lives. However, the story works because it exposes the hidden disconnect between just living and the quality of life. Sterling barely explains a lot of his jargon. His drug, lacrimogen, sounds like ecstasy. All it seems to do in the story is give the users a good cry! I'll bet no reader understood why Mia/Maya almost died in the immersion scene due to the interaction of the futuristic drugs inside her body with those in the pool. One must ask Sterling who he thinks his readers are--chemists? Sterling's projected growth in the medico-pharmaceutical industry is very thought provoking. It gives Sterling an opportunity to investigate the divide between the cult favoring longevity and the young x'ers. His sharpest statement is made when he has the young would be artist girl take the swan dive off the building. "To hell with your longevity!" she sang as she splattered to the ground.
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