Rating: 
Summary: The Arabian Nights meet Cyberpunk
Review: A unique and original work that is part science fiction and part mystery, and is a novel worthy of many reprintings. Effinger has done his homework as he depicts a city (called the Budayeen) that recalls the days of Euro-French colonization in Arab-Berber North Africa, where millions of denizens lived in Casbahs from Casablanca to Tunis. The truly international flavor, intrigue, and cyberpunk technology conjure up a realm that is more magical then the Baghdad of a thousand years ago. Truly a landmark Sci-Fi novel worthy of recognition and the status of being referred to as a classic.
Rating:
Summary: Or how Islam went cyberpunk
Review: Effinger has created what might at first seem an impossibility -- a cyberpunk, film noir murder mystery set in the Middle East. Where is the Budayeen? That's not important (although from references it seems to be near Egypt); what is important is the characters. The people, from Audran to Papa to Half-Hajj all fit in this world. You know what they look like, feel like, smell like, and if ever they act out of character you know something is wrong. This is a world of shadows and sand, one where there is trickery and deceit around every corner. The mullahs call you to prayer and people wire their brains to alter their personalities. Life is cheap, sex is cheaper, and everyone has to look out for himself. There is nothing heavy-handed in the way Effinger puts this together. He is stylish without being self-conscious. You will be drawn in and only want to read more about this world he has created. This is a fantastic book.
Rating:
Summary: Step aside, Gibson.
Review: For my money, this is the definitive work of the cyberpunk genre. All the classic elements are there: just-beyond tomorrow technology, drugs, sex, and a casual disdain for human life. Style is far more important than substance, as eloquently expressed in the form of moddies, jackable personality recordings that make you whomever you want to be. Hard, objective truth is by turns an inconvenience or a victim to practicality and hypocrisy.The two most engaging things about this novel are, in fact, the two things that should stand out in any novel: the characters and the setting. Most often in scifi these both take a back seat to technology. In "Gravity", the technology exists only to enhance the characters, as we see how they use (and abuse) its capabilities. Best of all, Effinger captures the film noir quality of cyberpunk with style and elegance. The good guys might win, but it is a pyrrhic victory. If you're looking for the feel-good hit of the summer, take a pass on this one. If you want a novel with style, grit, and integrity (and not a little cynicism), this is an excellent choice.
Rating:
Summary: Step aside, Gibson.
Review: For my money, this is the definitive work of the cyberpunk genre. All the classic elements are there: just-beyond tomorrow technology, drugs, sex, and a casual disdain for human life. Style is far more important than substance, as eloquently expressed in the form of moddies, jackable personality recordings that make you whomever you want to be. Hard, objective truth is by turns an inconvenience or a victim to practicality and hypocrisy. The two most engaging things about this novel are, in fact, the two things that should stand out in any novel: the characters and the setting. Most often in scifi these both take a back seat to technology. In "Gravity", the technology exists only to enhance the characters, as we see how they use (and abuse) its capabilities. Best of all, Effinger captures the film noir quality of cyberpunk with style and elegance. The good guys might win, but it is a pyrrhic victory. If you're looking for the feel-good hit of the summer, take a pass on this one. If you want a novel with style, grit, and integrity (and not a little cynicism), this is an excellent choice.
Rating:
Summary: OOP but still a classic SF thriller worth chasing down
Review: George Alec Effinger wrote three books about Marid Audran, a private investigator living in the Budayeen, the red light district of an unnamed Arab country in the 23rd century (but in actuality modeled on the French quarter in New Orleans, where Effinger lived). When Gravity Fails is the first of the three books, which introduce us to Marid, who was raised in Algeria by his mother, an Algerian prostitute, and who never knew his French father. Considered a barbarian north african by the Arabs in his city, Marid lives on the fringes among the drug dealers and users, and the strippers, protitutes, sex changes and outcasts that live just outside the law, working as a private detective when he can find a client. Marid prides himself on being unwired, that is, unlike most residents of the Budayeen, Marid has not adapted his brain to accept personality modules, or Moddies, or add-ons, better known as Daddies. Nor does Marid work or live under the largesse or protection of Friedlander Bey, better known as Papa, who controls most the business, legitimate or otherwise, in the Budayeen. When a client is killed in front of Marid's eyes and Marid's acquaintances start dying horrible deaths, Marid is drawn into an uneasy alliance with both the police, whom he does not trust, and Papa, to whom he does not want to be beholden. Effinger has created a world that is unlike most science fiction books, keeping the actual science light, and letting us believe that this is how the Arab world might be in the 23rd century, with not much changed except a bit of technology. Effinger offers both an interesting who and why-dunnit, while examining the issues of faith and identity. Is Marid, a heavy drug and alcohol user who lives by his own code and is committed neither to Allah nor any other human, the faithful one, or is it Papa, who kills and extorts in the name of business but who faithfully prays 5 times a day? What is it like to be an outsider, and how do you find yourself? This book is sadly out of print, but easily available used on the internet. Still compelling after all this time and well worth tracking down.
Rating: 
Summary: Standard SF despair
Review: I get tired of sky fye for this very reason -- these folks can't wait for an end to common morality, meaning, and, most of all, the end of western civilization. Like Gibson, they mistake darkness for depth. "Kewl" will be carved on their tombstones.
Pampered, besotted, Democrat-votin' college boy panty waists, the lot of them. Pratchett is better.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best cyber-punk books I ever read, I love it.
Review: If you like cyber-punk then read this one, its worth it, really it is. Took me 3 years to get the middle one, and many trips to the US and any where else I thought it might be, but I have them all, and they are some of my favorate books. I really recomend this one, and as a cyber-punk freak, I have read loads, its up there with Gibson, and I only wish there where more. Well done to George Alec Effinger, for this true work of art, I for one thank him.
Rating: 
Summary: Narrative Misstep Mars Amazing Setting & Characters
Review: In this novel Effinger takes Marid Audran, a reluctant, layabout, fiercely independent gumshoe straight out of Raymond Chandler, and sticks him in a Cairo of the future that is both brilliantly and economically rendered. In this cyberpunkish future, pretty much everyone who can, has their brain "wired" for modifications. These modifications take the form of personality "modules" that turn the user into whatever the particular module is programmed as--this can take the form of virtually any real or invented personality imaginable (James Bond is a favourite, as are many pleasure-optimized models). In addition to modules, there are "add-ons" which are little plug-ins which can grant instant knowledge of a language or skill. This technology, plus the vast improvement of, and subsequent proliferation of sex change operations makes for a world where few people are as they were born. Unlike many sci-fi writers, Effinger manages to convey this technology quickly and simply, making instantly plausible, and part of the landscape. Audran's stubborn refusal to wire his brain is what sets him apart from more of the other denizens of the "Budayeen" (old city--think casbah), he prefers to alter his mental state through heavy drinking and drug use. Most of his days are spent sleeping off hangovers and then drifting through the red-light district, sitting around with friends and series of bartenders. However, when a series of seemingly unrelated murders attracts the attention of Freidlander Bey (the local godfather figure), he is prodded into investigating the murders and coming up with answers. Audran's interactions with Freidlander Bey masterfully capture the elaborate verbal dances and coffee ritual that accompany traditional Arab business dealings. Unfortunately, once Audran is hooked, the plot starts to betray the great setting and characters Effinger has established. It's established that the murderer is using some sort of bootlegged module to assist in committing their crimes. Therefore, in a somewhat suspect leap of logic, it is decided that in order to track the murderer down, Audran will need to be wired with experimental brain implants. This narrative misstep not only abandons the one trait that made Audran unique, independent, and likeable, but also pushes the technology to the fore of the story at the expense of character. Once this is done, the mystery is solved relatively quickly, and in a rather pedestrian way. Of course, there's more to the mystery than a simple psychopath gone amok, but the whys are only partially convincing. It's still a great book, but the last third is a bit of a letdown after the amazing beginning.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best cyber-punk books I ever read, I love it.
Review: Lots of dreck surfaced in the post-cyberpunk boom, but this is a keeper-- very well-written and sensitively conceived. Plot never drags and makes sense (a rarity in this type of fiction), and the sequels are okay too-- though this is the best of the three. Read it and see-- Effinger is very underrated; a few more like this and he'd be compared to Sturgeon or Dick.
Rating:
Summary: Seek this one out-- worth the effort
Review: Lots of dreck surfaced in the post-cyberpunk boom, but this is a keeper-- very well-written and sensitively conceived. Plot never drags and makes sense (a rarity in this type of fiction), and the sequels are okay too-- though this is the best of the three. Read it and see-- Effinger is very underrated; a few more like this and he'd be compared to Sturgeon or Dick.
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