The Artificial Kid (Context (San Francisco).)

Rating:
Summary: Reading this book was like eating a cardboard box
Review: This is such a strange, imaginative, interesting novel -- it's sad that it was out of print for ages, and then Wired Books brought it back, only to let it fall back out of print! Anyone who likes Bruce Sterling's other stuff should go to abebooks.com and try to find a used copy of this!

Rating:
Summary: fun and clever
Review: This is such a strange, imaginative, interesting novel -- it's sad that it was out of print for ages, and then Wired Books brought it back, only to let it fall back out of print! Anyone who likes Bruce Sterling's other stuff should go to abebooks.com and try to find a used copy of this!

Rating:
Summary: An excellent and amusing book: issues of fame and growth
Review: This is the book which got me hooked on Bruce Sterling. A less poundingly gritty world than Gibson's and more playful as a result. It brings together aspects of fame and change - and the adolescent desire to seek one while shunning the other - in an enjoyable combination. The focus is still the action which let me read (and re-read) it for the escapist element.

Rating:
Summary: Early Sterling -- not best.
Review: This was actually Sterling's second novel. Involution Ocean was the first. Most people forget Involution Ocean because it was not cyberpunk. The Artificial Kid is okay, but weak for Sterling. His later works were much more imaginative. The Sterling completist must get this one. For others it is a good read but don't expect a classic.