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I think you're right there and I think it suffers from the political context in which it was written. The near future America of Peripheral was far stronger and
by spats1990 5y ago
I think you're right there and I think it suffers from the political context in which it was written. The near future America of Peripheral was far stronger and more convincing, even politically, than the near future America of Agency.
- speed_spread 5y agoAlso, Peripheral described a dark, dilapidated countryside / suburbia which was a new landscape for Gibson. While Agency's stub differs significantly from ours but because it is closer chronologically maybe it felt uncanny?
- spats1990 5y agoYeah I wasn't being precise sorry. The agency stub's similarities to our world felt too "on the nose" or similar, in a way that detracted from it being an accurate/enthralling depiction of our world (in the way that all sf is no matter when/where it's set). It's hard to phrase what I mean here but I think the countryside/suburbia might have something to do with it. "2060s USA: The Department of Homeland Security is an oppressive militia and also one of very few sources of stable employment" felt much more real and powerful than "Kinda 201X USA: Trump didn't win, but now there's a nuclear standoff" but I can't say why exactly. There is still a lot of classic Gibson prose in Agency though--the good stuff. High hopes for the new book.
- jasonladuke0311 5y agoGood job on nailing down one of the things I didn't like about Agency. I felt the world-building in The Peripheral was top-notch, and it felt Agency kind of threw that away and it made everything feel very muddy.