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3.0étoiles sur 5
More for romance readers than science fiction fans, Juil 8 2001
Fearing that she was becoming too immersed in her dancing, Lucia del Mar's parents introduced her to computers and, by extension, to the world of the Internet. Now the net has become a necessary outlet in her regimented life, and she follows its developments closely. When she meets a handsome Moroccan businessman at a White House reception, and realizes that he is the creator of a remarkable new technology, she is intrigued and attracted, but nothing prepares her for the storm of intrigue that rips her away from her world and throws her into his, bringing her virtually face-to-face with a technological advance so important that there are people willing to kill for it.Cyberspace, virtual reality and artificial intelligence are all hot items in the Science Fiction community right now. As the world moves deeper and deeper into the information age, the questions posed by Asaro and other authors become more pertinent: What are the limits of cyberspace? What is reality? Can a machine be self-aware? And how does humanity fit into this brave new world? Neal Stephenson and William Gibson are exploring this territory with a good deal of vigor and inventiveness, in dense, quirky narratives which push the limits of reader as well as writer. In that company, Asaro is something of a lightweight. Even Zaki, the computer which, or perhaps more properly, who seems even more self-aware in many ways than his creator, pales by comparison to Mike from Robert Heinlein's great 1966 novel The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. Ultimately Veiled Web is an uneven mix of science fiction and romance. Asaro has all the credentials, and her previous titles have been well-received in the SF community so I can only assume that the problem lies with the subject matter, that the sub-genre that's come to be known as "Cyber Punk" is simply not one which mixes well with other genres. Because Asaro is a good, competent writer, this is especially unfortunate. She knows how to tell a story, but it seems that her story works against her here. Her hero is ostensibly Rashid al-Jazari, but in fact, the real hero of the book appears to be the computer, Zaki, who is far more interesting, likeable and appealingly vulnerable than his maker. Because of that, and because of the romance between Rashid and Lucia, Zaki's fate is pretty much a given, and both storylines are shortchanged. I don't honestly know if anyone is capable of doing a much better job balancing such disparate elements, and I give Asaro points for trying. She has a real feel for the culture of the Internet and writes with authority about computers and dance. The only weakness I can find here is that her characterization is not as deft as it could be, and that does contribute to the unevenness of the narrative. If you're a fan of Cyber Punk, don't bother with this one, but if you're looking for a romance with some good, solid science fiction elements, then give this a try.
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