In 2095, the world has been through some rough pandemics and wound up run by a gerontocracy facilitated by advanced medical technology. Mia Ziemann has been careful enough to make it to age 94 before finally deciding to try a full rejuvenation treatment, and decides to try the new cutting-edge technology— which, in addition to restoring physical youth, also adds a lot of fresh new brain cells to replace the ones lost over the decades. And with a head full of fresh neurons and a body coursing with youthful hormones, the rejuvenated Mia finds that she has an all-new set of priorities that don’t match the life she led before. This carries her off on an escapade into Europe and a world of disaffected young artists who aren’t so thrilled to be in a society run by and for the aged.

The future society is very believable, and Sterling put a lot of good thought into an artistic world a century from the time the book was written. The story itself has world-sized problems without world-sized solutions; it’s a good cautionary tale that warns of what can go wrong, but only provides a basis for speculation about how to do things right. ( )

The central theme of this book is that the future will be safe and boring. Sadly, this makes for a very boring book. Bruce's ideas are amazing, and his short stories are brilliant, but his novels rarely work for me. ( )

Near future cyber punk. Some interesting speculation on political, cultural, economic and artistic implications of life-extension. The details of the near-future world were well developed. Some of the characters were interesting but several fell flat for me. Personally I felt bad for the pets... ( )

Staunch sci-fi lovers rejoice - it's future building that still hasn't come to pass and is therefore - still spooky interesting. Extreme age extension leads a woman t o chase the singularity, when medical advancements will let her live forever. She doesn't make it, but it's a wild ride. How's this for some teasers - spend yuour vay-cay getting away from it all while de-evolutionized into an ape-man, or take a plunge into the cutting edge of social networking by swimming in 'liquid math.' Crazeee fun! don't miss! Hugo winner, I believe. ( )

A realised version of the old people are boring meme. Rejuvenation treatments are available to those that can afford them, and these lead to, of course, those very elderly being in control through wealth and
influence. They tend to lead static, safe, placid lives to protect their investment in themselves.

So, any change can only come through the young who avoid any of the existing technology. Here, one of the former group crosses to the latter, slumming to some degree.

http://notfreesf.blogspot.com/2006/12/holy-fire-bruce-sterling.html ( )

Some interesting ideas, but just didn't grab me ( )

http://bactra.org/reviews/holy-fire/ ( )

In the not-too-distant future, improvements in life-sustaining technology and a fear of infection resulting from an age of devastating plagues has created a suffocating gerontocracy where every act is monitored and morality is founded on how much you cost to keep alive. Sterling's strength is that he thinks deeply about the societal changes that technology causes; it's Science Fiction in the best sense. Occasionally, the plot seems to meander because Sterling is eager to show off one implication or another, but it's pretty fast-moving, so the digressions don't drag. ( )

http://www.sfreader.com/read_review.a... ( )

In the near future, life-extension technology is available to those who have the money and stay well-behaved, which means that the people in power are extremely old and well-behaved and the young don’t think there’s much left for them. Sterling’s great idea here is that the technology advances in spurts and in competing options, so people have to choose – and if you get life-extension now, you may not be able to use the better tech that comes along in five years. That’s a great idea, when so much sf assumes monolithic and non-improving technology. Unfortunately, the story itself is less engaging – a well-behaved old woman decides on a promising new technology, which revitalizes her body but also messes with her mind, so she leaves the US to bounce around Europe with young Eurotrash, talk about art, and try to learn photography. I liked her older, soberer version better, which I probably wasn’t supposed to. Some of the young folks think they have a way around the gerontocracy through virtual reality tech, but I wasn’t excited by the possibility of their success – or failure. ( )