May 29, 2006, 06:21 PM
Local time: May 29, 2006, 05:21 PM
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#1 of 46
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First off, let it be said that nothing beats "The Great Gatsby." Nothing. That being said...
"Vurt" by Jeff Noon. It could fall into the cyber-punk genre I guess, but it's more fantasy than science. It's set in the near-future where the drug of choice is Vurt, which causes a VR-like experience. Except with a twist: the Vurt world is some sort of alternate dimension, an actual place you can go to, and not just some sort of technological virtual reality. The main character's sister gets stuck in the Vurt world during a freakish trip and he tries to rescue her throughout the novel.
The thing that really sets this book apart isn't the setting or story, though, it's the language. The kind of language that makes you stop and re-read the same sentence over again, not because you didn't understand what the reader was trying to convey but because you can't believe you've witness such a finely crafted piece of narrative or dialogue.
"Sometimes it seems like the whole world is smeared in Vaz..."
Jam it back in, in the dark.
"We are all the sum of our tears. Too little, and the ground is not fertile and nothing can grow there. Too much – the best of us is washed away…" - G'Kar
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speculative