For many of its authors, Cyberpunk must surely be a challenge. How many genres of fiction are propelled to popularity by an indomitable masterwork? I refer, of course, to Neuromancer, the 1984 classic by William Gibson that established a standard of excellence against which all subsequent Cyberpunk novels must be judged. In light of such comparisons, the best course is the one chosen by Mr. Effinger, to co-opt the genre's dystopian heart -- multinational corporations running amok over failing nation states -- and to imbed it in a completely new and inventive setting, using it to tell a different and compelling story. When Gravity Fails leaves behind the common, Cyberpunk trope of obsessing over the failing West and focuses instead on what the Muslim world might look like 200 years from now. In doing so, it generates a memorable and vibrant world.
Marid Audran ekes out a living as a 22nd century, street-level hustler in the Budayeen, the bawdy and corrupt entertainment district of an unnamed city in the Arab world. The hard-living son of a prostitute, Marid has chosen to make life especially difficult for himself by rejecting the technological augmentations widely available in this glitzy, drug-soaked future. Such augmentations take the form of chips which are wedged into cranial jacks. These chips have the power to either modify ones existing personality (moddies), supplementing it with explosions of courage, bravado, fear, etc., or to completely override ones personality (daddies) with someone else's recorded identity. Marid's obstinance is not religious in origin, though Islam does seem to disapprove of these creepy upgrades; his objection is rooted in his need to both control some aspect of his life and to test himself against the superior skills of his adversaries. As a result, Marid lives a life which bounces from dangerous encounter to dangerous encounter, any one of which could make him a corpse. But though this is self-evident to him, he clings to the notion that wits alone will see him triumphant over his foes.
Marid's precious autonomy is threatened, however, when a serial killer begins to stalk the Budayeen, gruesomely murdering a series of prostitutes with whom Audran is friendly. When the murder strikes too close to home for the Budayeen's notional kingpin, Freidlander Bey, the Arab crime lord summons Audran, ascertains his innocence in the crimes and then forces him to investigate the murders, using any means necessary. And if that includes wiring Marid for warfare, well, no one says no to Freidlander Bey.
Narrated by Marid in the first person, Mr. Effinger animates his protagonist with a mixture of witty humor and droll cynicism. Together, they give Marid a potent voice onto which the reader anchors himself for a ride through a future world where drugs, long-dead personalities and sex change operations are about as widespread as the crime which dogs the Budayeen's streets. The plot is choppy in parts, and it takes some adjusting to the many, Arab names, but the strength of Marid's personality makes up for the piece's rough patches. Additionally, the secondary characters leave something to be desired, but when the protagonist's journey,to stay free in a world plagued by every form of slavery, is this compelling, I forgive the sins and embrace the world as a flawed but worthy entry in a genre all-too-populated by cheesy knockoffs. (3/5 Stars)
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