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The Cold Cash War | Rating | |
| B | |||
| Robert Asprin | |||
| Series | Related Books | ||
| N/A | N/A | ||
By now, just about everyone who enjoys science fiction has heard of cyberpunk. One thing that has always kind of bugged me is how exactly things could possibly have gotten that way, so that corporations ruled instead of governments. Well, this book is, pretty much, the explanation of exactly that. There's not much other plot other than describing how things degenerate from a mock war with fake deaths, to a limited war of corps versus the governments. Interestingly, this book was first published in 1977. So it actually predates Gibson's vision. But because it doesn't include the "cyber" part of cyberpunk, it's almost unknown.
The story is a very easy read, and at barely over 200 pages, it's a short one. But it's generally pretty fun, giving you a few good hours of brain candy. I am a bit annoyed that Asprin never really says what the intial conflict was about. And in the last quarter, when the government finally steps in, the author clearly manipulates things to the corps' advantage. The corps have unusual toxins, a technology advantage, they can break the government's communications, and the governments are helpless to do anything about it. I found it unlikely that such a conflict would in reality be quite as one-sided as it is here.
Still, it's kind of amusing to see people gasping in awe at a seventy thousand dollar executive salary. And, as I said, it's fun.
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