Books of Big Ideas often polarize reviewers, and Bruce Sterling's latest novel is no exception. Either the best SF book of this or any other year (Cory Doctorow) or "a mess of a book about the mess of the world" (John Clute), The Caryatids, at the very least, illustrates Sterling's ability to raise voices (in praise or protest) 30 years after he laid the groundwork for the cyberpunk movement, without which contemporary SF would be a much rockier — and much less diverse — landscape. Sterling's complex, controversial vision of our future invites comparison to Neal Stephenson (Cryptonomicon, Snow Crash) and William Gibson (Neuromancer). Love him or hate him, Bruce Sterling always has something important to say, and The Caryatids is worth a look.