Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context Literature / IslandsInTheNet

Go To

1[[quoteright:238:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/IslandsInTheNet1stEd_1228.jpg]]
2
3''Islands in the Net'' is a political science-fiction novel by Creator/BruceSterling, published in 1988.
4
5The story is first set in 2023, Galveston, Texas. It follows the adventure of Laura Webster, a Public Relations worker for a global corporation Rizome. She tends a lodge along with her husband, Davis, with whom she has a 3 month old daughter, Loretta.
6
7Her plight begins when one of the representatives of a data haven, Winston Stubbs, gets assassinated during a major conference between two other data haven representatives and Rizome in her lodge. Her company decides to send her and her family to Grenada, home of one of the data havens, and solve the problem diplomatically.
8----
9!! This books contains the following tropes:
10
11* AbsurdlySharpBlade: The ceramic machetes.
12%%* AttackDrone
13* BadassNormal: Laura Webster is a PR agent in a story with gangsters, drug dealers, super-soldiers, and worse -- none of whom, in the end, are able to stop her.
14* BigLabyrinthineBuilding: An oil rig as big as a city, [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/islandinthenetoilrig_6450.jpg depicted here.]]
15* CleanCut: Thanks to the cutting power of the ceramic machetes.
16* CoversAlwaysLie: Both the above image, and the Ace publication cover are misleading. This is not CyberPunk.
17* FailedFutureForecast:
18** The Soviet Union is portrayed as lasting into the 2020s.
19** Data Havens are portrayed as existing in the 2020s.
20** The European currency is called the Ecu, instead of the Euro. "Ecu" was one of several names which were proposed but not adopted for the common European currency.
21* FutureFoodIsArtificial: "Scop", are single celled proteins grown in bacteria-filled vats.
22%%* GladToBeAliveSex
23%%* HookerWithAHeartOfGold
24%%* MegaCorp
25%%* OurPresidentsAreDifferent
26* PinballProtagonist: Laura, at some points in the novel.
27* PostCyberPunk: Definitely not cyberpunk.
28%%* PowderKegCrowd
29* PrisonEpisode: Which is also a GirlsBehindBars.
30* SharpenedToASingleAtom: The ceramic machetes
31%%* TimeSkip
32%%* TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture
33%%* VideoPhone
34* {{Zeerust}}: The book is very conservative about advancements in IT, with the result being that it looked dated by 1993.

Top