There is also a side story of a virtual castle that is bequeathed to her by an old boyfriend that doesn't really go anywhere. She becomes a hit fashion model, then tries to be a photographer. That is okay but none of it really amounted to anything.

Part of it is that you don't know how much of her behaviour is because of the treatment and how much is just her. Mia's rebelliousness is also inconsistent. So you learn about the dissatisfaction of the youth from her meetings with said youth, but you don't really get to see it. She gets a radical new treatment that makes her young again and then decides to break free, flees to europe and joins various culture and fashion groups and does somewhat wild things. The protagonist is Mia an old civil servant who has always played it safe. It's a post-scarcity society but the young people all feel trapped and limited. The idea is that the old people stay in control and the world cannot really evolve culturally anymore. The world is run by the polity who maintains health and order. The idea is that medical advancements have gotten humanity to be almost immortal. It takes place at the end of the 21st century, about a hundred years from the 1990s when it was written. That being said, there were several neat ideas and moments that gave me things to ponder in an enjoyable sci-fi way. There just wasn't enough in it for me to really get caught up in the storyline and the main character. It doesn't follow the typical narrative structure of a novel, which is not a bad thing at all. It's not bad, but I didn't really get the point of it. I don't really know how I feel about this book. Found this in the free shelf on Waverly and thought it would be a good opportunity to rectify that omission. I've never read a Bruce Sterling book, which is sort of a big omission since I am of the cyberpunk generation.

Holy Fire by Bruce Sterling