- Paperback: 300 pages
- Publisher: Night Shade Books; Reprint edition (3 Jan 2012)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1597803340
- ISBN-13: 978-1597803342
- Product Dimensions: 22.6 x 15.2 x 2.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 988,555 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
Dancing With Bears follows the adventures of notorious con-men Darger and Surplus: They''ve lied and cheated their way onto the caravan that is delivering a priceless gift from the Caliph of Baghdad to the Duke of Muscovy. The only thing harder than the journey to Muscovy is their arrival in Muscovy. An audience with the Duke seems impossible to obtain, and Darger and Surplus quickly become entangled in a morass of deceit and revolution. The only thing more dangerous than the convoluted political web surrounding Darger and Surplus is the gift itself, the Pearls of Byzantium, and Zoesophia, the governess sworn to protect their virtue.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Vampire novels to the left of us, zombie novels to our right, with dystopian novels in our midst; such is the current dismal state of affairs in publishing science fiction. Most of these aren't worth the paper they are printed on, even if they are from some of our best known authors or the latest literary darlings aspiring toward artistic and commercial success, claiming to have both a firm appreciation and understanding of science fiction's storied past. That one of science fiction's greatest writers, Michael Swanwick, can have his newest novel published only by a boutique publisher, Night Shade Books, not a major publisher like Simon and Schuster, is emblematic of what is amiss now in publishing science fiction. It's a bleak status that can be rectified only if readers go out and buy in droves, the very good to great literature written still by the likes of Swanwick and others.
"Dancing with Bears" isn't Michael Swanwick at his best, but it comes quite close, reminding us that he remains among our finest prose stylists in contemporary science fiction literature. It's an irresistible swashbuckling dystopian steampunk page turner chronicling the latest exploits of con artists Aubrey Darger and Sir Blackthrope Ravenscairn de Plus Precieux (aka Surplus), his bioengineered humanoid canine companion, whose previous adventures have been noted in such classic Swanwick short stories like "The Dog Said Bow-Wow" , "The Little Cat Laughed To See Such Sport", and "Girls and Boys, Come Out To Play" (all three collected in his recent short story collection "The Dog Said Bow-Wow"). While fans of Darger and Surplus will miss their constant companionship in "Dancing With Bears", they will be delighted with the snappy, often insolent, dialogue uttered by both, as they seek their fortune and confront danger in a PostUtopian (distant future) Moscow. However, the reader doesn't require prior familiarity with Darger and Surplus to enjoy reading this novel on its own merits; Swanwick has added other, equally compelling, characters, like Anya Pepsicolova, Darger's frequent companion as they confront those seeking to revive a Russian "tsar" from Russia's Utopian past (early 20th Century).
If you are new to Swanwick but have enjoyed Neal Stephenson's "Snow Crash" and Gary Shteyngart's "Super Sad True Love Story", then you won't be disappointed with "Dancing With Bears". Like those other two great works of comedic science fiction, I found it impossible to put down, and, all too often, hilarious, even in scenes replete with ample mayhem and gore. "Dancing With Bears" may not exhibit the same high literary craft Swanwick has demonstrated previously in his great novels "Stations of the Tide", "The Iron Dragon's Daughter" and "Jack Faust", but remains astonishingly close, and is a better, far more entertaining, read than virtually all of the newly published novels in science fiction and fantasy. If nothing else, Swanwick demonstrates once more that he is as fine a literary stylist as his fellow cyberpunk pioneer William Gibson, and one worthy of comparison not only to him but also to the likes of Samuel Delany, Ursula K. Le Guin and China Mieville.
"Dancing with Bears" isn't Michael Swanwick at his best, but it comes quite close, reminding us that he remains among our finest prose stylists in contemporary science fiction literature. It's an irresistible swashbuckling dystopian steampunk page turner chronicling the latest exploits of con artists Aubrey Darger and Sir Blackthrope Ravenscairn de Plus Precieux (aka Surplus), his bioengineered humanoid canine companion, whose previous adventures have been noted in such classic Swanwick short stories like "The Dog Said Bow-Wow" , "The Little Cat Laughed To See Such Sport", and "Girls and Boys, Come Out To Play" (all three collected in his recent short story collection "The Dog Said Bow-Wow"). While fans of Darger and Surplus will miss their constant companionship in "Dancing With Bears", they will be delighted with the snappy, often insolent, dialogue uttered by both, as they seek their fortune and confront danger in a PostUtopian (distant future) Moscow. However, the reader doesn't require prior familiarity with Darger and Surplus to enjoy reading this novel on its own merits; Swanwick has added other, equally compelling, characters, like Anya Pepsicolova, Darger's frequent companion as they confront those seeking to revive a Russian "tsar" from Russia's Utopian past (early 20th Century).
If you are new to Swanwick but have enjoyed Neal Stephenson's "Snow Crash" and Gary Shteyngart's "Super Sad True Love Story", then you won't be disappointed with "Dancing With Bears". Like those other two great works of comedic science fiction, I found it impossible to put down, and, all too often, hilarious, even in scenes replete with ample mayhem and gore. "Dancing With Bears" may not exhibit the same high literary craft Swanwick has demonstrated previously in his great novels "Stations of the Tide", "The Iron Dragon's Daughter" and "Jack Faust", but remains astonishingly close, and is a better, far more entertaining, read than virtually all of the newly published novels in science fiction and fantasy. If nothing else, Swanwick demonstrates once more that he is as fine a literary stylist as his fellow cyberpunk pioneer William Gibson, and one worthy of comparison not only to him but also to the likes of Samuel Delany, Ursula K. Le Guin and China Mieville.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
8 reviews
16 of 18 people found the following review helpful
A Swanwick novel gone astray
15 May 2011
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Swanwick is one of my favorite writers - I buy each new book of his as soon as it is available for pre-order - but it's looking like the Vacuum Flowers 'verse, the short stories like "The Dead" from the late 90s, and _The Iron Dragon's Daughter_ were his peak. (A peak that to me is the best sf/f since _The Book of the New Sun_.) The new novel is set in the dystopian future of the Surplus/Darger stories (which I think are just ok) from _The Dog Said Bow-Wow_. Unfortunately it doesn't have enough of either, spreading the POV over a variety of characters several of whom I didn't care about. Readers of _The Dragons of Babel_ will recognize various elements here - the cons, the somewhat steampunk feel, the vast city aboveground and under inhabited by people more and less than human - but there's no character development, or creative joy that leavens the horrific parts of the action. And while there wasn't anything as frustrating as the resolution of the underground section of that novel, I just stopped caring what happened about half way through _Dancing With Bears_. And there are some things that just didn't work for me, like an extended description of girls dressing that came across like bad Heinlein at his most leering, and several transformations that seemed more imposed than organic, and various revelations or resolutions that were too predictable.
As usual the prose is of the highest quality, and there's a short sequence toward the end of chapter 5 which I'll treasure for its stunning beauty and simplicity. And those interested in Moscow as a place might get more out of this than I did. And even as perhaps his worst novel it's a lot better than most of what's out there. But this is probably best for Swanwick completists like me and readers who enjoyed the Surplus/Darger stories from _The Dog Said Bow-Wow_ more than the others.
As usual the prose is of the highest quality, and there's a short sequence toward the end of chapter 5 which I'll treasure for its stunning beauty and simplicity. And those interested in Moscow as a place might get more out of this than I did. And even as perhaps his worst novel it's a lot better than most of what's out there. But this is probably best for Swanwick completists like me and readers who enjoyed the Surplus/Darger stories from _The Dog Said Bow-Wow_ more than the others.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
A little better than standard SF fare
21 Sep 2011
Format:Hardcover
I saw this on the new books shelf (Science Fiction) at my local public library and, being unfamiliar with the author, picked it up serendipitously. While reading it I kept thinking I'd missed something and kept mixing up the two characters of Darger and Surplus. It was only after I completed the book that I discovered that Darger and Surplus were characters from several previously published short stories by the author, and this was the initial novelization of the characters. I immediately thought "ah ha!" Early in the book I was regularly backtracking to determine who was whom - who had the dog genome? I hypothesize that since the characters already were carrying some baggage (with which I was unaware), that Swanwick had succumbed somewhat to familiarity with his creations and wasn't clearly delineating them to a new reader. I'm very interested in reading the earlier short stories, to "go back" and read them as prequels.
Also, I always get Russian names confused (my fault for not persevering with War and Peace in 9th grade). I remember reading Niven and Pournelle's The Mote in God's Eye and constantly referring to the list of characters supplied at the front of that book. Such a list of dramatis personae would have helped me.
The story moved along nicely, but never really got to me as a whole. Certain scenes, characters, and descriptions would periodically jump out and startle me, but the novel in its entirety just never caught any real fire. The entire arc of the character of the Duke of Muscovy was pretty disappointing. Swanwick was setting up plot and characters that had real potential, but I just don't think he followed through enough in this book.
Nonetheless, the tale was good enough to keep me to the end and I wasn't bored reading the book whatsoever. Though the entertainment factor wasn't of the highest, it was pretty fair fare in the end. If I could give this book 3.5 out of 5 stars I would. That is, I liked it, just not enthusiastically.
Also, I always get Russian names confused (my fault for not persevering with War and Peace in 9th grade). I remember reading Niven and Pournelle's The Mote in God's Eye and constantly referring to the list of characters supplied at the front of that book. Such a list of dramatis personae would have helped me.
The story moved along nicely, but never really got to me as a whole. Certain scenes, characters, and descriptions would periodically jump out and startle me, but the novel in its entirety just never caught any real fire. The entire arc of the character of the Duke of Muscovy was pretty disappointing. Swanwick was setting up plot and characters that had real potential, but I just don't think he followed through enough in this book.
Nonetheless, the tale was good enough to keep me to the end and I wasn't bored reading the book whatsoever. Though the entertainment factor wasn't of the highest, it was pretty fair fare in the end. If I could give this book 3.5 out of 5 stars I would. That is, I liked it, just not enthusiastically.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
In the middle for Swanwick
15 Aug 2011
Format:Hardcover
Dancing With Bears is long-form Darger/Surplus story. Previously we have seen these characters in a number of short stories that gradually across Europe in a far flung time where sophisticated machines have given way to bio/gene-engineering. The remains of the pre-utopia times (that's us, now) are buried, often feared, sometimes coveted.
Swanwick is undisputed-ly one of my all time favorite short story authors. His craft with that form is breathtaking at times. Novel wise, it tends to be hit or miss, and Dancing With Bears is about in the middle of the pack for me.
I would argue that Stations of the Tide is so far his best novel length story. It is a wholly crafted universe, with a story that can leave you dizzy at times and it all hangs together trough to the end very well.
Second on the list would be Dragons of Babel, who's only real weak point is that it feels like a series of short stories that where strung together and then called a novel. Taken separately the chapters are in turns brilliant and hilarious, evocative and harrowing. Put them all together and the slight disjoint makes it just a little less then the sum of it's parts. I still read this book from time to time and enjoy it immensely, but that puzzle piece nature still pops out to me.
And here is where Dancing with Bears(DWB) comes in. A tie for third place, between this and Iron Dragon's Daughter(IDD). IDD is in the same universe as Dragons of Babel (and preceded that novel by quite some time). _Both these books are good books_. To my mind the prose does not pop as well as either his short stories, or the two previous mentioned novels. There are places they drag rather than soar. DWB takes two characters I really love, and then separates then for most of the book and so the interaction that was part of the charm of the short stories of Darger and Surplus is gone. Some of the other ancillary plot lines/charterers should have been either developed more, or just cut out in favor of making the remaining story/characters more developed. The ending felt just a little rushed, but that may be just my sensitivity to such matters.
Now, having said that, I always find Swanwick's universes worth exploring they are delightful and well rounded with good internal logic. If you are unsure about it, check DWB out at the library, before purchasing, and give it a test drive.
Swanwick is undisputed-ly one of my all time favorite short story authors. His craft with that form is breathtaking at times. Novel wise, it tends to be hit or miss, and Dancing With Bears is about in the middle of the pack for me.
I would argue that Stations of the Tide is so far his best novel length story. It is a wholly crafted universe, with a story that can leave you dizzy at times and it all hangs together trough to the end very well.
Second on the list would be Dragons of Babel, who's only real weak point is that it feels like a series of short stories that where strung together and then called a novel. Taken separately the chapters are in turns brilliant and hilarious, evocative and harrowing. Put them all together and the slight disjoint makes it just a little less then the sum of it's parts. I still read this book from time to time and enjoy it immensely, but that puzzle piece nature still pops out to me.
And here is where Dancing with Bears(DWB) comes in. A tie for third place, between this and Iron Dragon's Daughter(IDD). IDD is in the same universe as Dragons of Babel (and preceded that novel by quite some time). _Both these books are good books_. To my mind the prose does not pop as well as either his short stories, or the two previous mentioned novels. There are places they drag rather than soar. DWB takes two characters I really love, and then separates then for most of the book and so the interaction that was part of the charm of the short stories of Darger and Surplus is gone. Some of the other ancillary plot lines/charterers should have been either developed more, or just cut out in favor of making the remaining story/characters more developed. The ending felt just a little rushed, but that may be just my sensitivity to such matters.
Now, having said that, I always find Swanwick's universes worth exploring they are delightful and well rounded with good internal logic. If you are unsure about it, check DWB out at the library, before purchasing, and give it a test drive.
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