The novel “Metropolitan” by Walter Jon Williams was published for the first time in 1995.
Aiah is a low-ranking employee of the Plasm Authority who works in the metropolis of Jaspeer. During an emergency intervention following the appearance of a mysterious burning woman who causes damage to several city blocks, Aiah discovers a large source of plasm and realizes that the mysterious woman tapped it directly and ended up killing herself after damaging the area. She’s supposed to report the source location but she decides to keep the information to herself.
In secret, Aiah turns to Metropolitan Constantine, a politician in exile after his political enemies managed to oust him from positions of power in their metropolis. Aiah aims to get a hefty sum in exchange for the secret of the plasm source but the woman ends up entangled in Constantine’s political intrigues.
“Metropolitan” is set on a world whose surface is covered by a single large city divided into metropolises. It has no day, night, or seasons because it’s surrounded by the Shield, which disintegrates those who reach too high altitudes. Its origins are shrouded in myth and part of religion.
Life on the planet is based on plasm, a source of energy controlled by a special authority that sells it at a high price. The inhabitants of this world have developed various technologies and even plasm can be collected in batteries to be used by people who buy it from the Authority. However, plasm also offers possibilities that make it analogous to a magical substance. This gives the novel a flavor that is both science fiction and fantasy and can be considered a blend of the two genres.
The peculiarities of the setting generate a contrast with Aiah, whose life is in many ways normal, sometimes even dull in the problems that are told with her family and her fiance. Sometimes the parts of the novel about Aiah’s life seemed even too dull. These are sometimes short moments inserted here and there in the novel, but perhaps Walter Jon Williams could have cut out some that don’t seem useful in the protagonist’s development.
Other parts of Aiah’s story are used by Walter Jon Williams to tell something about Jaspeer’s society, including news headlines inserted here and there. It can be said that unfortunately, these are again normal moments because Aiah belongs to an ethnic group that is discriminated against in the metropolis. Throughout the novel, there are various moments in which one can see the racism and discrimination existing in Jaspeer. The names of the ethnic groups are invented but the dynamics are the same that unfortunately exist on Earth.
If Aiah seems like a dull person at times, Constantine is the opposite as he’s a powerful man even if he got exiled by his political enemies. His complex personality is slowly shown in the course of the novel and this also applies to his assistant Sorya. Constantine’s story is used to tell the management of power in the metropolises, a theme developed in an easily understandable way. In the end, most of the plot is about people trying to manipulate other people.
Only the last part of “Metropolitan” is full of action, otherwise the pace is often slow with lots of dialogue, including the dialogue that enables Aiah to get from Constantine something more than what she bargained for. A plasm source like the one discovered by Aiah literally represents a source of power that can support Constantine’s revenge ambitions.
Again there’s a contrast between the Aiah’s dull family life and the extraordinary nature of Constantine’s agenda in which she got involved. There are also the difficulties for Aiah to keep these two parts of her life well separated.
Overall, “Metropolitan” is a novel that in my opinion is not perfect but is really fascinating in the construction of a truly unique world. Today the science fantasy label is used to define stories that contain both science fiction and fantasy elements, but I think this novel is worth reading regardless of labels.
