Interface Masque

Set in a neo-Baroque Venice of the future, this novel combines cyberpunk trappings and coming-of-age themes into a potent package. Cecilie, a senior apprentice to the powerful Sept-Fortune house, must pass a test in data manipulation that challenges everything she has been taught about reality. At the same time, Lina, a musician, makes the discovery that the primary instrument of social control in this future Venice, music, is not doing its job properly. Cecilie and Lina encounter disillusionment, then each other, then murder, corruption and consequent danger to their lives as well as to their convictions. Lewitt (Momento Mori) creates a detailed if not always plausible world with an admirably lived-in quality and a large cast of well-developed characters. Readers must work hard to suspend disbelief; but once they do, they'll relish Lewitt's high literary craftmanship. (Mar.)