The novel has attracted the attention of scholars, including Jay Clayton, who explores the book's attitude toward hacking, as well as its treatment of Babbage and Ada Lovelace;[5] Herbert Sussman, who demonstrates how the book rewrites Benjamin Disraeli's novel Sybil;[6] and Brian McHale, who relates it to the postmodern interest in finding a "new way of 'doing' history in fiction."[7]
The novel was nominated for the British Science Fiction Award in 1990,[8] the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1991,[9] and both the John W. Campbell Memorial Award and the Prix Aurora Award in 1992.[10]
