So glad I'm not the only one who feels that way about The Difference Engine. (And I don't generally dislike Sterling...this book just didn't work for me.)

Same. I love Gibson's writing, I love Sterling's, but TDE remains on my bottom 5 books I've ever read. To this day if someone mentions steampunk I flee for the exits. I feel bad about this because I bought it in hardback on the book promo tour and Bruce Sterling signed it for me, we even had a chat because the bookstore wasn't busy and I told him how much I was looking forward to reading it. In my guilty subconscious he is still at the same store, waiting for a customer who promised to come back and never did. I'm sorry Bruce.

Agreed, and it’s all the more surprising because one of my favorite short stories is a collaboration between the two of them: “Red Star, Winter Orbit.” The Difference Engine just doesn’t work for me though.

I remember starting that book, but not getting far into it. It didn't click for me, either. That was a number of years ago though. Maybe I owe it a retry.