When I read a book, I usually judge it for the quality and interest of the ideas it presents rather than literary style, plot or characterization, which are just added bonuses. If I find myself thinking about the book even years after reading it, then I regard it as an important book. Schismatrix is a very important book. Schismatrix Plus is a new edition of Bruce Sterling's classic, containing the novel plus all other short stories set in the same universe. The setting of Schismatrix is transhuman.
Life moves in clades.
A clade is a daughter species, a related descendant. It's happened to other successful animals, and now it's humanity's turn. The factions still struggle, but the categories are breaking up. No faction can claim the one true destiny for mankind. Mankind no longer exists.