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andreacpowers's review against another edition
5.0
Re-read January 2020 in anticipation of the next book. It's not about the story it's about the writing.
janey's review against another edition
3.0
There are many things to recommend this book but reading it felt like a slog. I was so glad to finish it.
sarahetc's review against another edition
5.0
You have your consciousness. You have your flesh. You have the whole of human history behind you. And you just found out that your future is not the only future. And your past hasn't been the past since sometime last week. Except it still is for you, but not for others. Meanwhile, life is tough, jobs are few and if you can make some cash on a video-game playing side gig why not? It's just gaming, right?
So thinks Flynne when she agrees to moonlight for her brother Burton, who has other, illegaler things to do of a Thursday evening. Flynne logs in, EASYICE, and plays. She continues to play in different sessions, helping Burton keep his VA and disability wages, since he got back from the war with his haptics all janky. But then she sees one of the NPCs murdered. It was just an NPC, right? RIGHT?!
Turns out, wrong. That was a real woman in a real city called London, only not the London Flynne knows. The London of a hundred some years in the future. Well, a different future to be sure, so maybe not the future but a future. A future created by a time travel server hobbyist with nothing better to do. Ta very much for setting up the shadow corporation with all the crazy money. Except we need more money, stuff, people, and guns because the people that killed that woman have also found this stub of history and Flynne, Burton, their friends Connor, Macon, Edward, Leon and Shaylene and even more are now under the gun. Just transferring Flynne's and Burton's and Connor's consciousnesses to the Other Future into synthetic peripheral bodies is not going to help! Right?
This was a tremendously interesting, entertaining novel. The idea that consciousness and flesh can be separated by both time and space given technology is incredibly tantalizing. Gibson's style is, as usual, spare, but that detracts not at all from the intense complexity of the plotting in different (and differently) concurrent presents, futures, and pasts. The characterization is also nigh on bravura with each of the many characters (and in some cases their alternate past/future iterations) wholly and completely drawn.
It's the kind of book that makes you want to know more and know farther. And also see it as a movie. And maybe write some fanfiction? And talk about it with everyone you know. Right!
So thinks Flynne when she agrees to moonlight for her brother Burton, who has other, illegaler things to do of a Thursday evening. Flynne logs in, EASYICE, and plays. She continues to play in different sessions, helping Burton keep his VA and disability wages, since he got back from the war with his haptics all janky. But then she sees one of the NPCs murdered. It was just an NPC, right? RIGHT?!
Turns out, wrong. That was a real woman in a real city called London, only not the London Flynne knows. The London of a hundred some years in the future. Well, a different future to be sure, so maybe not the future but a future. A future created by a time travel server hobbyist with nothing better to do. Ta very much for setting up the shadow corporation with all the crazy money. Except we need more money, stuff, people, and guns because the people that killed that woman have also found this stub of history and Flynne, Burton, their friends Connor, Macon, Edward, Leon and Shaylene and even more are now under the gun. Just transferring Flynne's and Burton's and Connor's consciousnesses to the Other Future into synthetic peripheral bodies is not going to help! Right?
This was a tremendously interesting, entertaining novel. The idea that consciousness and flesh can be separated by both time and space given technology is incredibly tantalizing. Gibson's style is, as usual, spare, but that detracts not at all from the intense complexity of the plotting in different (and differently) concurrent presents, futures, and pasts. The characterization is also nigh on bravura with each of the many characters (and in some cases their alternate past/future iterations) wholly and completely drawn.
It's the kind of book that makes you want to know more and know farther. And also see it as a movie. And maybe write some fanfiction? And talk about it with everyone you know. Right!
bbrassfield's review
5.0
William Gibson spins a super interesting yarn that takes place not only in two different time periods but also different continuums with consequences and reverberations in each. The fact that the writer pulls off the complex plotting with kick ass aplomb is like fuck me! amazing! I came to the Gibson novel after watching the Amazon production of the Peripheral, which I also loved. There enough key differences to keep both book and tv fans interested but the core story is the same, only how the conclusion is reached differes a bit in the book. Of course with season two of the show being cancelled due to the ongoing strikes, we probably will never know how these stories might have linked up. For me, I'll read the next book and use my imagination and hope maybe a season two will somehow be resurrected once the writers strike is resolved. I won't go into all of the plot details despite Goodreads being my lagging memory repository but I will say this time travel story is uniquely brilliant.
itheory's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Good, but tricky to read. Have to fill in a lot of gaps and assumptions to grasp what’s happening.
nshumake23's review
5.0
Watched the show first, not realizing there was a book.... Obviously the book was better!
woolsson's review
1.0
DNF - I just couldn't get on with this book. The writing style is not for me at all. Few things are explained making it hard to grasp the world, the setting and the characters. The sentences just didn't flow for me either.
No matter how hard I tried I just couldn't get into the book. I read 50 pages hoping to get into the flow of it but I just didn't care for the book at all.
I acknowledge this is a somewhat decisive writing style and it's definitely not for me.
No matter how hard I tried I just couldn't get into the book. I read 50 pages hoping to get into the flow of it but I just didn't care for the book at all.
I acknowledge this is a somewhat decisive writing style and it's definitely not for me.
aimeeinfinity's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
baconbre's review
4.0
I am a fan of William Gibson, and this one was not disappointing. There are parts where a lot happens and I’m not sure what exactly happened. Then I realized it’s because it’s from the character’s point of view and you see it in real time from their point of view. Which is more realistic afterwards they explain what happened. I very much enjoyed the concept. Its nice change to read a story where they characters are not fighting the story from happening. They are welcome to the chaos the book brings them because it can’t get much worse than they are dealing with now. Superb.
smelley_cat's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5