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3.6 AVERAGE
3.6 AVERAGE
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I think its Gibson's best book since neuromancer. He has perfected is ability to take our ordinary world and augment it, using the novel as some form of locative art, so that you see this world as deeply poetic science fiction.
Also I really like how William Gibson as retained his punk sensibility. In this book you have political astuteness, the abuse of anti-depressants, a weirdly paranoid GPS hacker with j-horror inspired hair, voodoo parkour, and an incarnation of William Burroughs returned from the bardo as old school CIA. What's more to love?
Also I really like how William Gibson as retained his punk sensibility. In this book you have political astuteness, the abuse of anti-depressants, a weirdly paranoid GPS hacker with j-horror inspired hair, voodoo parkour, and an incarnation of William Burroughs returned from the bardo as old school CIA. What's more to love?
Reading this book, you find yourself scrambling to latch on to the complicated descriptions, get bearings on your surroundings and learn to function in the world he has set - just like all science fiction. Then you realize that it's taking place now, in Vancouver BC, with normal people. He creates otherworldliness out of the now. Love it. I wish I had a highlighter - some of his descriptions are quote-worthy. "Blade Runner Soccer Mom" - if only I could be that cool.
3 1/2 stars, really. Interesting ideas, interesting writing, but a bit too much suspension of disbelief required.
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I enjoyed they way all the disjoint threads came together through the book to tie up nicely at the end. The connection to Pattern Recognition is tenuous, but you can tell it is the same universe. As a stand alone story, it's still an entertaining read.
This is Gibson's "contemporary" scifi effort. It's not nearly as good as "Neuromancer" (what is?) but dark fun nonetheless.
Paranoia lovers, this is for you.
Paranoia lovers, this is for you.
Gibson does a great job of balancing his trademark dry humor with incisive insight into post-9/11 and Web culture. It's an interesting bridge in some ways between his Sprawl series (cyberspace, desperate down-and-outers in the person of Milgrim, Santeria rather than voudoun, the ominous yet ghostly influence of the insanely rich) and his present-day setting books (free-floating dread and a sense that the world is haunted).