A review by ingalls1969
Mona Lisa Overdrive, by William Gibson
3.0
Liked it, didn’t love it. Gibson’s “Neuromancer” has been on my to-read list for years, mainly because I’ve heard so many good things about it. My sci-fi tastes tend to veer more towards the “classic” authors, like Asimov and Bradbury. This is not deliberate – I just haven’t made a concerted effort to dive into the works of contemporary sci-fi/fantasy authors, with one exception: Joe Haldeman (I loved “Camouflage” and thought “The Accidental Time Machine” was pretty good).
I skipped “Neuromancer” in favor of “Mona Lisa Overdrive” mainly because I heard that MLO is a bit more accessible, and perhaps an easier gateway to Gibson’s work. I like the fact that there were separate threads to the story, and the futuristic landscape is vividly described (Gibson’s a terrific writer). But the story kind of left me cold, and I found no real compelling characters, nobody I felt close to. I feel that a re-read somewhere in the future would be ideal for this book. It’s a good book, but it didn’t really grab me the way I wanted it to.
I skipped “Neuromancer” in favor of “Mona Lisa Overdrive” mainly because I heard that MLO is a bit more accessible, and perhaps an easier gateway to Gibson’s work. I like the fact that there were separate threads to the story, and the futuristic landscape is vividly described (Gibson’s a terrific writer). But the story kind of left me cold, and I found no real compelling characters, nobody I felt close to. I feel that a re-read somewhere in the future would be ideal for this book. It’s a good book, but it didn’t really grab me the way I wanted it to.