Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Neuromancer by William Gibson

31 reviews

traciereads's review

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adventurous medium-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? It's complicated

3.75


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serenspace's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0


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totallyglitched's review

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

5.0


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josemoya's review against another edition

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dark slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

Lo leí a través del sintetizador de voz y probablemente no sea la mejor manera de hacerlo. Tampoco lo leí en el momento adecuado de mi vida. Por ello me pareció confuso, más que algunas obras de P. K. Dick.
Sin embargo, el mundo reflejado en el libro (aparte los anacronismos que el propio autor menciona en una introducción escrita una década después) es muy interesante.
Volveré a Gibson más tarde, pero ahora creo que no es el momento.

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jimgerdes's review

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Neuromancer is a famous and influential novel.

That means it exists not just as a work of its own, but also as the cultural gravitational well its existence creates.  This requires looking at this kind of story through a broader perspective, instead of as a work alone in a vacuum.  How it has shaped science fiction, and our society more broadly are fascinating questions worth exploring, and indeed we cannot (and should not) avoid contending with a novel like this.

Even if you have only just heard of Neuromancer or have only a passing knowledge of what it is, because of the profound impact it has had on our society and culture (especially American culture) the concepts, tropes, and themes that have since grown to be called "cyberpunk" will be striking in their familiarity.  Both literary, and socially, this novel has shaped the way our society view science fiction and technology, and much has been said about this fact in countless other places.  As a result, any contemporary reflection cannot separate it from everything that has come after it.

This is probably obvious and is the case for any influential work of literature, but I think it is worth highlighting particularly for a novel like this to contextualize what exactly this book is and how best (or better yet, why) to approach it 40+ years after it was written.

As a casual read in 2024, this book appears on its surface, to not be anything particular to write home about.  The book moves extremely quickly, and expects the reader to keep up.  Not surprising for an adventure story with a lot of action, but this could be intimidating for some readers.  Scenes happen quickly over a short amount of text, suddenly end, and then skip forward expecting the reader to infer extra details.  The opening 2 acts (of 4 total) meander a bit, but the book picks up in the second half.  Lots of invented slang and lingo is used, without much explanation.  "Do try to keep up." Gibson seems to ask the reader.

The characters are fairly stock.  We learn a bit about them as the story goes on, but none of them are particularly dynamic and what we do learn is mostly pragmatic exposition about motivation and personal relation to the plot.

Gibson's work shines particularly however with regards to the world he has created in Neuromancer and how that world communicates the novel's themes and provide the sorts of thought provoking quandaries the best science fiction gives us.  This mostly happens in the background, (perhaps as it should) but permeates throughout everything, even the assumptions the characters make about their own lives and the world they live in. 

The characters seem mostly focused on the task at hand and their personal motivations rather than the larger questions being posed to the reader, but the world they inhabit and the situations they are forced to deal with reveal a lot about the anxieties of the world of 1984 (a world on the cusp of a technological revolution) and what the future might look like.

What may be most interesting, is how little those anxieties have changed over the past 40 years.  In today's media landscape, the "Cyberpunk" tropes and aesthetics are still very much alive (notably Cyberpunk 2077 and its assorted related media has launched this type of story back into mainstream discussion).  They endure and press on the same fears and worries, and the same hopes that Gibson's work touches on in 1984.  In our rapidly corporatizing technological world, particularly with regards to the rise of artificial intelligence, we can see ourselves in Neuromancer, with all the comforts and horrors that come with that vision. 

This is perhaps a useful lens to approach this book with.  If you are after a science fiction adventure (or "cyberpunk" flavor specifically), this book is that; unfortunately, though, looking back after 40 years at Neuromancer, it is difficult to point to over any of the other books, movies, television, video games, or tabletop roleplaying games it inspired.  But looking at this book as a window into a past version of ourselves, an influence on the world we live in today and how connected we are, or as a way to understand how science fiction as a genre has branched and evolved, there is quite a bit to discover in Neuromancer

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quiteawful's review against another edition

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  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

The og Cyberpunk 2077 inspo. Hard to read, hard to imagine a lot of it, not really sure I liked any of the characters. Lots of crimes and violence. I recommend.

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missmansanas's review

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adventurous challenging dark tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5


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cdc95's review

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adventurous dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5


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misty_kb's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5


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cattaxauditor's review against another edition

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It really shows its age. Not talking technologically, but in weird carried over cultural attitudes. Molly could be a great character, but her role is so often reduced to sex toy for Case and Armitage's errand girl. Loved seeing the ground where so much media I like took root, but it's not for me.

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