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lavoiture's review against another edition
I hate this kind of book. I just picked it up at a book exchange because I was desperate. I have absolutely no clue what's going on and I don't understand the jargon. I seriously doubt that I will finish this...
adamcagey's review against another edition
5.0
No matter when or where it is set, all the best science fiction is really about the present day. William Gibson takes this idea to its logical conclusion and writes about the present day as if it were science fiction.
Gibson seems mostly concerned with how our (real) technologies are transforming us. His main character, Hollis Henry (love the strong female characters that are always present in Gibson's work), the lead singer of a defunct band from the '90s, who is now trying to make it as a journalist. The start-up magazine for which she works has given her an assignment that's really little more than a cover. They hope that as she investigates locative technology in art, she'll also uncover the where-abouts of a mysterious cargo container. Without her knowledge, of course. There are two other characters we follow in the course of the narrative, neither of whom know the whole story either.
By keeping the characters and the readers in the dark about the narrative thread, Gibson creates a paranoid feeling that mimics that of the world we find ourselves living in. A world where, as one of the characters says, "America had developed Stockholm syndrome toward its own government, post 9/11."
This is the second novel set in the "real world" by Gibson; a sort of follow up to Pattern Recognition. These two novels share one character between them: Advertising magnate, Hubertus Bigend. While not a huge presence in either book, he is the force that motivates both narratives. Again, Gibson is telling us something about the world we live in.
Gibson's writing here is bare-bones spare, but beautiful. He has the ability to turn a phrase that can stop the reader dead for a moment, but that then compels you to continue. To race to the completely satisfying conclusion.
Gibson seems mostly concerned with how our (real) technologies are transforming us. His main character, Hollis Henry (love the strong female characters that are always present in Gibson's work), the lead singer of a defunct band from the '90s, who is now trying to make it as a journalist. The start-up magazine for which she works has given her an assignment that's really little more than a cover. They hope that as she investigates locative technology in art, she'll also uncover the where-abouts of a mysterious cargo container. Without her knowledge, of course. There are two other characters we follow in the course of the narrative, neither of whom know the whole story either.
By keeping the characters and the readers in the dark about the narrative thread, Gibson creates a paranoid feeling that mimics that of the world we find ourselves living in. A world where, as one of the characters says, "America had developed Stockholm syndrome toward its own government, post 9/11."
This is the second novel set in the "real world" by Gibson; a sort of follow up to Pattern Recognition. These two novels share one character between them: Advertising magnate, Hubertus Bigend. While not a huge presence in either book, he is the force that motivates both narratives. Again, Gibson is telling us something about the world we live in.
Gibson's writing here is bare-bones spare, but beautiful. He has the ability to turn a phrase that can stop the reader dead for a moment, but that then compels you to continue. To race to the completely satisfying conclusion.
kpwerker's review against another edition
1.0
I'm amazes I got through this book. After absolutely loving Pattern Recognition, I'm surprised I found this follow-up so disappointing. The characters were flat and shallow, the plot was flat and shallow. Wholly uninteresting in almost every way, with further points deducted for Gibson's contrived descriptions of Vancouver.
jrobles76's review against another edition
2.0
I give this book 2 stars because the "it's ok" sums it up perfectly. The reveal at the end about what the MacGuffin is, is a little underwhelming. I found the locative art stuff, what we now call augmented reality, really cool, though it still hasn't really taken off or been used to the extent that Gibson describes. There are a few cool iphone apps, but nothing major. Hollis Henry is an interesting character, but she never reaches anything approaching sympathy. Not to say she was an unsympathetic character, she wasn't evil or anything, I was just apathetic to her - and to be honest everyone in this book. I also don't know if it was just because I kept putting down the book and reading other things or if it really was hard to remember who Brown was and who Milgram was. I kept getting them confused as to "who was who" whenever I'd pick up again, until I'd read a little more (must remember Milgram is addict, Brown is "govt" guy). Bigend is still an interesting uber-rich guy who has the ability to bankroll his curiosity and hopefully find a way to use what he's found to apply it to business/marketing ventures. Though I must say that even Bigend was less than interesting in this.
There were a lot of characters in this book and even though you know that they're all going to intersect at some point, I expected to be more excited by it, but I wasn't. Given that I started and finished Apocalypse of the Dead (which does the multi-character thing way better - sorry Mr. Gibson) probably didn't help when evaluating Spook Country.
I'll probably read the last in this trilogy despite the mediocre 2nd book. Though I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone, even William Gibson fans.
There were a lot of characters in this book and even though you know that they're all going to intersect at some point, I expected to be more excited by it, but I wasn't. Given that I started and finished Apocalypse of the Dead (which does the multi-character thing way better - sorry Mr. Gibson) probably didn't help when evaluating Spook Country.
I'll probably read the last in this trilogy despite the mediocre 2nd book. Though I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone, even William Gibson fans.
cian124's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
branch_c's review against another edition
3.0
This book started off in a promising way for me, but as with most of Gibson's work, it could not quite hold my attention and deliver on that promise. Again I found myself noticing a similarity to Stephenson's writing, in a good way. The setup for the mystery and eventual conflict is intricately and cleverly plotted. But as the story went on, the similarity I noticed more was to le Carré - the focus is on who is watching whom, who is paying whom, who is in league with which other shadowy figures offstage. I suppose this sort of spycraft could be interesting, but here, as in le Carré, it's sparingly presented to the reader in pages of well-written, but mundane, and for me, largely tedious detail. The eventual resolution and payoff was just average.
Likewise my feeling about the characters started off strong, but ended decidedly mixed. Hollis is a great character, including her backstory and inner monologue - engaging and well done. Brown and Milgrim, on the other hand? Could not possibly have been cared less about their story (which is a good thing, because I just finished reading the book and I've already forgotten how they ended up). Tito and company - somewhere in the middle, but more toward the latter.
So I think three is a fair rating, and I haven't given up on Gibson yet; will likely move on to the third in this series, Zero History, since I already have the book, and may give The Peripheral a try since I enjoyed the TV adaptation.
Likewise my feeling about the characters started off strong, but ended decidedly mixed. Hollis is a great character, including her backstory and inner monologue - engaging and well done. Brown and Milgrim, on the other hand? Could not possibly have been cared less about their story (which is a good thing, because I just finished reading the book and I've already forgotten how they ended up). Tito and company - somewhere in the middle, but more toward the latter.
So I think three is a fair rating, and I haven't given up on Gibson yet; will likely move on to the third in this series, Zero History, since I already have the book, and may give The Peripheral a try since I enjoyed the TV adaptation.
deeparcher's review against another edition
4.0
This was a fun book to read because it was very similar to one of my other favorite books, The Crying of Lot 49. It has the same sense of large-scale conspiracy and some of the playfulness. This book felt more serious, though, with more defined roles in the conspiracy than Pynchon's and fewer questions at the end of the novel. If you're the kind of person who likes things neatly tied up at the end, this book has a more satisfying ending than Pynchon's, but there are still some unanswered questions.
adamchalmers's review against another edition
4.0
People keep commenting offhandedly that we're living in the cyberpunk age. This book convinced me they're right.
Spook Country doesn't involve new technology, new governments or history or events. It's just the governments we know, using technology we know they have, to do things they've been doing for decades. But it puts these real-world elements together into a story for the first time. And suddenly you realize that the world's changed. We're not living in a comedy. We're living in a William Gibson novel. We're living the pre-Neuromancer.
Brilliant prose. Characters are a bit hit-and-miss but, as always, the story is thrilling. The story's backgrounded by VR/AR and GPS technology, and how (like most military tech) it eventually becomes a tool for artists. Very relevant as wearables, Glass, Oculus etc all approach public release.
Like the previous book Pattern Recognition, I'm shocked it was written BEFORE Snowden and not after. Although I guess I wasn't paying as much attention as Gibson was.
Spook Country doesn't involve new technology, new governments or history or events. It's just the governments we know, using technology we know they have, to do things they've been doing for decades. But it puts these real-world elements together into a story for the first time. And suddenly you realize that the world's changed. We're not living in a comedy. We're living in a William Gibson novel. We're living the pre-Neuromancer.
Brilliant prose. Characters are a bit hit-and-miss but, as always, the story is thrilling. The story's backgrounded by VR/AR and GPS technology, and how (like most military tech) it eventually becomes a tool for artists. Very relevant as wearables, Glass, Oculus etc all approach public release.
Like the previous book Pattern Recognition, I'm shocked it was written BEFORE Snowden and not after. Although I guess I wasn't paying as much attention as Gibson was.
aubreyfrogger's review against another edition
3.0
This clearly wasn't for me. But I liked bits of it. I found Milgram and Brown to be the most interesting characters.