Reviews tagging 'Addiction'

Neuromancer by William Gibson

47 reviews

luxxltyd's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Terminal illness

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Sexual content, Grief

Minor: Incest, Suicide

ghast's review against another edition

3.5

adventurous challenging dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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I really enjoyed this at parts, Gibson's writing is great with the atmospheric way he describes the places and all the different technology that you have to learn to infer from the text. Especially within the cyberspace/matrix, it's word salad but a good way for me. The book kinda grinds your brain to mush sometimes with a plot that doesn't take it's time to hold your hand, but that's what makes it intriguing because it does have a good plot (mostly).

The characters aren't all that interesting, might've only liked two of the characters. The plot is interesting with how it's set up that when it was reaching the end it felt very anti-climantic? It wasn't a horrible ending but it seemed too abrupt for me personally.

Still worth reading though if you're into dense sci-fi that has classic cyberpunk vibes all over it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use, Violence, Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Cursing, Death, Blood, Grief, Suicide attempt

Minor: Incest, Vomit

sarah984's review against another edition

3.0

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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This is definitely a foundational work in the genre and the descriptions are lush and amazing. I love reading older sci-fi for the kind of grimy analog futurism and no one does that like Gibson. However, the main character is kind of pathetic and weird, the women feel like props, and the characters of colour are embarrassing.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Misogyny, Racism, Sexual content, Violence, Medical content, Murder, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Ableism, Animal death, Child death, Confinement, Incest, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Vomit

themysteriouserk's review against another edition

3.25

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

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Gibson’s most famous novel isn’t his best; the tropes and stereotypes employed here range from old hat to offensive, and on the whole it feels more like a collection of stories artificially fitted together than a proper novel. Still, there’s a lot to love too, from the static sky and the setup for the rest of the Sprawl world to the memorable concepts and characters. A good read for Gibson fans and people really interested in the subject matter, but it doesn’t hold up as well or even really try to do as much as some of his newer novels (especially the Blue Ant trilogy), and feels dated both in its technological references and its lack of understanding about race and culture.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Racism, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail

osteele98's review against another edition

2.5

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Sexual content, Sexual violence

peachmoni's review against another edition

2.75

challenging dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Death, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Murder

Moderate: Gun violence, Mental illness, Mass/school shootings, Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Body horror, Drug abuse, Drug use, Incest, Suicide attempt

imyril's review against another edition

3.0

dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: No

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: Complicated

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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It’s hard going back to a former favorite. Over 20 years since I last read it and nearly 30 since I first read it and I can see why it’s the godfather of the sub genre but oh my tastes have changed. I can admire what it started, but I dislike so much of how it goes about it now (Not least the lack of dimension or arcs for the characters, although I have a head canon that excuses it after a fashion); and I can’t blame the book for how distracting it is that everything reminds me of something else - Gibson wrote the template that so many have riffed off, after all. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Violence

Minor: Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, Injury/Injury detail