Reviews

Neuromancer by William Gibson

devon_stangland's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

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

3.75

jenhurst's review against another edition

3.0

I thought this book was just fine. I can see why its a classic and a cult hit. Its a little dated but I'm happy I read it to experience the pioneer of cyperpunk.

praetorian333's review against another edition

adventurous challenging funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

heptonius's review against another edition

adventurous challenging mysterious fast-paced

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

3.75

Quite a wild ride from start to the finish. It's absolutely stunning to see how developed of an idea of cyberpunk William Gibson 40 years ago had - MIND BLOWING! It's also super funny seeing quite a few similarities between Neuromancer and Cyberpunk 2077, inspirations.

Author writes in a quite extraordinary way, in which he describes situations and actions in a manor of glimpses/flashes - it can be  sometimes quite difficult to follow what's hapenning, however it's a nice experience seeing a different perspective on writing.

collinaj's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

I was very confused. Lots of unnecessarily wordy descriptions. The epitome of cyberpunk, perhaps, but I don't think cyberpunk is for me. Short glossed-over and underwhelming conclusion. Gotta go read what actually happened in the book. 

sledge_hm's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.0

jackrb's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

Dispensing ideas about old, genre-defining books can be difficult. Both in the sense of coming out with any sort of novel or interesting opinion, and also not succumbing to the fact that what was undeniably groundbreaking, can look quaint and relatively unimportant after years and decades of providing inspiration either directly or indirectly.

Regardless, as a casual reader with some interest in Sci-Fi, Neuromancer is still absolutely worth reading for its influence alone. It has plenty of interesting ideas, themes and Gibson really nailed the aesthetic and atmosphere of what a cyberpunk world would look, sound and feel like.

However, that is part of the problem, as you are pretty quickly immersed in a world with all this (now outdated and retro) technobabble and lingo, with neither Gibson nor the characters involved feeling generous enough to allow you to get a grip on the world created. You either let your imagination run wild, infer what you can from the technical jargon and flowery prose and breeze past what is quite a simple story told in quick yet abstract fashion, all whilst enjoying every second. Or you don't, and instead chafe against the lack of detail, the chaotic storytelling and the inability to visualise the world built from incoherent snippets of detail.

The litmus test is the first few chapters and you'll quite quickly recognise whether you gel with the uncompromising prose or not. I did, with some reservations throughout, leading to a similarly incoherent rush of thoughts when reading that did not really come much clearer even upon a re-read a year later. Either way, I enjoy Neuromancer a lot more when I let my brain run wild with crazy visualisations, allowing the plot to drag me every which way and simply admiring the whole piece at a fuzzy distance like a grand painting - and I enjoy Neuromancer a whole lot less when I'm picking against slang, jargon, the frenetic storytelling and judging individual brushstrokes with undue attention.

silgehanberbest's review against another edition

challenging dark inspiring mysterious medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

justinerobinson's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.75

mxnprsmpower's review against another edition

adventurous challenging medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0