Scan barcode
kidclamp's review against another edition
5.0
I just reread this for a book club and was really surprised at how much I sitll liked this book.
Gibson's style is evident in this early book, rich descriptions of his world and characters abound. A bit of a potboiler, plot begins to race towards the end and occasionally I had to flip back a few pages when I got lost but I throughly enjoyed this reread.
Gibson's style is evident in this early book, rich descriptions of his world and characters abound. A bit of a potboiler, plot begins to race towards the end and occasionally I had to flip back a few pages when I got lost but I throughly enjoyed this reread.
kynan's review against another edition
2.0
I just re-read this book because I keep getting William Gibson and Neal Stephenson mixed up in my head and I couldn't for the life of me remember if the nagging feeling of dislike was associated with the correct book. Unfortunately, it was.
I don't know what it is about the book, whether it's just an early work by Gibson and thus less polished or if I've been spoiled for choice by being born late enough to have a vast catalog of alternatives within the genre. Whatever it is I ended up really wanting the book to end, so I could stop reading it and, when I got to the end, I didn't like that either.
My two main complaints are that I didn't find it to be a smooth read, the story feels disjointed even though, for the most part, it isn't really. Secondly, I didn't particularly care about the characters and what happens to them and the writing style seemed to indicate a similar disinterest, almost apathy, on the part of the author. I'm not saying that all the characters have to be lovable or anything, I can deal with a flawed protagonist (I really enjoyed [a:Joe Abercrombie|276660|Joe Abercrombie|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1207149426p2/276660.jpg]s First Law series which is populated entirely with flawed characters) but I just didn't find anyone, except Molly, to be particularly interesting.
The main redeeming feature of this book is that it introduced me to Tom Maddox, whose short story Snake Eyes is something that really stands out to me as an exemplar of the genre and the time I sat down and read it (as part of [b:Mirrorshades: The Cyberpunk Anthology]), many many years ago, is still seared into my brain.
I don't know what it is about the book, whether it's just an early work by Gibson and thus less polished or if I've been spoiled for choice by being born late enough to have a vast catalog of alternatives within the genre. Whatever it is I ended up really wanting the book to end, so I could stop reading it and, when I got to the end, I didn't like that either.
My two main complaints are that I didn't find it to be a smooth read, the story feels disjointed even though, for the most part, it isn't really. Secondly, I didn't particularly care about the characters and what happens to them and the writing style seemed to indicate a similar disinterest, almost apathy, on the part of the author. I'm not saying that all the characters have to be lovable or anything, I can deal with a flawed protagonist (I really enjoyed [a:Joe Abercrombie|276660|Joe Abercrombie|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1207149426p2/276660.jpg]s First Law series which is populated entirely with flawed characters) but I just didn't find anyone, except Molly, to be particularly interesting.
The main redeeming feature of this book is that it introduced me to Tom Maddox, whose short story Snake Eyes is something that really stands out to me as an exemplar of the genre and the time I sat down and read it (as part of [b:Mirrorshades: The Cyberpunk Anthology]), many many years ago, is still seared into my brain.
alex_conners's review against another edition
4.0
It's a fun heist read, but it feels dated in a few aspects that prevent me from giving it a full five-star rating.
For something that was written in the 1980s, it has stood the test of time for the most part and scratches the itch of a sci-fi cyberpunk read.
For something that was written in the 1980s, it has stood the test of time for the most part and scratches the itch of a sci-fi cyberpunk read.
7thseverian's review against another edition
5.0
One of the first big cyberpunk books. With a start like this where can you go?
thurminator's review against another edition
4.0
This book was one of the most interesting things I've ever read. I have never encountered a book or media experience which seemed to have single-handedly coined half of my interests and hobbies as this one did. Phrases, music, atmosphere, technology. Gibson's writing is absolutely non-stop frenzy and I could only usually loosely understand what was going on at any given moment - this is the science fiction in which you are dropped into a world without any knowledge of what is going on expressed to the fullest. This book is a gritty, unpleasant, underground, dystopian, cyberpunk mess that may have just predicted the future quite well. I might not have had more than a foggy understanding of what is going on at any given moment plot-wise, but I can say that I always "felt" every scene viscerally. It's the only book I've read where the idea of "show, don't tell" is taken to an extreme by telling so much that it somehow is only showing. Reading the afterword by Jack Womack helped me to see some of the feelings the book gave me expressed in words. Several passages stood out to me as knocking on some door in my mind of what I conceive when I try to put my finger on what I love so much about computers:
"The matrix has its roots in primitive arcade games. … Cyberspace. A consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation, by children being taught mathematical concepts. … A graphic representation of data abstracted from banks of every computer in the human system. Unthinkable complexity. Lines of light ranged in the nonspace of the mind, clusters and constellations of data. Like city lights, receding."
This taps into some fascination I have with old technology, where the explosion of the internet was still exciting and fresh, when command lines were still used, when a whole encyclopedia could fit on just 50 floppy discs, when I thought that a whole world existed inside my game consoles that I just couldn't see.
"The matrix has its roots in primitive arcade games. … Cyberspace. A consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation, by children being taught mathematical concepts. … A graphic representation of data abstracted from banks of every computer in the human system. Unthinkable complexity. Lines of light ranged in the nonspace of the mind, clusters and constellations of data. Like city lights, receding."
This taps into some fascination I have with old technology, where the explosion of the internet was still exciting and fresh, when command lines were still used, when a whole encyclopedia could fit on just 50 floppy discs, when I thought that a whole world existed inside my game consoles that I just couldn't see.
johnald1266's review against another edition
5.0
One of my favorite books. Seminal text that created cyberpunk but it also is just a great classic heist story. The world is enthralling and the characters more than just stock cutouts.
Spoiler
It's a shame that he neutered the rest of the trilogy by removing Case from the picture, ironically, because he didn't want to write a sequel. If he reneged on that by shaping it into a trilogy, why not just retcon the final line so you can bring back the full dynamic of characters? In my opinion, skip the next two and move on to the rest of the genre.Spoiler
zaggeta's review against another edition
3.0
An interesting setting with some really creative and well-written descriptions, unfortunately dragged down by confusing plotting and fevered scene transitions.
Neuromancer's biggest value is its contribution to founding the cyberpunk genre and all aesthetics and themes we take for granted. For this, it should be remembered fondly. But as a novel, it suffers from an inability to retain a coherent story-line, jumping around too much and spending more time on (albeit) excellent descriptions than what is actually happening.
If you feel like a read that will take a lot of effort, but want to explore the origins of the cyperpunk genre, try Neuromancer.
Neuromancer's biggest value is its contribution to founding the cyberpunk genre and all aesthetics and themes we take for granted. For this, it should be remembered fondly. But as a novel, it suffers from an inability to retain a coherent story-line, jumping around too much and spending more time on (albeit) excellent descriptions than what is actually happening.
If you feel like a read that will take a lot of effort, but want to explore the origins of the cyperpunk genre, try Neuromancer.
taylor_hohulin's review against another edition
3.0
Man, I should have LOVED this book. Listing off all the plot points and set dressings and characters makes me want to love it so badly. But mostly, I just liked it. I had trouble connecting with it for some reason.