Scan barcode
kcrouth's review against another edition
5.0
Wow, another excellent tale from William Gibson! I love his story telling, his writing style, and his brilliant imagination. I can't wait to start the next book in this trilogy!
nyx_belial's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
All round interesting book with a wide variety of characters
porge_grewe's review
adventurous
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
William Gibson at his brilliant best.
I have always preferred Gibson's stories when their futures are that bit less distant, and Virtual Light presents a mid-noughties which feels, in that very cyberpunk way, oddly similar to the noughties we had, oddly similar to the present, and entirely rooted in the nineties, to create a genuinely spellbinding vision. Characters are delightful as always, and Gibson manages his usual trick of weaving together their initially disparate stories into a coherent narrative, brining them together for a climax midway through which changes the stakes and the landscape of the narrative, like the PG Wodehouse of sci fi thrillers. A fantastic book!
As an aside, it always strikes me how hopeful Gibson is about humanity. Communities are often genuinely helpful and caring, providing a contrast to corporate callousness, and The Bridge might be the best example of such a community in his work. Even corporations are surprisingly humanitarian - In The Sprawl trilogy, cybernetic limbs became common after another world war, leading to advances which allowed some to take them (or have them forced upon them) for utility, while, here, his version of Augmented Reality (the much more poetic and titular "Virtual Light") was developed to help people with blindness see before getting repurposed for wealthy designers and the like - Gibson's technology always fills a need before becoming profitable, as opposed to the actual modern approach to technological innovation, where very rich people devote themselves to something which looks as much as possible like something cyberpunk-y, and maybe they'll find a use for it at some point. It's something I really like and appreciate about Gibson's writing.
I have always preferred Gibson's stories when their futures are that bit less distant, and Virtual Light presents a mid-noughties which feels, in that very cyberpunk way, oddly similar to the noughties we had, oddly similar to the present, and entirely rooted in the nineties, to create a genuinely spellbinding vision. Characters are delightful as always, and Gibson manages his usual trick of weaving together their initially disparate stories into a coherent narrative, brining them together for a climax midway through which changes the stakes and the landscape of the narrative, like the PG Wodehouse of sci fi thrillers. A fantastic book!
As an aside, it always strikes me how hopeful Gibson is about humanity. Communities are often genuinely helpful and caring, providing a contrast to corporate callousness, and The Bridge might be the best example of such a community in his work. Even corporations are surprisingly humanitarian - In The Sprawl trilogy, cybernetic limbs became common after another world war, leading to advances which allowed some to take them (or have them forced upon them) for utility, while, here, his version of Augmented Reality (the much more poetic and titular "Virtual Light") was developed to help people with blindness see before getting repurposed for wealthy designers and the like - Gibson's technology always fills a need before becoming profitable, as opposed to the actual modern approach to technological innovation, where very rich people devote themselves to something which looks as much as possible like something cyberpunk-y, and maybe they'll find a use for it at some point. It's something I really like and appreciate about Gibson's writing.
masonroach's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
jb_slasher's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
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? No
3.5
malakmoon's review against another edition
4.0
A departure from the Sprawl trilogy, but the setting offers other points of interest.
flexluthor's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
zare_i's review against another edition
4.0
This must be the most articulate action SF thriller from William Gibson I read so far. No weird phrases, made up terminology and slang, no LSD-like scenes after which I do not know what happened, no convoluted setups and twists.
Story is very straight forward. I wont go into details because I do not want to spoil the story to anyone. Let's just say in here we have a prank [of sorts] gone badly. Very, very badly.
Setting-wise we are presented post apocalyptic California, San Francisco being especially hit by it (portrayed very much like modern day SF, Oakland and surroundings). Entire world is broken down into series of small states and huge corporations controlling them. So, in general classical cyberpunk dystopia. While all ingredients are in, Gibson is master of page filler and tangential story lines and this sometimes gets in the way. I mean you have a gunfight and then protagonist sees something and then we have some sideline story line explaining something related to that character. If this was relevant it would be good but I could not find any purpose for it in the main story line. It does flesh out the characters but in general is not required. So after thinking about the ex girlfriend we get brought back into the middle of gunfight ... Okkkkk.......
And then there are parts with Japanese historian and Skinner. These parts look like different story all together. I assume this is build up for follow up stories (I truly hope) but again for this novel.... pure page filler.
That aside story is pretty solid, and has a very believable ending (on the happy-end part of specter but OK). Technology is believable , and menace from these black-ops/undercover guys is very palpable. Author manages to build the atmosphere and you truly can feel paranoia and fear oozing from the pages.
As for tech stuff, it is present but it is in the background, acting as a world building element. Whenever you start thinking that that novel takes place in our times, author shakes up things and shows us that story takes place in the future with hi tech that is very imaginative, I have to say. Again this is period where Japan dominance was expected so everything coming from this country is treated as a special piece of technology. But even with this technological aspect of the novel is pretty well done, from vehicles, weapons, homes to corporate buildings and very interesting motorcycles made of ultra light materials. There are no mad AIs in here but hackers that create chaos in the network and make corporations and remaining states very angry :) And I have to admit I like this more human-first approach to these underground communities.
Remotely controlled drones of the corporate elites were particularly scary (and today, maybe not even that far off).
Very good action thriller. Truly was a surprise, I am now looking for the rest of the stories in this series.
Recommended to fans of thrillers and cyberpunk action in general.
Story is very straight forward. I wont go into details because I do not want to spoil the story to anyone. Let's just say in here we have a prank [of sorts] gone badly. Very, very badly.
Setting-wise we are presented post apocalyptic California, San Francisco being especially hit by it (portrayed very much like modern day SF, Oakland and surroundings). Entire world is broken down into series of small states and huge corporations controlling them. So, in general classical cyberpunk dystopia. While all ingredients are in, Gibson is master of page filler and tangential story lines and this sometimes gets in the way. I mean you have a gunfight and then protagonist sees something and then we have some sideline story line explaining something related to that character. If this was relevant it would be good but I could not find any purpose for it in the main story line. It does flesh out the characters but in general is not required. So after thinking about the ex girlfriend we get brought back into the middle of gunfight ... Okkkkk.......
And then there are parts with Japanese historian and Skinner. These parts look like different story all together. I assume this is build up for follow up stories (I truly hope) but again for this novel.... pure page filler.
That aside story is pretty solid, and has a very believable ending (on the happy-end part of specter but OK). Technology is believable , and menace from these black-ops/undercover guys is very palpable. Author manages to build the atmosphere and you truly can feel paranoia and fear oozing from the pages.
As for tech stuff, it is present but it is in the background, acting as a world building element. Whenever you start thinking that that novel takes place in our times, author shakes up things and shows us that story takes place in the future with hi tech that is very imaginative, I have to say. Again this is period where Japan dominance was expected so everything coming from this country is treated as a special piece of technology. But even with this technological aspect of the novel is pretty well done, from vehicles, weapons, homes to corporate buildings and very interesting motorcycles made of ultra light materials. There are no mad AIs in here but hackers that create chaos in the network and make corporations and remaining states very angry :) And I have to admit I like this more human-first approach to these underground communities.
Remotely controlled drones of the corporate elites were particularly scary (and today, maybe not even that far off).
Very good action thriller. Truly was a surprise, I am now looking for the rest of the stories in this series.
Recommended to fans of thrillers and cyberpunk action in general.
willy0_o's review against another edition
I guess I don’t like cyberpunk. Seems like alpha male reading 💀