Scan barcode
ghostrachel's review against another edition
3.0
I love Gibson, especially the imaginative stuff that seems like complete sci-fi. This book is more grounded in current reality with some what-ifs about technology and environmental and political policy. Maybe seems more preachy in a “don’t screw up the world” kind of way. The split timeline is a neat concept. The rest…. I wish was more from Gibson’s head than from current events.
adamskiboy528491's review against another edition
3.0
Agency by William Gibson is the sequel (to The Peripheral) I wanted that tracks pre- & post-Jackpot scenarios in the alternate present & future of US and Britain. As we established in the first novel, the technology in this world allows for electronic signals to be sent and received from the past of very close alternate universes. Especially the timeline where Clinton wins the 2016 election, Brexit never happened, and the Middle East has concerns with terrorist attacks in Syria which could lead to a nuclear catastrophe. There is still a mystery about The Jackpot, but that's what I like about Gibson and his work. His writing has the barest exposition that lets our imagination take over.
Not only do we have an alternate reality in the present, but also a post-apocalyptic future. Wilf's London, although the way he describes it, it wasn't so much a massive apocalypse as a slow worsening of everything, until people looked around and realised civilisation had collapsed while they weren't paying attention. The same with The Peripheral, Gibson does an excellent job of bringing out the "action girl" character. Those who aren't just damsels in distress & who are far more than the designated girl fight. She faces dangerous foes and deadly obstacles, and she wins. We even have overlapping characters, including Flynne and Lowbeer. But everything holds together with another female protagonist, Verity, who is handling the fact that the digital assistant and her AI, Eunice, is more potent than both she and the developers could ever have known. We criss-cross centuries through chapter-to-chapter in a universe that could be minutes away from our own - which makes it more terrifying.
It was treat reading this universe from a different angle with new and exciting ideas. But its predecessor was a bit faster paced, and less intentionally confusing. I'm going to have to continue the Neuromancer trilogy & start his other past novels, like the Blue Ant trilogy.
merlandre's review against another edition
5.0
I have enjoyed William Gibson's writing for many years and discovering this newest book didn't disappoint. A wild ride with various levels of AI, telepresence, drones and a wide variety of characters in different time lines. What can I say except that I loved it. I'd love to see Eunice in a future novel.
kelfleming's review against another edition
challenging
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
2.5
obnorthrup's review against another edition
2.0
Usually a Gibson fan, but this was disappointing. It offers a buffet of interesting scifi ideas, but it's hard to plate an appetizing meal from a buffet. Some examples:
1) There's a strong start, with Verity and Eunice building rapport and Eunice growing in ability (agency), which gets largely thrown away when Eunice disappears for the majority of the book.
2) The promise of a headless AI network built around Verity results in monotonous chapters of characters in transit.
3) The post-jackpot characters co-piloting the Spongebob drone answers the age-old question, "What if this conference call speaker had a body?" Answer: Everyone still spends half their time asking who's on the line.
Finally, the writing overuses Gibson's style for character dialogue, reaching the point of self-parody. Everyone speaks in clipped cyphers (pro-drop and jargon), which results in conversations where the characters must ask one another to clarify who and what they are talking about. My impression is that the style is supposed to make the characters sound like competent profesionals, but it becomes tedious, and reads as though the characters are all too absorbed in what they're doing to be cooperative interlocutors.
1) There's a strong start, with Verity and Eunice building rapport and Eunice growing in ability (agency), which gets largely thrown away when Eunice disappears for the majority of the book.
2) The promise of a headless AI network built around Verity results in monotonous chapters of characters in transit.
3) The post-jackpot characters co-piloting the Spongebob drone answers the age-old question, "What if this conference call speaker had a body?" Answer: Everyone still spends half their time asking who's on the line.
Finally, the writing overuses Gibson's style for character dialogue, reaching the point of self-parody. Everyone speaks in clipped cyphers (pro-drop and jargon), which results in conversations where the characters must ask one another to clarify who and what they are talking about. My impression is that the style is supposed to make the characters sound like competent profesionals, but it becomes tedious, and reads as though the characters are all too absorbed in what they're doing to be cooperative interlocutors.
quantumdude111's review against another edition
2.0
What the heck was this? The premise was interesting and could have explored so many different topics but instead one timeline consists only of a pointless chase sequence (at some point I asked myself what the characters are even running away from. There was zero sense of urgency to the whole part) and the other, future post-apocalyptic, timeline was all just random people having conversations that had nothing to do with the plot.
Once I made through the 400 pages I sat there and wondered how Gibson managed to tell so little story on that amount of pages.
My conclusion is that this book was a lacklustre cash in or maybe mister Gibson got bored and started typing a novel. It leaves as unimpressed as his protagonist in 2017 is when people from an alternate timeline‘s future contact her through first a drone and then a transfer of her perception into a synthetic body („the peripheral“).
Once I made through the 400 pages I sat there and wondered how Gibson managed to tell so little story on that amount of pages.
My conclusion is that this book was a lacklustre cash in or maybe mister Gibson got bored and started typing a novel. It leaves as unimpressed as his protagonist in 2017 is when people from an alternate timeline‘s future contact her through first a drone and then a transfer of her perception into a synthetic body („the peripheral“).
jrc2011's review against another edition
3.0
If it gets off to a slow start, but placing it in contemporary, San Francisco is sort of appealing, with a reference to smoke from forest fires, being a toxic hazard in San Francisco (which would make this 2020, not 2019). Lots of name, checking of streets and locations in San Francisco.
The underlying premise is that some sketchy tech firm steals military AI technology and wants to figure out a way to create a product. Or not. .
Couch surfing Verity is pulled in as the “game whisperer“ through manipulations by Lowbeer (Wilf and Ash now work for her). This “ stub” is at risk of globally annihilating events.
We also see a return of Connor - and updates on the “stub” created in the first book. As the book goes on - Verity is carried along in a wave of cloak and dagger events set off like a Rube Goldberg contraption by the AI as a feud ex machine. We don’t really even need Verity except as a plot device to be running away from the bad guys and to be the new BFF of this.AI. In fact - not even sure we need the billionaire ex boyfriend or his girlfriend, Wilf or the rest.
We get a little bit of information about how China was able to create a walled garden, and avoid many of the impacts of the jackpot. Ultimately, this is a story that has some real promise, but to seems to schedule a drawn. We aren’t learning that much more about low beer, verity, and the others are also very thinly drawn. High on action low on character development. Seems like this was created as the next installment to feed to the script writers for the TV series which is fine I suppose. I’d rather have better character development.
The underlying premise is that some sketchy tech firm steals military AI technology and wants to figure out a way to create a product. Or not. .
Couch surfing Verity is pulled in as the “game whisperer“ through manipulations by Lowbeer (Wilf and Ash now work for her). This “ stub” is at risk of globally annihilating events.
We also see a return of Connor - and updates on the “stub” created in the first book. As the book goes on - Verity is carried along in a wave of cloak and dagger events set off like a Rube Goldberg contraption by the AI as a feud ex machine. We don’t really even need Verity except as a plot device to be running away from the bad guys and to be the new BFF of this.AI. In fact - not even sure we need the billionaire ex boyfriend or his girlfriend, Wilf or the rest.
We get a little bit of information about how China was able to create a walled garden, and avoid many of the impacts of the jackpot. Ultimately, this is a story that has some real promise, but to seems to schedule a drawn. We aren’t learning that much more about low beer, verity, and the others are also very thinly drawn. High on action low on character development. Seems like this was created as the next installment to feed to the script writers for the TV series which is fine I suppose. I’d rather have better character development.
robphippen's review against another edition
5.0
The master excels himself: pacy and profound
I read neuromancer when it came out and, like many, found it utterly rivetting. Since then I have read many of William Gibson's novels. I've liked them all, but never felt quite that same degree of complete absorption. Until now. This book is a masterwork.
Gibson's great skill is his way of breezily dropping in the odd profound thought while taking the action along at such a pace that you only notice when you put the book down.
It is also beautifully written. At times, I imagine Gibson lovingly polishing a sentence until it socks you between the eyes.
This novel is set in the same universe as 'The Peripheral', with the formidable Ainsley Lowbeer dealing with a new alternate 'stub' timeline, with the action there set in 2017. Much of the main action happens there, with the alternate timeline providing a chance for some musings on how things might have been.
I read neuromancer when it came out and, like many, found it utterly rivetting. Since then I have read many of William Gibson's novels. I've liked them all, but never felt quite that same degree of complete absorption. Until now. This book is a masterwork.
Gibson's great skill is his way of breezily dropping in the odd profound thought while taking the action along at such a pace that you only notice when you put the book down.
It is also beautifully written. At times, I imagine Gibson lovingly polishing a sentence until it socks you between the eyes.
This novel is set in the same universe as 'The Peripheral', with the formidable Ainsley Lowbeer dealing with a new alternate 'stub' timeline, with the action there set in 2017. Much of the main action happens there, with the alternate timeline providing a chance for some musings on how things might have been.