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katmull's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
trigonomitron's review against another edition
4.0
This was a walk around everywhere with the book in my face because I can't put it down kind of read. The protagonists are relatable and likable. The whole story is fun, junk-food fiction.
There isn't much tension as our protagonists are able to overcome every obstacle with the help of divine intervention from their future. Even the future protagonists get carried over any bumps by a Gandolf-like super-character who can give them anything they need to succeed. The result is that our heroes are never thwarted and the reader never worries.
It sounds horrible, but it actually works out rather well. Gibson makes you want them to win. The antagonists are irritating and we want them to fail. Not so much as for the things that make them antagonists, but because of their personalities. They are the pretentious and annoying sort of people we want bad things to happen to, and Gibson delivers satisfaction at every confrontation.
Many of the familiar Gibson cliches are there. The first few pages will have you wishing for a glossary with all of the future jargon. Just think of it as culture shock: The future is a strange place, and though the reader is disoriented at first, you will quickly get used to it. The chapters are short, and that sort of pulls you through the story quickly. The product placement is minimal this time, and is only distracting when the Lego blocks needlessly and inexplicably take a central role in one of the chapters.
One thing I like about his writing style is that he doesn't hold your hand. He shows you first, then later one of the characters always seems to be as confused as you are. It's then that you get the explanation. Some chapters, a character is referred to only in pronouns, but the writing is a quality that you understand who you are reading about from the context.
Not all of the mysteries are solved for you in this story. The characters live in worlds of future tech, but they are not tech savvy. They often respond with questions about what things they use are with, "I don't know." I especially would have liked some explanation of the "server" they used, but the details are left to the imagination.
Not deep. Not thought provoking or mind blowing. But it is a fun book.
There isn't much tension as our protagonists are able to overcome every obstacle with the help of divine intervention from their future. Even the future protagonists get carried over any bumps by a Gandolf-like super-character who can give them anything they need to succeed. The result is that our heroes are never thwarted and the reader never worries.
It sounds horrible, but it actually works out rather well. Gibson makes you want them to win. The antagonists are irritating and we want them to fail. Not so much as for the things that make them antagonists, but because of their personalities. They are the pretentious and annoying sort of people we want bad things to happen to, and Gibson delivers satisfaction at every confrontation.
Many of the familiar Gibson cliches are there. The first few pages will have you wishing for a glossary with all of the future jargon. Just think of it as culture shock: The future is a strange place, and though the reader is disoriented at first, you will quickly get used to it. The chapters are short, and that sort of pulls you through the story quickly. The product placement is minimal this time, and is only distracting when the Lego blocks needlessly and inexplicably take a central role in one of the chapters.
One thing I like about his writing style is that he doesn't hold your hand. He shows you first, then later one of the characters always seems to be as confused as you are. It's then that you get the explanation. Some chapters, a character is referred to only in pronouns, but the writing is a quality that you understand who you are reading about from the context.
Not all of the mysteries are solved for you in this story. The characters live in worlds of future tech, but they are not tech savvy. They often respond with questions about what things they use are with, "I don't know." I especially would have liked some explanation of the "server" they used, but the details are left to the imagination.
Not deep. Not thought provoking or mind blowing. But it is a fun book.
neen_machine's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.25
kcrouth's review against another edition
3.0
An interesting angle on time travel, technology, and environmental catastrophe from one of my favorite authors. This is a great story, and it was cool to hear Mr. Gibson to read selections from it, and sign my copy at Motorco in Durham :)
lz3027's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
snuzzbobble's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
tmook's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
A neat happy ending that wraps it all together, and you finally sort of feel like you maybe know what’s happening then. I read this after watching the Amazon show of same title (season 1, as 2 was canceled due to writer strikes). I enjoyed the Gryff-Lowbeer connection. I wish there had been more closure on Lev, Ash, & Ossian . Flynne is a strong character who is easily likeable, both desirable qualities in a main character. All in all, not bad for a sci-fi, and cyberpunk at that.
jlwilson's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
tense
slow-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
4.75
loont's review against another edition
3.0
Slowly, almost, almost, almost- and it's a faceplant.
That was my feeling reading this book reading this book. It's a bit slow to get into, to get going, to understand the characters. I actually stopped reading it once before picking it back up again. But when it does finally come into focus the complex story of a pair of parallel realities stuck in different times and separate histories interacting with each other, and the characters therein slowly having to rely on each other to accomplish a shared set of goals even though electronic communication is their only link, was fascinating.
After some meandering the two main characters are finally decided upon, a young woman with family problems in a quiet and utterly believable near future dystopia where the world is falling apart in slow motion; and a lost and troubled media consultant in a far flung, post dystopian cyberpunk oligarchy future. Slowly the events of the plot bring the two together, the future consultant falls in love with the girl from the past (but not his past), the two have a slowly budding relationship that I was eventually even cheering for as the thriller/crime/sci-fi plot happening around them sails towards a climactic conclusion.
That utterly smashes itself in the face when it tries to stick the landing. It's like an ending was used that Gibson wrote months ago before the story shifted dramatically from where he'd assumed it would go. An ending that was neither climactic nor even appropriate for the story and characters at all anymore, but feels like the due date for the final draft had jumped up on him and he had to throw something at it at the very last second. And it's such a letdown, an unnamed plot twist that was developing gets dropped entirely, the bad guy unceremoniously gets shot in the face in a way that makes you say "wait, couldn't they have just done that a hundred pages back, with other characters?" and in the epilogue the romance between the two main characters never even happened. Instead the girl ends up with the character she was realizing not 50 pages back that she didn't even like, and the guy ends up with a character that was dropped as an unimportant side character back at the beginning of the book and hasn't really shown up to do anything since, but it's treated as if this is some inevitable happy ending for the both of them.
It's such a bizarre letdown that I'm tempted to give this two stars, but somehow this book kept me reading to the end, when I'm the type of person that rarely picks a book back up and has no problem putting one down. What I'm saying is, if the planned TV adaptation goes through I sincerely hope whatever ending Gibson might have had in mind gets put in, instead of this spiraling acrobatics routine that lands so badly it ends up straight on its face.
That was my feeling reading this book reading this book. It's a bit slow to get into, to get going, to understand the characters. I actually stopped reading it once before picking it back up again. But when it does finally come into focus the complex story of a pair of parallel realities stuck in different times and separate histories interacting with each other, and the characters therein slowly having to rely on each other to accomplish a shared set of goals even though electronic communication is their only link, was fascinating.
After some meandering the two main characters are finally decided upon, a young woman with family problems in a quiet and utterly believable near future dystopia where the world is falling apart in slow motion; and a lost and troubled media consultant in a far flung, post dystopian cyberpunk oligarchy future. Slowly the events of the plot bring the two together, the future consultant falls in love with the girl from the past (but not his past), the two have a slowly budding relationship that I was eventually even cheering for as the thriller/crime/sci-fi plot happening around them sails towards a climactic conclusion.
That utterly smashes itself in the face when it tries to stick the landing. It's like an ending was used that Gibson wrote months ago before the story shifted dramatically from where he'd assumed it would go. An ending that was neither climactic nor even appropriate for the story and characters at all anymore, but feels like the due date for the final draft had jumped up on him and he had to throw something at it at the very last second. And it's such a letdown, an unnamed plot twist that was developing gets dropped entirely, the bad guy unceremoniously gets shot in the face in a way that makes you say "wait, couldn't they have just done that a hundred pages back, with other characters?" and in the epilogue the romance between the two main characters never even happened. Instead the girl ends up with the character she was realizing not 50 pages back that she didn't even like, and the guy ends up with a character that was dropped as an unimportant side character back at the beginning of the book and hasn't really shown up to do anything since, but it's treated as if this is some inevitable happy ending for the both of them.
It's such a bizarre letdown that I'm tempted to give this two stars, but somehow this book kept me reading to the end, when I'm the type of person that rarely picks a book back up and has no problem putting one down. What I'm saying is, if the planned TV adaptation goes through I sincerely hope whatever ending Gibson might have had in mind gets put in, instead of this spiraling acrobatics routine that lands so badly it ends up straight on its face.