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caitsidhe's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
This book doesn't want you to do anything so prosaic as 'enjoy' it. Its an experience, a drug trip, a dream and a nightmare. It was also written in 1993 and it shows, with dogman hybrid fucking being on page but queerness only hinted at
jetenold's review against another edition
This was one of my assigned reads for an intro to Literature class. from what i remember it was really good, but totally trippy.
lagerlout's review
3.0
Vurt is like the worst acid trip you could ever imagine but it's also one hell of a ride, ya know?
amphybius's review against another edition
5.0
A very polarizing book I'm sure, due to the taboo plot lines, but the writing style is incredible and imaginative as an adolescent on psychedelics.
brightshiny's review against another edition
3.0
I felt like I was reading a version of Ubik written like Neuromancer. It never really came together for me.
ghostrachel's review against another edition
4.0
I had originally listened to this book on tape in the late 90's and remember really enjoying it, so I thought I'd see how it held up now. This is more cyber-acid than cyberpunk but you can definitely see the influence of Gibson and Stephenson here. I really enjoy the visual nature of the writing. This book is very much a series of alternate realities via acid trip-like descriptions. I didn't like the way he relied on the normalcy of a few sexual taboos to take you to a different world, I don't even remember that from my earlier go-through of the book. Maybe as a 19/20 year old I thought it was badass that Jeff Noon was so "liberated" and taking a page from the Marquis. However as a much more well-adjusted 30-something, it took me out of the story. I don't think the end is as good as the rest of the book, but I still think this book is a worthy inclusion to the cyberpunk canon.
sh00's review against another edition
3.0
Умрёшь в Вирте - умрёшь и в реальном мире. До выхода "Матрицы", тем не менее, ещё шесть лет.
Однажды, в предгриппозном состоянии, мне приснился сон, вложенный в сон. Это было в канун дня рождения забавного заикающегося математика по фамилии Доджсон, он же Птица Додо, он же сами знаете, кто. Как же я тогда испугался... И несколько дней, пока болезнь не протащила меня через кризис к выздоровлению, был не вполне уверен в том, что не предстоит проснуться ещё раз.
Книга, несмотря на психоделическое, абстрактное и саморазвивающееся наполнение (дополненное автоматическим письмом ближе к концу), построена на этом самом ощущении, которое предлагается вообразить или вспомнить. Фраза-эпиграф и фраза-эпилог, во всяком случае, очень толсто на это намекают.
Оказывается, я за годы забыл, что отдал главный герой Вирту в обмен на застрявшую в нём любовницу-сестру. Впрочем, вышло вполне равноценно, плюс-минус требуемый коэффициент.
Кстати, никому не рекомендовал бы начинать читать Нуна с этой книги, хотя она и дебютная.
Какой ещё киберпанк?..
Однажды, в предгриппозном состоянии, мне приснился сон, вложенный в сон. Это было в канун дня рождения забавного заикающегося математика по фамилии Доджсон, он же Птица Додо, он же сами знаете, кто. Как же я тогда испугался... И несколько дней, пока болезнь не протащила меня через кризис к выздоровлению, был не вполне уверен в том, что не предстоит проснуться ещё раз.
Книга, несмотря на психоделическое, абстрактное и саморазвивающееся наполнение (дополненное автоматическим письмом ближе к концу), построена на этом самом ощущении, которое предлагается вообразить или вспомнить. Фраза-эпиграф и фраза-эпилог, во всяком случае, очень толсто на это намекают.
Оказывается, я за годы забыл, что отдал главный герой Вирту в обмен на застрявшую в нём любовницу-сестру. Впрочем, вышло вполне равноценно, плюс-минус требуемый коэффициент.
Кстати, никому не рекомендовал бы начинать читать Нуна с этой книги, хотя она и дебютная.
Какой ещё киберпанк?..
lipsandpalms's review against another edition
2.0
I'm about a third of the way through and I don't care to finish it. It started off mysterious and interesting but now I just don't really care about the plot at all. There's some world building that just doesn't seem to matter, at least not yet. There's a semblance of a plot, but I don't care about the main characters pursuit to rescue his sister to rekindle their incentuous love affair.
The idea of a drug administered by special and rare feathers where the people who take them have a shared hallucination seems cool but so far it hasn't really added anything to the story. It's all so kaleidoscopic that I feels like I'm listening to rambling random nonsense most of the time. A being made of drugs?
What's with the shadow girls and the robo cops? They can read minds and fry brains but the story seems to want to focus on people forcing feathers down each other's throats. There's a more interesting story set in this world but this isn't it. I feel like I'm missing something. Is this a sequel to a previous iteration?
The idea of a drug administered by special and rare feathers where the people who take them have a shared hallucination seems cool but so far it hasn't really added anything to the story. It's all so kaleidoscopic that I feels like I'm listening to rambling random nonsense most of the time. A being made of drugs?
What's with the shadow girls and the robo cops? They can read minds and fry brains but the story seems to want to focus on people forcing feathers down each other's throats. There's a more interesting story set in this world but this isn't it. I feel like I'm missing something. Is this a sequel to a previous iteration?
ninj's review
3.0
Drug-soaked cyberpunk, in a surrealistic haze of scene and plot. There are some pretty cool sections, and the end chunk does get a bit of momentum behind it, but this is probably just one of those cases where I really don't connect well with hazy / dreamy / surreal sci-fi stories, outside of some bizarro.