classically_book_clubbin's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? No
3.0
tawnsolo's review against another edition
3.0
I did not get a lot out of this book. I was mostly confused the whole time. I kept waiting for something interesting to happen, but it all seemed pretty generic. I'm brand new to the science fiction genre though, so maybe after reading other stories, this book will make more sense and seem more exciting?
tiredcreature's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
joel_buck's review against another edition
4.0
I think I love this, but it kind of snuck up on me in the last 15 minutes since I finished it. I wasn't meshing with it for the first 1/3 or so, I felt kind of split between reading what I assumed was blueprint for all the sci-fi that's come after and being confused by the things I couldn't immediately recognize/picture. As is often the case when I read a classic, I'd love to know what I'd have made of it if I'd read it on release. I know it's supposed to be unfilmable (and that a lot of what's in here has made its way into other movies already) but I'd love to see someone succeed in adapting it. I'm about to start scouring the internet for anything I can get my hands about this, I feel like getting to know it better is only going to make me love it more.
twhelan422's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
yorkslass70's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
multivitamim's review against another edition
1.0
God, I hated this book. Had to read it for class, but I don't understand why it's so celebrated. It's pretentiously difficult to read, and the plot isn't interesting enough to make me want to force myself through the intentionally incomprehensible language. NOT recommended.
soniek's review against another edition
5.0
Either this book is highly underrated, or I am completely ignorant about works in this genre.
I had never heard about this book until I picked it up for a reading challenge. For a debut novel written in 1984, this is brilliant in terms of the concept, the complexity, the imagination, the narratives, the characterization, the language used, and most importantly - the plot!
This is my first cyberpunk so I don't really have much to compare it with. But personally, it was a difficult read for me, mainly because of the language used. Also, there's a lot going on in the plot. How does one imagine something which doesn't exist in reality? Of course, one needs a very good imagination. I lacked that in the first half of the book because I still was not getting the hang of it.
An abundant use of slangs, and frequent jumps between locations (be it geography, space, consciousness and even dimensions) made it even more confusing in the beginning.
An advice to the reader: Please pay attention to every new term, right from the beginning!
The plot and the imagination: It's a battle against an AI. Of course, being a cyberfiction, there's got to be an AI gone rogue. And there's a bunch of people, dead and alive, all physically modified with replaceable parts and organs, hired to attack an AI. Dead people continue to live as stored consciousness in RAMs, the rich extend their lives through cryogenics. The human consciousness, AI and software all seem to merge into a fuzzy mess.
The characters: I loved the characters. There isn't a lot of delving into their histories, nor is there a lot of time wasted in developing chemistries. And yet, the writer paints a fine picture of their behaviour, their attire (clothes, appearances and appendages are some of the few things described in great detail in this book). Every character brings a spice of his own, be it the protagonist Case, Mollie who sounds like a cross between an android and cat-woman, the Rastafarian Maelcolm or even a cute little cart crying non-stop.
The technological fantasy: let's just say it heavily inspired The Matrix. I absolutely loved the imagery of a "Chinese virus" attacking the AI's defence systems: "The face of the Kuang logics kinda sleazes up to the target and mutates, so it gets to be exactly like the ice fabric." The author literally likened the software program to a biological pathogen!
I could probably go on and on about the book. To summarize, this is a must-read for anyone interested in cyberpunk and sci-fi. And of course, those who loved The Matrix. As for me, I wouldn't mind re-reading it.
I had never heard about this book until I picked it up for a reading challenge. For a debut novel written in 1984, this is brilliant in terms of the concept, the complexity, the imagination, the narratives, the characterization, the language used, and most importantly - the plot!
This is my first cyberpunk so I don't really have much to compare it with. But personally, it was a difficult read for me, mainly because of the language used. Also, there's a lot going on in the plot. How does one imagine something which doesn't exist in reality? Of course, one needs a very good imagination. I lacked that in the first half of the book because I still was not getting the hang of it.
An abundant use of slangs, and frequent jumps between locations (be it geography, space, consciousness and even dimensions) made it even more confusing in the beginning.
An advice to the reader: Please pay attention to every new term, right from the beginning!
The plot and the imagination: It's a battle against an AI. Of course, being a cyberfiction, there's got to be an AI gone rogue. And there's a bunch of people, dead and alive, all physically modified with replaceable parts and organs, hired to attack an AI. Dead people continue to live as stored consciousness in RAMs, the rich extend their lives through cryogenics. The human consciousness, AI and software all seem to merge into a fuzzy mess.
The characters: I loved the characters. There isn't a lot of delving into their histories, nor is there a lot of time wasted in developing chemistries. And yet, the writer paints a fine picture of their behaviour, their attire (clothes, appearances and appendages are some of the few things described in great detail in this book). Every character brings a spice of his own, be it the protagonist Case, Mollie who sounds like a cross between an android and cat-woman, the Rastafarian Maelcolm or even a cute little cart crying non-stop.
The technological fantasy: let's just say it heavily inspired The Matrix. I absolutely loved the imagery of a "Chinese virus" attacking the AI's defence systems: "The face of the Kuang logics kinda sleazes up to the target and mutates, so it gets to be exactly like the ice fabric." The author literally likened the software program to a biological pathogen!
I could probably go on and on about the book. To summarize, this is a must-read for anyone interested in cyberpunk and sci-fi. And of course, those who loved The Matrix. As for me, I wouldn't mind re-reading it.