Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Neuromancer by William Gibson

7 reviews

missdragon's review

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adventurous challenging dark tense
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

 Gosh this was a really interesting, honestly great read and I'm not sure where to begin. This book is considered to be what created cyberpunk as a genre but also was the origin of a bunch of other things I didn't know about - the concept of cyberspace before the internet, the matrix as a concept and the Japanese/science fiction aesthetic you see a lot, especially in the blade runner movie. Think fast paced, heist, Nior type of thing. With the standard cast of characters you'd expect - they don't really develop much past their archetypes. 
 
I loved how the book didn't hold your hand throughout it felt like being thrown into a world at a very quick pace, and you were expected to keep up, especially when it comes to understanding the world, and It's something I really value in science fiction books - there is no exposition you have to work things out, most things really, based on context. This was one of the things I really liked about Do Androids as well. 
 
The dialogue was excellent, and I loved how it was integrated into the action and text of the book. The writing itself flowed really well, it was very entertaining and thought provoking. I liked how the story effortlessly moved between real life stable things, and the dream-like sequences of being in the cyberspace area. 
 
This was very close to being a five star read for me, very very close, but I've opted for 4.75 stars for two reasons, firstly
The main character has casual sex with two of the main women in the story and it's written quite badly.
and secondly, sometimes information, in the form of random new science fiction words, were casually inserted into the rather fast moving text, with zero explanation as to what they were or what they looked like. As a reader this made it a hard to visualise some of the scenes, and I also don't know how accurate what I'm imagining is. 

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missmansanas's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5


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ghast's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark funny 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? No

3.5

I really enjoyed this at parts, Gibson's writing is great with the atmospheric way he describes the places and all the different technology that you have to learn to infer from the text. Especially within the cyberspace/matrix, it's word salad but a good way for me. The book kinda grinds your brain to mush sometimes with a plot that doesn't take it's time to hold your hand, but that's what makes it intriguing because it does have a good plot (mostly).

The characters aren't all that interesting, might've only liked two of the characters. The plot is interesting with how it's set up that when it was reaching the end it felt very anti-climantic? It wasn't a horrible ending but it seemed too abrupt for me personally.

Still worth reading though if you're into dense sci-fi that has classic cyberpunk vibes all over it.

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dargent94's review

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challenging dark mysterious tense slow-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

2.75


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themysteriouserk's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

3.25

Gibson’s most famous novel isn’t his best; the tropes and stereotypes employed here range from old hat to offensive, and on the whole it feels more like a collection of stories artificially fitted together than a proper novel. Still, there’s a lot to love too, from the static sky and the setup for the rest of the Sprawl world to the memorable concepts and characters. A good read for Gibson fans and people really interested in the subject matter, but it doesn’t hold up as well or even really try to do as much as some of his newer novels (especially the Blue Ant trilogy), and feels dated both in its technological references and its lack of understanding about race and culture.

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peachani's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75


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wolverine's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Weird book.

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