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3.39 AVERAGE
3.39 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It felt like the author wanted to write Neuromancer in Night City but just didn't do a very good job of it in my personal opinion.
Neuromancer is a book that, while incredibly dated, holds up because it set a lot of benchmarks in the cyberpunk genre so it's historically interesting to read even if, like me, you don't particularly enjoy it.
I also didn't enjoy this book, but it also wasn't doing anything new or interesting to hold up its weaker aspects. The characters felt flat, the writing had very little depth to it so there wasn't really anything to really get your teeth into narrative wise, and on top of that the City itself felt kind of lifeless in its descriptions... it was all just very meh.
If you want good Cyberpunk fiction then I'd recommend hitting Ao3 loooong before I'd recommend this
Neuromancer is a book that, while incredibly dated, holds up because it set a lot of benchmarks in the cyberpunk genre so it's historically interesting to read even if, like me, you don't particularly enjoy it.
I also didn't enjoy this book, but it also wasn't doing anything new or interesting to hold up its weaker aspects. The characters felt flat, the writing had very little depth to it so there wasn't really anything to really get your teeth into narrative wise, and on top of that the City itself felt kind of lifeless in its descriptions... it was all just very meh.
If you want good Cyberpunk fiction then I'd recommend hitting Ao3 loooong before I'd recommend this
adventurous
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I wanted more cyberpunk stories. This scratched that itch. Good not great.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Blood, Medical trauma
Moderate: Kidnapping, Murder
Minor: War
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I absolutely love the video game and also enjoyed the Edgerunner anime, so I was hoping this book would be just to my liking. Unfortunately, I was strongly disappointed.
The pacing and overall composition of this novel are irritating beyond belief. When you have a dozen different characters and a dozen different POVs every single chapter (sometimes 3 to 4 POV changes on one double page), then it's honestly impossible to follow what's actually going. This isn't a film or a TV show where rapid cutaways are a little easier to follow. This book honestly does sometimes feel a bit like it was originally supposed to be a TV script, but it was then changed to novel format without much additional editing. The multiple POV changes made it really hard to fully understand the plot, right up until the last 50 pages, I was struggling to understand what we were even doing here.
Due to the confusing plot structure, I also didn't really get to connect with any of the characters. They all had some interesting concepts or backgrounds going on (e.g., the two female characters), but due to the constant POV switching, we never got much time to get used to any of the characters. At the end of the book, I didn't really care about any of them, and I didn't care for the lacklustre heist story they were involved in. There was just no charm to any of these people.
Also, I don't see how this book would make any sense to someone who is not at least somewhat familiar with the Cyberpunk 2077 world. Phrases, words, and descriptions are thrown around with almost no explanation, e.g., I don't think you'd know what a BD is if you aren't familiar with 2077. I just don't see a reason for non-fans to pick this book up, and I, as a fan of the franchise, didn't have much fun either.
The pacing and overall composition of this novel are irritating beyond belief. When you have a dozen different characters and a dozen different POVs every single chapter (sometimes 3 to 4 POV changes on one double page), then it's honestly impossible to follow what's actually going. This isn't a film or a TV show where rapid cutaways are a little easier to follow. This book honestly does sometimes feel a bit like it was originally supposed to be a TV script, but it was then changed to novel format without much additional editing. The multiple POV changes made it really hard to fully understand the plot, right up until the last 50 pages, I was struggling to understand what we were even doing here.
Due to the confusing plot structure, I also didn't really get to connect with any of the characters. They all had some interesting concepts or backgrounds going on (e.g., the two female characters), but due to the constant POV switching, we never got much time to get used to any of the characters. At the end of the book, I didn't really care about any of them, and I didn't care for the lacklustre heist story they were involved in. There was just no charm to any of these people.
Also, I don't see how this book would make any sense to someone who is not at least somewhat familiar with the Cyberpunk 2077 world. Phrases, words, and descriptions are thrown around with almost no explanation, e.g., I don't think you'd know what a BD is if you aren't familiar with 2077. I just don't see a reason for non-fans to pick this book up, and I, as a fan of the franchise, didn't have much fun either.
Dnf at 40%
This is such a badly written mess. Every couple of sentences we randomly switched place, time and characters. We get to know so many characters I lost count at this point. I can't keep them apart and no longer care to. We get trauma dumped about random people's life's without even knowing them and then ignore them for the next 50 pages. It's so chaotic I didn't even manage to tell what trauma belonged to whom.
Even though this is a heist novel, which is one of my favorite story lines ever, this managed to feel so dragged out and slow.
The setting is cool but that's just bc cyper punk is cool.
This is such a badly written mess. Every couple of sentences we randomly switched place, time and characters. We get to know so many characters I lost count at this point. I can't keep them apart and no longer care to. We get trauma dumped about random people's life's without even knowing them and then ignore them for the next 50 pages. It's so chaotic I didn't even manage to tell what trauma belonged to whom.
Even though this is a heist novel, which is one of my favorite story lines ever, this managed to feel so dragged out and slow.
The setting is cool but that's just bc cyper punk is cool.
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
funny
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The atmosphere of the Cyberpunk-universe was very well caught! The story itself: meh...
For fans of the setting a should-read.
For anyone else: not necessarily my first choice if recommensation.
For fans of the setting a should-read.
For anyone else: not necessarily my first choice if recommensation.