Reviews

Neuromancer by William Gibson

hexort's review against another edition

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

3.75

_durnin's review against another edition

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challenging dark medium-paced
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

mandamoorocks's review against another edition

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

1.0

There is no background, no world building, no character introductions and no explanations. Random words are just thrown about and you have to figure out what they mean through context. The dialogue is rushed and a ballache to decipher and there are no likeable characters to invest in.

orsuros's review against another edition

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4.0

It's easy to see why this is a sci-fi classic and see how many things have borrowed ideas from it. It's aged well and is still a very enjoyable read if you want some gritty sci-fi.

demosthenes's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

I hated this. I finished it out of obligation, but I really, truly loathed this book. I have three major qualms with it:
  1. The world-building was AWFUL. HORRENDOUS. Like I'm not that into sci-fi, so I'm sure there are some things I would've better understood if I knew the genre better; that wasn't the main issue though. Golding would pull out RANDOM sci fi gobbledygook and never explain what on earth it was. This just made it SO hard to understand what was going on, I was nearly clueless the entire read.
  2. The writing style was incredibly dull. It was plainly uninteresting and it was so boring, I couldn't keep my attention on the book and I'd have to restart the page because my mind had wondered so far away from the story. I was never excited to pick this up every day I was reading it.
  3. The only female character, Molly, was terribly written. She wasn't a person who was female, her only defining feature was that she was female, so of course
    she had experience as a prostitute, and of course she had sex with the main character within the first few pages they met.
    Ridiculous. One thing that really bothered me was that,
    when Case hopped into her mind with the SimStim, the first thing she did upon his arrival was to reach under her shirt and pinch her nipple, so he could experience it too.
    Who in the world would do that.
Overall, I hated it. I'm sure others thought it was a good book, but I just couldnt move past these things. Wouldn't reccomend (sorry i needed to rant).

pjfangelo's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.0

zendingmachine's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.5

shutupitybi's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

waite's review against another edition

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

4.25

Neuromancer is a book that will not make sense a majority of your time with it. Then, almost as quickly as it started, you finally catch up to everything, and it’s over.

Reading this book with modern expectations will leave you disappointed. Reading with an open-mind plus a willingness to just be confused will give you all the framework to get through this book and enjoy it.

Neuromancer, despite its dense nature, does vibe and atmosphere so well that I felt in the world. That feeling stems from the utter lack of explanation for the many, and I mean many, made up words, concepts, phrases, etc. Gibson uses throughout the book. I was so engaged during the whole duration of my read because of how much context I had to catch. 

I loved being engaged and in the action, but this book moves locations a TON. I barely kept track of where we were and it was only when I was almost done with the book when I had stringed everything together. This lead to a very confusing but suddenly satisfying read including the ending. 

streamthief's review against another edition

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

2.75

Very plot heavy and not a lot of character work, also confusing for me, so just not my kind of s book. But I did find a lot of it interesting and can see the appeal especially considering the time it was written.