Reviews

Neuromancer by William Gibson

jackrb's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Dispensing ideas about old, genre-defining books can be difficult. Both in the sense of coming out with any sort of novel or interesting opinion, and also not succumbing to the fact that what was undeniably groundbreaking, can look quaint and relatively unimportant after years and decades of providing inspiration either directly or indirectly.

Regardless, as a casual reader with some interest in Sci-Fi, Neuromancer is still absolutely worth reading for its influence alone. It has plenty of interesting ideas, themes and Gibson really nailed the aesthetic and atmosphere of what a cyberpunk world would look, sound and feel like.

However, that is part of the problem, as you are pretty quickly immersed in a world with all this (now outdated and retro) technobabble and lingo, with neither Gibson nor the characters involved feeling generous enough to allow you to get a grip on the world created. You either let your imagination run wild, infer what you can from the technical jargon and flowery prose and breeze past what is quite a simple story told in quick yet abstract fashion, all whilst enjoying every second. Or you don't, and instead chafe against the lack of detail, the chaotic storytelling and the inability to visualise the world built from incoherent snippets of detail.

The litmus test is the first few chapters and you'll quite quickly recognise whether you gel with the uncompromising prose or not. I did, with some reservations throughout, leading to a similarly incoherent rush of thoughts when reading that did not really come much clearer even upon a re-read a year later. Either way, I enjoy Neuromancer a lot more when I let my brain run wild with crazy visualisations, allowing the plot to drag me every which way and simply admiring the whole piece at a fuzzy distance like a grand painting - and I enjoy Neuromancer a whole lot less when I'm picking against slang, jargon, the frenetic storytelling and judging individual brushstrokes with undue attention.

silgehanberbest's review against another edition

challenging dark inspiring mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

justinerobinson's review against another edition

adventurous funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• 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

3.75

mxnprsmpower's review against another edition

adventurous challenging medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

wisdomandsunliz's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense 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? Yes

3.0

laurenamy's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

4.0

novabird's review against another edition

4.0

This was my second try at Neuromancer. The first time around almost two decades ago. Then I was intimidated by all character names, place names, abbreviations and tech talk and abandoned it early on. This time I let the flow and language of the book catch me up and WOW - WHAT A TRIP. Gibson really breathed life into science fiction with what almost felt like real-time sensory input, forward momentum and created worlds within worlds and even character within characters.

We are now just entering true and basic virtual world experiences through tech, with Gibson's creation of the term; 'cyberspace' and his adaptation of Tom Maddox's 'ICE' his prognostications are only somewhat off.

Intrusion Countermeasures Electronics (ICE) is a term used in cyberpunk literature to refer to security programs which protect computerized data from being accessed by hackers.

The only reason it doesn't rate a full 5 for me is that although I like the resolution at the ending for the AI, I definitely did not like the ending for Case, as it was too easy; normalcy very slightly tinged with an edge.

rounaro's review against another edition

2.0

I was so lost throughout this book. The writing was so convoluted and I barely grasped the plot. Points for being groundbreaking in the sci-fi community or whatever

superhawk610's review against another edition

adventurous funny 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? No

5.0

sorinahiggins's review against another edition

2.0

Again: I'm getting too old to waste time reading books I don't like. I'm sure this is brilliant, but too much of it just soars past me. Plus there's too much creepy sex.