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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I had to take a couple of hours to really think on this novel, not that it's a particularly difficult book to understand but more that it was quite an odd book to me considering it is an official sequel and I wanted to be sure that I understood how I wanted to talk about it.
Count Zero is the official sequel to Neuromancer however where Neuromancer is more of a heist book, this I suppose is closer to a mystery, the mystery being what the story actualy is and how it connects to the series. It doesn't. Not obviously anyway, it is as vaguely connected to Neuromancer as Neuromancer is to Burning Chrome and Johnny Mnenmonic, that is to say that it is connected via the places mentioned, events that have occured in the world and some character cameos. However, you could read Count Zero without any knowledge of Neuromancer, though it would be slightly more confusing due to the technobabble that Gibson has built up, but it perfectly works as a stand alone. This confused me quite a bit as I am not used to a trilogy having novels that seem relatively disconnected.
The writing itself is far easier to comprehend compared to Neuromancer, still plenty of technobabble and cyberpunk oddities but it is far less dense and with it having far more characters and character PoV's it allows for more conversation and what I feel is more natural, modern story telling, it also as the previous novel got you into the world and technobabble this book doesn't have to meander on the language, allowing for it to pick up and go with the story as much as possible while still being less flowery.
The characters in Count Zero are also far better written, again as said you have more PoV's, with about three characters to discover and see their actions in the story with what you learn in one clearly and seamlessly teaching you more about the world, supporting cast, and, the dynamics of life within the universe. The characters are well written and feel unique with the majority of them being very interesting and the switching being a joyful change of pace where I was looking forward just as much to see what the next character was doing at the current time as I was for the previous. It was also refreshing to have more personable characters, I actually cared about Bobby and wanted to know how he was dealing with the events of the book every time it switched back to him, compared to Case who I didn't particularly like or care if he was struggling physically/emotionally in the previous novel.
Where Count Zero struggles in my opinion is with the actual story, it's simply just okay. Each PoV and mini story is interesting enough but as a whole I felt like not a whole lot of importance really happened and I felt that this book was almost trying hard to establish very particular characters or themes with the next book, Mona Lisa Overdrive already in mind. Neuromancer was a far better story in this regard, even though they are similarly sized books it felt like Neuromancer had so many more events that were each extemely important to the whole story, and even though it was hampered with a high amount of necessary world building each scene had an impact to the rest of the novel making it feel very complete.
At the end of the day I enjoyed my time with Count Zero, I enjoyed the characters, the writing and loved being back in "The Sprawl", it was a fun read and I am definitely looking forward to finishing the trilogy to see where Gibson is going with the universe but I just felt like the story itself was misisng some gravitas.
3.5 stars.
Count Zero is the official sequel to Neuromancer however where Neuromancer is more of a heist book, this I suppose is closer to a mystery, the mystery being what the story actualy is and how it connects to the series. It doesn't. Not obviously anyway, it is as vaguely connected to Neuromancer as Neuromancer is to Burning Chrome and Johnny Mnenmonic, that is to say that it is connected via the places mentioned, events that have occured in the world and some character cameos. However, you could read Count Zero without any knowledge of Neuromancer, though it would be slightly more confusing due to the technobabble that Gibson has built up, but it perfectly works as a stand alone. This confused me quite a bit as I am not used to a trilogy having novels that seem relatively disconnected.
The writing itself is far easier to comprehend compared to Neuromancer, still plenty of technobabble and cyberpunk oddities but it is far less dense and with it having far more characters and character PoV's it allows for more conversation and what I feel is more natural, modern story telling, it also as the previous novel got you into the world and technobabble this book doesn't have to meander on the language, allowing for it to pick up and go with the story as much as possible while still being less flowery.
The characters in Count Zero are also far better written, again as said you have more PoV's, with about three characters to discover and see their actions in the story with what you learn in one clearly and seamlessly teaching you more about the world, supporting cast, and, the dynamics of life within the universe. The characters are well written and feel unique with the majority of them being very interesting and the switching being a joyful change of pace where I was looking forward just as much to see what the next character was doing at the current time as I was for the previous. It was also refreshing to have more personable characters, I actually cared about Bobby and wanted to know how he was dealing with the events of the book every time it switched back to him, compared to Case who I didn't particularly like or care if he was struggling physically/emotionally in the previous novel.
Where Count Zero struggles in my opinion is with the actual story, it's simply just okay. Each PoV and mini story is interesting enough but as a whole I felt like not a whole lot of importance really happened and I felt that this book was almost trying hard to establish very particular characters or themes with the next book, Mona Lisa Overdrive already in mind. Neuromancer was a far better story in this regard, even though they are similarly sized books it felt like Neuromancer had so many more events that were each extemely important to the whole story, and even though it was hampered with a high amount of necessary world building each scene had an impact to the rest of the novel making it feel very complete.
At the end of the day I enjoyed my time with Count Zero, I enjoyed the characters, the writing and loved being back in "The Sprawl", it was a fun read and I am definitely looking forward to finishing the trilogy to see where Gibson is going with the universe but I just felt like the story itself was misisng some gravitas.
3.5 stars.
Finished Jan 2021. This was a messy book, with bland, unlikeable characters; a story that only occasionally resolved into clarity under the thicket of oh-so-cool techno-jargon; parallel plotlines i barely cared for, arranged in chapters that were so hard to pick up again.
While the concepts were promising - AI at the cusp of becoming gods (or gods moving into the matrix), I felt nothing for the characters, for instance - the impression is an author who has too many ideas, but only fragments of a plot. Overall a pretty disappointing read.
While the concepts were promising - AI at the cusp of becoming gods (or gods moving into the matrix), I felt nothing for the characters, for instance - the impression is an author who has too many ideas, but only fragments of a plot. Overall a pretty disappointing read.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Esta novela y Neuromante me han encantado, especialmente como, con cierta poesía y suavidad al narrar, Gibson logra unir conceptos de la ciencia ficción con la religión. Sin ser una la continuación directa de la otra, logra enlazar ambas historia y generar una coherencia única. De verdad que Gibson me ha robado el corazón.
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes