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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
Gibson's Sprawl trilogy is notorious for its elusive plots and the second book in the series, Count Zero, is no easier than its celebrated predecessor. Or maybe it is. While I struggled hopelessly to grasp what was going on in Neuromancer, at least in their basic outlines it's not too difficult to follow the three threads that make up Count Zero. To understand many of the crucial plot points, especially in regard to the "reveal" at the end, I needed to consult various online resources (the ashmoop study guide, for instance). With that help, though, I was thoroughly invested.
In the Sprawl universe, futuristic technology—often revolving around the cyberspace, or "Matrix"—is all around, including big-money developments, shady means of income, and human enhancements. Multinational corporations hold more power than actual governments. I'll try to give some background information before I turn to the main plot.
In Neuromancer, a corporate clan called Tessier-Ashpool was at the center as it owned the Wintermute and Neuromancer AIs. The former's goal was to merge with the latter and it manipulated the protagonists to archive that. Neuromancer's ability was to copy minds and run them as RAM, while Wintermute was more general-purpose. I think Wintermute succeeded in the end, whatever that may mean.
Count Zero is about a corporate war between Maas Biolabs and Hosaka that revolves around a technology called "biosoft". It was seemingly invented by Christopher Mitchell, a leading scientist for Maas Biolabs. In the beginning of the novel he hired a group of people (including one of the three protagonists, Turner) to allow him an illegal transfer to their main competitor, Hosaka. Things don't quite turn out as planned and Turner ends up with Mitchell's daughter, Angie. She is much more valuable, though, as she was neurologically altered to access the cyberspace without any technical aid.
To be honest, I was much less interested in the other two plot threads. One is about Bobby Newmark alias Count Zero, a small-time console cowboy (or hacker). By unknown agents he is offered the chance to "test" an ICE breaker software, "ICE" being short for "Intrusion Countermeasures Electronics". So, it's basically a firewall and for which you would need some sort of hacking assistance. It's use leads to an accident that almost kills him. Lucky for him, a mysterious ghost-like woman shows up and saves him (of course, she later turns out to be Angie). As the owners of the software are very interested in what exactly happened to him, they put him through the complex medical procedure necessary to save his life.
Finally, there is Marly Krushkhova, an art curator who fell into disrepute after auctioning what allegedly was a Joseph Cornell box, but which was exposed to be a fake commissioned by her husband. She is hired by a powerful businessman, Josef Virek, to find the creator of similar boxes in his possession. To be honest, I've seen Cornell boxes, but didn't quite get what Virek's boxes must have looked like. What I did understand, though, was that he had been living in a nutrient solution for decades and that these boxes somehow promise him to go over to another plane of existence.
The scene when Bobby wakes up was some fucked up nightmare. There is blood all around him and the attempts of his "doctor" to soothe him certainly wouldn't have calmed me down. It's so creepy to think that he would look upon himself from the outside as if he was some sort of puppet that someone was working on. As is explained to him, his nervous system was ruined when he tried to access some database. In fact, there was a pretty cool similar scene at the very beginning of the novel. In moments like these I totally love the cyberpunk vibes.
I still wondered why Gibson chose Bobby as his main protagonist. I always felt slightly disappointed when I began a chapter and it was not about Turner. He is some sort of mercenary hired to "poach" valuable personnel by military means. I was quite thrilled by the operation that forms the first act of his story, a very well planned heist that brought together the expertise of about ten specialists. The chaotic outcome got a bit confusing (there was a nuke or rail gun involved?), but it was still cool to read about Mitchell's scheme to save his daughter (somehow shot through the air or something?).
There is some personal background to some of the characters. Bobby is living in the projects in Barrytown ruled by organized gangs. It's a pretty bleak outlook and you can see why he would want to get out. He dreams of meeting this hot-shot hacker guy, Two-a-Day, who of course is way out of his league. His mother was killed after he woke up from his fatal trip. Of Turner we learn about his problematic relationship with his brother in whose place he hides after the failed operation. Don't expect any great character study, but it helps to at least somehow feel for the people involved.
There is at least one character from the first novel that makes another appearance here, the Finn. I think he is offering black market software (?) and I think he was the guy who anonymously gave Bobby the ICE breaker. I have to admit, he didn't leave much of an impression, and I barely even remembered him from the first book (I think one of the AIs spoke to him?). Since we learn so little about the world as a whole—there had been a big war (WWIII?), most animals are extinct (horses are explicitly mentioned), there was a pandemic, but that's basically it—it's difficult for me to connect the events to anything that happened in Neuromancer.
The conclusion continues the arc of the first novel, though. There was rumors that "voodoo spooks" haunted the cyberspace, and at the end it's revealed that these "gods" are remnants of the merged Wintermute/Neuromancer AI and it was them who gave Mitchell the necessary inspiration for his research. There is this meeting of Marly at the space station (?) and there is some sort of bigger reveal that must mean that the cyberpunk now accommodates sentient AI. This really went over my head.
The themes and vibe are really awesome, but the plot itself left me again underwhelmed. People go here and there and talk in this heavy often unintelligible techno prose, but without much character development or actual story. It's all about the atmosphere and disquieting emotion, but in this respect it fully succeeds. I can see the appeal.
Rating: 3.5/5
In the Sprawl universe, futuristic technology—often revolving around the cyberspace, or "Matrix"—is all around, including big-money developments, shady means of income, and human enhancements. Multinational corporations hold more power than actual governments. I'll try to give some background information before I turn to the main plot.
In Neuromancer, a corporate clan called Tessier-Ashpool was at the center as it owned the Wintermute and Neuromancer AIs. The former's goal was to merge with the latter and it manipulated the protagonists to archive that. Neuromancer's ability was to copy minds and run them as RAM, while Wintermute was more general-purpose. I think Wintermute succeeded in the end, whatever that may mean.
Count Zero is about a corporate war between Maas Biolabs and Hosaka that revolves around a technology called "biosoft". It was seemingly invented by Christopher Mitchell, a leading scientist for Maas Biolabs. In the beginning of the novel he hired a group of people (including one of the three protagonists, Turner) to allow him an illegal transfer to their main competitor, Hosaka. Things don't quite turn out as planned and Turner ends up with Mitchell's daughter, Angie. She is much more valuable, though, as she was neurologically altered to access the cyberspace without any technical aid.
To be honest, I was much less interested in the other two plot threads. One is about Bobby Newmark alias Count Zero, a small-time console cowboy (or hacker). By unknown agents he is offered the chance to "test" an ICE breaker software, "ICE" being short for "Intrusion Countermeasures Electronics". So, it's basically a firewall and for which you would need some sort of hacking assistance. It's use leads to an accident that almost kills him. Lucky for him, a mysterious ghost-like woman shows up and saves him (of course, she later turns out to be Angie). As the owners of the software are very interested in what exactly happened to him, they put him through the complex medical procedure necessary to save his life.
Finally, there is Marly Krushkhova, an art curator who fell into disrepute after auctioning what allegedly was a Joseph Cornell box, but which was exposed to be a fake commissioned by her husband. She is hired by a powerful businessman, Josef Virek, to find the creator of similar boxes in his possession. To be honest, I've seen Cornell boxes, but didn't quite get what Virek's boxes must have looked like. What I did understand, though, was that he had been living in a nutrient solution for decades and that these boxes somehow promise him to go over to another plane of existence.
The scene when Bobby wakes up was some fucked up nightmare. There is blood all around him and the attempts of his "doctor" to soothe him certainly wouldn't have calmed me down. It's so creepy to think that he would look upon himself from the outside as if he was some sort of puppet that someone was working on. As is explained to him, his nervous system was ruined when he tried to access some database. In fact, there was a pretty cool similar scene at the very beginning of the novel. In moments like these I totally love the cyberpunk vibes.
I still wondered why Gibson chose Bobby as his main protagonist. I always felt slightly disappointed when I began a chapter and it was not about Turner. He is some sort of mercenary hired to "poach" valuable personnel by military means. I was quite thrilled by the operation that forms the first act of his story, a very well planned heist that brought together the expertise of about ten specialists. The chaotic outcome got a bit confusing (there was a nuke or rail gun involved?), but it was still cool to read about Mitchell's scheme to save his daughter (somehow shot through the air or something?).
There is some personal background to some of the characters. Bobby is living in the projects in Barrytown ruled by organized gangs. It's a pretty bleak outlook and you can see why he would want to get out. He dreams of meeting this hot-shot hacker guy, Two-a-Day, who of course is way out of his league. His mother was killed after he woke up from his fatal trip. Of Turner we learn about his problematic relationship with his brother in whose place he hides after the failed operation. Don't expect any great character study, but it helps to at least somehow feel for the people involved.
There is at least one character from the first novel that makes another appearance here, the Finn. I think he is offering black market software (?) and I think he was the guy who anonymously gave Bobby the ICE breaker. I have to admit, he didn't leave much of an impression, and I barely even remembered him from the first book (I think one of the AIs spoke to him?). Since we learn so little about the world as a whole—there had been a big war (WWIII?), most animals are extinct (horses are explicitly mentioned), there was a pandemic, but that's basically it—it's difficult for me to connect the events to anything that happened in Neuromancer.
The conclusion continues the arc of the first novel, though. There was rumors that "voodoo spooks" haunted the cyberspace, and at the end it's revealed that these "gods" are remnants of the merged Wintermute/Neuromancer AI and it was them who gave Mitchell the necessary inspiration for his research. There is this meeting of Marly at the space station (?) and there is some sort of bigger reveal that must mean that the cyberpunk now accommodates sentient AI. This really went over my head.
The themes and vibe are really awesome, but the plot itself left me again underwhelmed. People go here and there and talk in this heavy often unintelligible techno prose, but without much character development or actual story. It's all about the atmosphere and disquieting emotion, but in this respect it fully succeeds. I can see the appeal.
Rating: 3.5/5
The first third or so had a hard time holding my interest, but then it got pretty good. Count Zero is much better written than Neuromancer. The ending was pretty weak and felt rushed; and there’s still weird sexual moments, including some involving a young girl, but they were brief and few in number. Gibson seems a bit obsessed with breasts.
The lesser of the Sprawl trilogy, but still fast-paced and fascinating and certainly worth a read. It was ahead of its time and predicted a number of emerging technlogies very well, with the notable exception of the future of the fax (the what?).
adventurous
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
adventurous
challenging
dark
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:
Complicated
A bit slower paced than the first, but still a very fun ride!
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
fast-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:
N/A
I didn't find this book to be as enthralling as Neuromancer but it's still a fun, cyberpunk read. I was actually surprised by how satisfying it was, considering how different it was at times from that first book. I liked the rotating points of view and could have spent a bit more time in the universe.
When I rated this last time I liked it more than Necromancer, now I have no idea why. It's good enough, but Turner is such a parody of an action lead you can't take him seriously. I still like the vodou cyberpunk stuff though.
I didn’t particularly like this. It’s an interesting world, but I’m not sure I could even tell you what it was actually about.