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johnald1266's review against another edition
5.0
One of my favorite books. Seminal text that created cyberpunk but it also is just a great classic heist story. The world is enthralling and the characters more than just stock cutouts.
Spoiler
It's a shame that he neutered the rest of the trilogy by removing Case from the picture, ironically, because he didn't want to write a sequel. If he reneged on that by shaping it into a trilogy, why not just retcon the final line so you can bring back the full dynamic of characters? In my opinion, skip the next two and move on to the rest of the genre.Spoiler
zaggeta's review against another edition
3.0
An interesting setting with some really creative and well-written descriptions, unfortunately dragged down by confusing plotting and fevered scene transitions.
Neuromancer's biggest value is its contribution to founding the cyberpunk genre and all aesthetics and themes we take for granted. For this, it should be remembered fondly. But as a novel, it suffers from an inability to retain a coherent story-line, jumping around too much and spending more time on (albeit) excellent descriptions than what is actually happening.
If you feel like a read that will take a lot of effort, but want to explore the origins of the cyperpunk genre, try Neuromancer.
Neuromancer's biggest value is its contribution to founding the cyberpunk genre and all aesthetics and themes we take for granted. For this, it should be remembered fondly. But as a novel, it suffers from an inability to retain a coherent story-line, jumping around too much and spending more time on (albeit) excellent descriptions than what is actually happening.
If you feel like a read that will take a lot of effort, but want to explore the origins of the cyperpunk genre, try Neuromancer.
taylor_hohulin's review against another edition
3.0
Man, I should have LOVED this book. Listing off all the plot points and set dressings and characters makes me want to love it so badly. But mostly, I just liked it. I had trouble connecting with it for some reason.
lalettricesolitaria's review against another edition
5.0
Videorecensione: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbDO9o6T_tQ
noah_hurts's review against another edition
3.0
I'm a total sucker for Cyberpunk as an idea but this had issues.
PROS: Really neat world building, flowery writing that was super conducive to the drug trips and hacking scenes and really good dialogue.
CONS: The flowery writing made the action scenes impossible to parse. You can't use "she" as a descriptor for characters when there are two female characters in a scene at once and expect the reader to know what's happening. The first 50 pages were completely inscrutable, which sort of works given the protagonist was supposed to be tripping the entire time, but come on.
Worth a read to see where some of the early footprints of Cyberpunk as a genre come from, but that's about it. As a heist novel it has some interesting beats, but it's just a bit of a mess.
PROS: Really neat world building, flowery writing that was super conducive to the drug trips and hacking scenes and really good dialogue.
CONS: The flowery writing made the action scenes impossible to parse. You can't use "she" as a descriptor for characters when there are two female characters in a scene at once and expect the reader to know what's happening. The first 50 pages were completely inscrutable, which sort of works given the protagonist was supposed to be tripping the entire time, but come on.
Worth a read to see where some of the early footprints of Cyberpunk as a genre come from, but that's about it. As a heist novel it has some interesting beats, but it's just a bit of a mess.
eacolgan's review against another edition
5.0
There's a reason this book spawned an entire genre of fiction; actually there are many reasons, most of which you can only find out by reading the book. It's funny, having read cyberpunk and seen 'The Matrix' and movies like it, now to see where they all came from-- and it's undeniable, this really is the root of all of it, and it gave me a new appreciation for the genre and a desire to go read more in it. I liked this *so* much more than [b:Snow Crash].
caitcoy's review against another edition
5.0
Strangely amazing, this book made me a cyberpunk fan.
I have to admit that the only reason I initially picked this up was because a friend recently got me addicted to the card game Android: Net Runner and recommended this book as a way to understand the theme of the game better. Anytime someone's talking about the cyberpunk genre, it's almost a guarantee that this book will come up. It's a classic cyberpunk story, set in a future where enormously powerful, multinational corporations fight each other for power and technology and hackers are hired to break into a virtual reality matrix where the corporations' secrets are stored. This constant struggle between hacker and corporation has many people playing a very dangerous game.
The main premise of Neuromancer is that a young man named Henry Case has been recruited by a mysterious benefactor to make an extremely difficult "run" on a corporation's servers. Case had been a hacker working for a criminal organization until he made the mistake of stealing from his employers.
"Of course he was welcome, they hold him, welcome to the money. And he was going to need it. Because - still smiling - they were going to make sure he never worked again. They damaged his nervous system with a wartime Russian mycotoxin. Strapped to a bed in a Memphis hotel, his talent burning out micron by micron, he hallucinated for thirty hours. The damage was minute, subtle, and utterly effective. For Case, who'd lived for the bodiless exultation of cyberspace, it was the Fall. In the bars he'd frequented as a cowboy hotshot, the elite stance involved a certain relaxed contempt for the flesh. The body was meat. Case fell into the prison of his own flesh."
Case makes a living on the streets doing the most dangerous jobs and not giving a shit if he lives or dies. Then, he's given a second chance: make a run on this AI, and we'll get you back to your old cyberspace cowboy ways. So Case, guided by a mentally unstable war hero and protected by a street samurai named Molly, takes on the impossible mission in the hopes of finally getting his life back.
I will admit right now that I know I didn't understand all the intricacies of the world that Gibson crafts here but it's so fascinating that it didn't keep me from enjoying the ride. Gibson's writing is strange and beautiful at the same time. I fell in love within the first chapter and despite struggling to understand some of the technological aspects of it, I had a hard time putting it down. It slows down a bit in the middle but the first and last thirds are so fascinating that I never struggled for long.
I don't often read sci-fi so I've been hesitant to pick up some of the classics. Thanks to Gibson, I won't hesitate with any more cyberpunk stories, this was absolutely brilliant!
I have to admit that the only reason I initially picked this up was because a friend recently got me addicted to the card game Android: Net Runner and recommended this book as a way to understand the theme of the game better. Anytime someone's talking about the cyberpunk genre, it's almost a guarantee that this book will come up. It's a classic cyberpunk story, set in a future where enormously powerful, multinational corporations fight each other for power and technology and hackers are hired to break into a virtual reality matrix where the corporations' secrets are stored. This constant struggle between hacker and corporation has many people playing a very dangerous game.
The main premise of Neuromancer is that a young man named Henry Case has been recruited by a mysterious benefactor to make an extremely difficult "run" on a corporation's servers. Case had been a hacker working for a criminal organization until he made the mistake of stealing from his employers.
"Of course he was welcome, they hold him, welcome to the money. And he was going to need it. Because - still smiling - they were going to make sure he never worked again. They damaged his nervous system with a wartime Russian mycotoxin. Strapped to a bed in a Memphis hotel, his talent burning out micron by micron, he hallucinated for thirty hours. The damage was minute, subtle, and utterly effective. For Case, who'd lived for the bodiless exultation of cyberspace, it was the Fall. In the bars he'd frequented as a cowboy hotshot, the elite stance involved a certain relaxed contempt for the flesh. The body was meat. Case fell into the prison of his own flesh."
Case makes a living on the streets doing the most dangerous jobs and not giving a shit if he lives or dies. Then, he's given a second chance: make a run on this AI, and we'll get you back to your old cyberspace cowboy ways. So Case, guided by a mentally unstable war hero and protected by a street samurai named Molly, takes on the impossible mission in the hopes of finally getting his life back.
I will admit right now that I know I didn't understand all the intricacies of the world that Gibson crafts here but it's so fascinating that it didn't keep me from enjoying the ride. Gibson's writing is strange and beautiful at the same time. I fell in love within the first chapter and despite struggling to understand some of the technological aspects of it, I had a hard time putting it down. It slows down a bit in the middle but the first and last thirds are so fascinating that I never struggled for long.
I don't often read sci-fi so I've been hesitant to pick up some of the classics. Thanks to Gibson, I won't hesitate with any more cyberpunk stories, this was absolutely brilliant!
bronzeparachute's review against another edition
4.0
This book overwhelms you with a flood of techno-babble. It disgusts you with body mods, horrible violence, and excessive drug use. It is a bit confusing, and certain parts require rereading. All the same, it has an achy sort of beauty that I feel like many authors strive for, but never achieve.
jorgefernandez's review against another edition
2.0
Hay que reconocer el mérito de haber escrito la novela cuando no existía, por ejemplo, ni una página web tal y como la conocemos hoy en día. Pero es demasiado caótico y no me ha interesado prácticamente nada de lo que ha contado.