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A review by zach_attakk
Neuromancer by William Gibson
3.0
A good read if you're into the Cyberpunk genre. Many terms used by other authors were coined in this book. However it's not the easiest read and requires some mental gymnastics to follow what's going on.
It does a thing I enjoy in science fiction, where the author assumes we know what a thing is or understand how it works. Nothing breaks immersion like when a book needs to explain its technology like they're talking to a five year old. Gibson also does something with describing people or events, where minor details are mentioned as the scene plays out, sort of how a person in that situation would notice them. It feels very natural.
Unfortunately this backfires at a certain point, when you're almost through the book and you still don't really know what you're "looking at" because descriptions are both vague about the general environment and very specific about unimportant minutia.
I'm glad I read it, because my understanding of these types of books is greatly expanded. Probably won't read it again and it'll take a little convincing to come back for the rest of the trilogy.
It does a thing I enjoy in science fiction, where the author assumes we know what a thing is or understand how it works. Nothing breaks immersion like when a book needs to explain its technology like they're talking to a five year old. Gibson also does something with describing people or events, where minor details are mentioned as the scene plays out, sort of how a person in that situation would notice them. It feels very natural.
Unfortunately this backfires at a certain point, when you're almost through the book and you still don't really know what you're "looking at" because descriptions are both vague about the general environment and very specific about unimportant minutia.
I'm glad I read it, because my understanding of these types of books is greatly expanded. Probably won't read it again and it'll take a little convincing to come back for the rest of the trilogy.