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A review by tfitoby
Mona Lisa Overdrive by William Gibson
4.0
A much more accessible version of Gibson's cyberpunk stylings, Mona Lisa Overdrive is a pretty straight forward espionage thriller in comparison to what came before, and as such I found it that much more enjoyable.
Instead of technical information and a sentient AI point of view or endless discussions about what makes us human, the effects of technology on society and freewill we're treated to the lives of four characters in sequential chapters whose lives are on a fateful collision course plotted by unseen powers in a typical example of a cyberpunk future - chrome, imaginative technological advances, massive dichotomy between the rich and the poor, crazy new synthetic drugs, mirrorshades, a truly global society.
It's seedy and complex and Gibson writes compelling intrigue; dropping you in to the middle of these characters lives and never explaining what's going on or how the world came to be the way it is. You're led to understand what a specific piece of technology is as it's used, not explicitly just inferred, the same can be said about relationships between characters and even the way MLO ties in to the previous books in the sequence. It's impressively done and a solidly entertaining read. I always note this with Gibson and yet I continue to be surprised that it is the case.
Instead of technical information and a sentient AI point of view or endless discussions about what makes us human, the effects of technology on society and freewill we're treated to the lives of four characters in sequential chapters whose lives are on a fateful collision course plotted by unseen powers in a typical example of a cyberpunk future - chrome, imaginative technological advances, massive dichotomy between the rich and the poor, crazy new synthetic drugs, mirrorshades, a truly global society.
It's seedy and complex and Gibson writes compelling intrigue; dropping you in to the middle of these characters lives and never explaining what's going on or how the world came to be the way it is. You're led to understand what a specific piece of technology is as it's used, not explicitly just inferred, the same can be said about relationships between characters and even the way MLO ties in to the previous books in the sequence. It's impressively done and a solidly entertaining read. I always note this with Gibson and yet I continue to be surprised that it is the case.