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hawkia75 's review for:
Zero History
by William Gibson
Gibson’s characters are all such unicorns, it’s a bit difficult to relate: they’re retired rock stars transitioning into investigative journalism, or mind-bogglingly rich business moguls cool-hunting the latest trends, or super secret fashion designers jetting between London and Tokyo. They speak in cryptic utterances, just to drive home how in the know they are, and how behind the times you—the reader—are, mired in the present moment. They live in a future just three seconds from now, that is also somehow a decade from now. I guess that’s to be expected from an author whose most common quote is “The future is already here—it's just not very evenly distributed.”
It’s interesting to read this trilogy, then, about ten years after he wrote it. Many things still feel relevant, especially the technology embedded in all of his storylines. Other things—like social media—seemed to have escaped his crystal ball entirely. (Or perhaps he doesn’t care to write about our withering attention spans and addiction to novelty and outrage?) For this outing, he’s taken all of his interests (art, fashion, technology) and wrapped them up with some heist hijinks plus some very special denim. It felt supremely silly, and I was a little disappointed: it’s not as though one reads these for the character development. I was counting on some higher stakes! That’s not to say I won’t read more of his books, but I'll feel less intimidated by the important-sounding people, knowing as I do now that
It’s interesting to read this trilogy, then, about ten years after he wrote it. Many things still feel relevant, especially the technology embedded in all of his storylines. Other things—like social media—seemed to have escaped his crystal ball entirely. (Or perhaps he doesn’t care to write about our withering attention spans and addiction to novelty and outrage?) For this outing, he’s taken all of his interests (art, fashion, technology) and wrapped them up with some heist hijinks plus some very special denim. It felt supremely silly, and I was a little disappointed: it’s not as though one reads these for the character development. I was counting on some higher stakes! That’s not to say I won’t read more of his books, but I'll feel less intimidated by the important-sounding people, knowing as I do now that