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A review by apatofuture
Agency by William Gibson
2.0
I enjoyed the prequel "[b:The Peripheral|24611819|The Peripheral|William Gibson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1574084339l/24611819._SY75_.jpg|40167043]" and I'm a fan of Gibson's Blue Ant series ("[b:Pattern Recognition|22320|Pattern Recognition (Blue Ant, #1)|William Gibson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1288326931l/22320._SY75_.jpg|2455062]" etc.). Plus, my own work as a researcher deals with the concept of agency. So I went in with high hopes. But oh my, that book is BORING.
The whole book basically consists of one protagonist being driven to and fro in/on various vehicles, clutching her Muji garment bag, people repeating to each other what they just heard other people say via telepresence, and a swarm of faceless assistants dragging in more and more drone tech.
I get it, the whole idea is that the AI protagonist has agency because it can make a bunch of humans do stuff. But the human protagonists just watch and obey and act like slack faced zombies*. Which COULD be an interesting story. But it isn't.
I usually enjoy Gibson's vapid dystopia / low-key apocalyptic-ish style. But "Agency" just was ... meh.
*def walkers, not runners
The whole book basically consists of one protagonist being driven to and fro in/on various vehicles, clutching her Muji garment bag, people repeating to each other what they just heard other people say via telepresence, and a swarm of faceless assistants dragging in more and more drone tech.
I get it, the whole idea is that the AI protagonist has agency because it can make a bunch of humans do stuff. But the human protagonists just watch and obey and act like slack faced zombies*. Which COULD be an interesting story. But it isn't.
I usually enjoy Gibson's vapid dystopia / low-key apocalyptic-ish style. But "Agency" just was ... meh.
*def walkers, not runners