Scan barcode
A review by skycrane
Agency by William Gibson
2.0
It's odd that this book is called "Agency", since the main characters didn't have any. Verity and Netherton are constantly being told what to do, shuffled from one place to another, generally with no real idea of what they're doing, where they're going, or why. The protagonists of this story are Eunice, an experimental AI, and Lowbeer, returning from The Peripheral. They're the ones who face adversity and overcome it. But the book goes into very little detail about how that all happens. Most of the plot is the recounting of an elaborate scheme, set up by Eunice, to prevent Verity from being kidnapped. Numerous people are recruited to perform small roles in this task without any of them knowing the bigger picture. Well, not that many people, actually. The same half dozen just show up over and over again. Verity simply does what she's told without question, or with one question she endlessly repeats: "Where are we going?" Netherton is supposedly working for Lowbeer to facilitate her saving this world, but he's generally in the same position as Verity, just hanging out asking people where they're going.
In the background, there's a looming threat of nuclear war in Verity's world, Eunice's struggle to secretly acquire enough server space and processing power to survive being shut down by the military, and Lowbeer dealing with a threat to her position. But all of this is developed and resolved behind the scenes. The only characters we actually read about, all the people involved in helping Verity escape, are also just blindly following instructions from Eunice. The whole plot of this book is just a sideshow to the actual story, which is told without being told, and resolves itself through means not mentioned.
In the background, there's a looming threat of nuclear war in Verity's world, Eunice's struggle to secretly acquire enough server space and processing power to survive being shut down by the military, and Lowbeer dealing with a threat to her position. But all of this is developed and resolved behind the scenes. The only characters we actually read about, all the people involved in helping Verity escape, are also just blindly following instructions from Eunice. The whole plot of this book is just a sideshow to the actual story, which is told without being told, and resolves itself through means not mentioned.