A review by c_l
Neuromancer by William Gibson

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
Brutal and poetic. For the impact on media, and our current 2021 society, Gibson deserves the praise he's been handed. I'm interested to read some of the cultural criticism written in the last forty years. All of the characters are flawed, and most are pretty fucked up (particularly Case, the protag).

Gibson's writing style caught me off guard, and it took me some time to settle into. I bet this would make for a much better re-read. It's highly metaphorical/poetic, without taking length to fine-tune a description. The characters all point to a dynamic, hostile, and compelling broader culture. This is probably my fav takeaway, especially when the settings are more alluded to than less concretely described (it works). I would recommend because: 
  • Valuable for understanding influence/lineage on media ("first cyberpunk").
  • Observe future-casting for a hostile, techno-focused, late-capitalist world.
  • [maybe spoilers? books been out since 1984 so...] I've never seen AI used in a plot arc with this finish. 
  • Gibson's writing style is worth digging into. 
  • Cool science fiction.
  • Lots of heists.
  • The matrix.



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