All Tomorrow's Parties by William Gibson Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of All Tomorrow's Parties
Book Review: A trilogy limps to a close...
Summary: 3 Stars
'All Tomorrow's Parties' is the third in a trilogy, following on from the excellent 'Virtual Light' and 'Idoru' novels. As such if you've read and enjoyed the previous two novels in the series then this book will at least give a reasonable sense of closure to the series, but sadly 'All Tomorrow's Parties' is by some margin a lesser work than it's predecessors.
'Idoru' was so compelling as it offered a new setting and new central characters, but by the third novel Gibson has run out of anything new to offer, and as great a setting as the Golden Gate Bridge was in 'Virtual Light' here it just feels like a rehash of the earlier novel. The plot - concerning the introduction of a society-changing nanotechnological 'fax' machine - is short-story thin, so to pad out the novel Gibson has his cast of character wandering around in circles for most of the novel, aware of some future event, but not sure what it is. As such the characters are all lacking in any serious motivation and the narrative drive is virtually nill. A miasma of vaugeness hangs over the book, even the central 'bad guy' Harwood doesn't seem to know what he wants, while the zen assassin who is completely lacking in any backstory or motivation just seems to be there to add a little violent colour. Defenders of the book might argue that all this is Gibson intelligently depicting an uncertain world, but sadly too often it comes across as an unfocused author unsure about where his novel is going.
Inevitably there are interesting moments along the way, but rather than finishing of the trilogy on a high 'All Tomorrow's Parties' limps past the finishing line. A mediocre ending following the excellent first two books in the series.