Idoru
by William Gibson
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Book Summary Information
Author: William GibsonEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2003-01-07
ISBN: 0425190455
Number of pages: 320
Publisher: Berkley Trade
Book Reviews of Idoru
Book Review: Final Fantasy meets Second Life
Summary: 3 Stars
Writing this review some 8 years after the book "Idoru" was written, you get the advantage of having some technologies catch up to a near-future novel. We don't have virtual meetings, yet, but, thanks to Second Life, we're close; all you need are the VR glasses, a Skype VoiP connection and you are there, man.
Thus, we have Gibson's 2nd installment of his "Bridge" trilogy where fourteen-year-old Chia Pet McKenzie of Seattle (the where-it's-at city of the mid-late 90's) log onto a virtual forum (Second Life) with her Lo/Rez fan club members to discuss the impending marriage between Rez (think Bono) and a computer character (think one of Final Fantasy's beautiful characters). Chia is "volunteered" to fly to Tokyo to investigate.
Ridiculous, no?
And then, in Tokyo, Colin Laney, a very likable and intelligent character who is hired away from his job at Slitscan as an information researcher (or Google surfer extraordinaire) who can somehow separate signal from noise in the wilderness of the Net and collate that info into what will happen next - as we see in "All Tomorrow's Parties", Gibson's third installment.
Lo/Rez's management hires Laney to suss out why Rez feels he has to "marry" Rei Toei, the "idoru" who is becoming Gibson's version of the holodeck doctor from Star Trek: Voyager and Data the android from "Star Trek, The Next Generation". Observing humanity, she grows smarter.
Events in the book run back and forth between Chia and Colin, until the two are drawn face-to-face in the last act of the book. Neither of them have much to do with each other, and so the story's rather thin - but, it's the breath-taking accuracy of Gibson's vision that is astonishing. As for nano-technology (there's a nanotech assembler involved), that seems to have been a hot thing for the last ten years, but right now, it's not as sexy as yakking via VR.
Most of the reviewers feel that to appreciate "All Tomorrow's Parties", you must first read "Idoru" (Japanese for "idol"). I won't disagree, but, it's not necessary. Gibson endlessly re-iterates the situation from "Idoru" in "ATP" enough so that you don't have to.
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