Neuromancer by William Gibson Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Neuromancer
Book Review: A majestically powerful vision of steel and silicon
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is, quite simply, the best science fiction book ever written. Not because it is the first cyberpunk novel, and not because it has won the Philip K. Dick, Hugo, and Nebula awards, but because it is simply a masterpiece that towers above all science fiction competitors. No, not just the ones that are placed in the cyberpunk genre, all of them. This book is very highly recommended, and is more entertaining, intelligent, and thoughtful than any other science fiction book I have read to date. Now if only they would make a movie out of it...Book Review: A masterful command of the language
Summary: 5 Stars
Although he practically invented the genre, the story is typical cyberpunk: computer cowboy in a post-nation-state corporate-controlled world is forced to complete a suspenseful mission--in this case freeing an AI.But like I said about Pattern Recognition, Gibson's gift is not so much in story-making (although the story here is still great), but in his command of the language. A very apt description of his prose in this book is "mindbending." His descriptions are psychadelic and surreal and unexpected. And his techno-culturally sensitive and clever inventions like the "Turing Police" are delicious.
It is amazing Gibson wrote this book over 20 years ago; it seems so ahead of its time. For one thing, he coined the term "cyberspace" in this book. It is also amazing how much of The Matrix is copied from its pages. And not just subtle concepts, but names like "The Matrix" and "Zion" and whatnot. I hope he's getting some royalties. I wonder if Gibson ever read Nozick and his experience machine?
Book Review: A modern masterpiece
Summary: 5 Stars
Neuromancer founded the entire cyberpunk genre of fiction. I was late to the revolution. Gibson's amoral techno-culture society weds the baser aspects of future humanity to marvelously sleek high technology and unending urban sprawl. People have commented on the prophetic vision of Gibson's work. I was always more optimistic about future society. In fact, I picked up the book to sneer at the work of another crazed novelist scribbling about a future gone awry.
What I found in Gibson's work was not a prophecy but a mirror through which we can study ourselves. Gibson is a historian in reverse: the future can give context to the present. He sketches characters that none of us can identify with. All of them exhibit a strange discordance; Gibson never allows them to strike a comfortable human pose. This descriptive and alienating quality is the genius of Gibson's writing. We cringe at what we've become. Yet more disconcerting is the way in which our agency is surrendered to more sinister elements. I marveled at the fateful forces of the future: megacorporations run amok, black markets, voodoo prophecies, Turing police and of course, the matrix. After considering Gibson's slick foray into possibility, I realized that the very same forces that stranglehold the future are with us today, and that in itself deserves a pause for reflection. Neuromancer is like a bad dream: mundane things take on freakish qualities, and when you wake up, you can never look at them the same way again. That is a compliment.
Book Review: A must for any SF-reader
Summary: 5 Stars
Whether you are familiar with the "Cyberpunk" atmosphere or not, this book will keep you occupied until... well you've just finished it! Willian Gibson definitely defines a new measure for SF, very well furute predictions, a society mixed with technolgy so much that you cannot decide what is natural and what is real?
His style makes different paths go around each other like a DNA and his connection in the end can only be the work of a genious.
Book Review: A new classic
Summary: 5 Stars
It may not be the best SF book I've ever read, but this one is definitely going to be a classic. In 30 years, it'll probably be on the same shelf as Frankenstein and Alas, Babylon