Virtual Light by William Gibson Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Virtual Light
Book Review: Splendid
Summary: 5 Stars
I recommend it warmly, especially to those familiar with San Francisco. Once again, Gibson brings literary fiction up to date, anticipating the issues that the post-industrial society is only beginnning to identify, much less addressBook Review: Still better than TV......
Summary: 3 Stars
COPS IN TROUBLE.....messenger chicks on bikes....
californias acting like everyone else....
and a neat piece of technology lost in it all....
even a 48 hour mini-series couldn't hit all the details, characters and twists and turns........keep you seatbelt on!
And it continues even faster in the next book!
Book Review: Talented author, weak book
Summary: 2 Stars
Gibson has obvious literary talents and raw skill at writing, but reading much of his opus it seems that he's applying them in the wrong way. Certainly that's my feeling after reading Virtual Light. Ultimately it's a story with a flimsy plot (I always find with Gibson's stuff that a month later I can never remember the plot), unlikable characters and a dirty setting where people do seedy things. As a dystopian novel it fails to adequately commit to its setting, to explore root causes, or to showcase essential dysfunction. In technology is feels unimagnative, a projection of today's conventional tech wisdom and cliches magnified by ten. The failings in the setting makes the weak characterization a deal breaker in enjoying this novel, when I'm not able to care at all about the cast's danger, failure and triumph I'm faced with an ultimately unappealing and unentertaining novel. I'm aware that at at a certain level I'm criticizing Gibson for not writing the book I would have liked him to, but his dirty already-obsolete cyberpunk scenario doesn't offer enough to leave me satisfied.
If you want to read something from one of the contemporary top scifi authors try Greg Egan, Vernor Vinge, Iain M. Banks or Alastair Reynolds. Gibson leaves me empty, less from his bleakness than from his methodology in presenting that bleakness.
Book Review: They set a SLAMHOUND on Turner's trail...
Summary: 4 Stars
I bought this book in paperback and I plan to purchase it in hard back for my collection and read it again (and again). It is the third book in the series (if you count Burning Chrome) and is almost as enjoyable as Neuromancer. This book is a mix of Tom Clancy and The Matrix. I recommend reading all the books in the series. I really enjoyed them.Book Review: Top Notch
Summary: 5 Stars
This is my favorite William Gibson title. Gibson displays a keen sense of humor in many small, wonderful ways. Considering this was published in 1993, and probably germinated and was written between 1988-92, you have to sharply admire such detail as a TV show called "Cops In Trouble". And this was before Rodney King, the L.A. Riots, the O.J. Simpson case, and the Haitian beating victim in New York City just last week. Science Fiction as a High Art. The Best