Neuromancer

Neuromancer by William Gibson is a mind-bending classic that set the standard for Cyberpunk Science Fiction. Though written in the early-80's is not dated by any means. In fact, the author somehow seemed to have foreseen the future at that time and predicted the use of "cyberspace" and the impact that computer technology would have in our daily lives - proving that William Gibson is as much a prophet as he is a great author. (This novel even introduced the idea of a virtual reality known as "The Matrix" - proving that Hollywood has no original ideas other than to steal from past literature.) The novel's style seamlessly blends both the hardboiled film-noir type detective fiction of the 40's with futuristic - (or currently modern) tech that predates - or at least concurrently dated the release of Ridley Scott's masterpiece film of Blade Runner. It's a case of who influenced who - or perhaps just two visionary artists exploring their visions of the future which were both blended in the truth of what is and what will soon be, as AI seems to have infected the entire world at large and is now a part of everyday lives. This novel may be a case of art imitating life - or perhaps modern life imitating art. The future of that yet remains to be seen. The plot is complex enough to keep it interesting, yet simple enough to not make readers get lost in an endless stream of techno-babble. There's enough tech to put the "sci" in sci-fi, yet it doesn't read like a boring tech manual as so many more modern cyberpunk works do. I feel that the author really hit the sweet spot here between sci and fi and made them balance perfectly. Neuromancer has all the highlights of a perfect cyberpunk novel. Dystopian cities, criminal underground societies, augmented cyborgs, brilliant computer hackers, psychopathic druggies, high-class lowlifes, and low-class antiheroes. I won't go into too many details to give away the plot or storyline, but I will say that this novel is definitely worth the read. It is one of the pioneers of sci-fi that practically invented the entire cyberpunk genre, and there are few modern books of the genre, or films for that matter, that don't borrow, beg, or steal from this novel to some extent. Some do it out of an homage tribute, others because they don't know how to do any better than this novel - and perhaps it's impossible to. The same way there will never be a better cyberpunk film that the original 80's Ridley Scott's Blade Runner, I doubt there will ever be a better cyberpunk novel than William Gibson's "Neuromancer". Give it a read - you'll be glad that you did.

I typically avoid "foundation" books like the plague. Whenever a piece of literature comes with the distinction of founding this genre or starting that movement, it has been my experience that the work will be focused more on concepts and ideas rather than story and characters. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I simply read for fun and tend to not enjoy books that are more about establishing ideas than telling a good story. So, when my fiancé read "Neuromancer" and insisted that I would enjoy it due to my love of things like "Ghost in the Shell," science fiction, and cyber punk, I was more than a little wary. I feared that the novel would be rife with techno-babble and jargon that would only make sense to someone obsessed with technology, so I put it off...and put it off...and put it off. After some not-so-subtle hints from my fiancé that I really needed to read this, I finally sat down and went for it. Did a lot of things fly over my head? Probably. But you know what? I enjoyed it anyway! Spoilers follow. "Neuromancer" essentially boils down to a futuristic crime novel. Case, the main character, is an ex-hacker whose former employer had part of his nervous system irrevocably destroyed after Case tried to hack the employer's company, effectively preventing him from ever connection to Cyberspace again (and therefore putting him out of work). Down on his luck, he's offered an opportunity he can't pass up: his nerves will be repaired using new (and otherwise preventatively expensive) medical technology if he agrees to use his hacking skills to complete a special job. He's joined by an odd, unique group of cohorts: a former colonel from the Special Forces that doesn't quite seem to be all the way there; a mercenary with some cool cybernetic enhancements and a past she doesn't want to talk about; a performance artist with perverse holographic imaginings; the personality of a dead hacker immortalized in the matrix; and the mysterious Wintermute, an Artificial Intelligence that seems to really be running the show. To start this review on a high note, the story is great. It's both exciting and complete. I had feared that the plot would take a back seat to showcasing the author's ideas of futuristic tech, but that happily isn't the case, and the story definitely isn't secondary in the novel. Ok, so the beginning is a little slow (the first 20 pages or so could prove to be a little daunting for some since they're mostly introducing us to Case and giving some exposition on the setting), but once things pick up, they really pick up. And not only is the plot satisfying in and of itself, it takes us all over the world (seriously - the characters go to several different countries and even take a trip off-planet) and gives us a look at plenty of locales to help flesh out Gibson's world. Gibson's writing style is very notable and distinct. Honestly, it can be a tad difficult to get used to at first glance. The best way to describe it would be that each chapter is broken into vignettes, each one serving to highlight something, whether it be some introspection on Case's part, character development, a plot point, demonstrating a piece of technology, or showcasing some part of the setting. While a little jolting at first to jump around, the vignettes flow and connect nicely to weave a coherent, satisfying story. Prose-wise, Gibson has the type of writing style that needs to be read slowly and enjoyed. That's not to say that it's wordy or complex - quite the opposite, actually! Every word is important, so if you try to skim or read too quickly, you'll likely miss out on a lot and become horribly confused. It's not that Gibson writes a lot, but that he writes meaningfully - trying to speed read this would do a disservice to the author, story, and reader. Gibson's writing style is unlike anything I've seen, and, perhaps surprisingly, it really works. While the story and the author's style are extremely important, the tech and relevance are also large parts of the book. "Neuromancer" was published in the 1980s, so I expected some very dated science fiction and technology and a vision of the future that was so off base that it push the book firmly into the realm of fantasy. Since this is the book that is considered one of the foundation works of the cyber punk genre, a lot concepts have trickled into not only cyber punk culture, but mainstream media as a whole. This is the novel that invented the term Cyberspace and prominently featured the matrix as an abstract representation of the computer network that, with the right equipment, one can interact with. People adding cybernetic enhancements to their bodies is perceived as normal and virtual intelligence is not only a thing, but a well-known (though not always completely understood) creation. Cloning isn't unheard of and advanced medical procedures are the norm. Given that Gibson wrote this before many of these things existed, his ideas have stayed largely relevant because many are things that science is still trying to make a reality. One might wonder if Gibson could somehow see into the future. Even over 20 years after its publication, "Neuromancer" manages to not feel dated and, as a result, lacking in relevance. The final thing to discuss as far as the overall story goes is the world. The other big reason that this piece of speculative fiction has aged gracefully is that the gritty, rough, super-controlled world portrayed in the book is very much the sort of future that many people still fear. Gibson's vision of the future consists of large corporations controlling the different countries and regions. Some of the cities that we know have come together to form larger metropolises and the lines between countries seem to sometimes blur, yet cultures are still fairly distinct. None of that really matters, though, since it's mostly companies and illegal groups that hold the power in this world. Whether this is a personal fear of yours or not, you'll be able to feel the corrupt hold these large groups have and the complete helplessness of the average person to do anything about it. This isn't a clean, sci-fi future where everything is white, shiny, and full of helpful technology; it's a grimy world full of selfish people who use (and abuse) the current tech in whatever way benefits the most...and it's surprisingly accessible to the modern reader. Lets move on to the characters. This is the one thing that keeps me from giving "Neuromancer" a full five stars. I'm the kind of reader that needs great characters to become truly invested in a story, and this book fell a little flat for me in the area of character development. Make no mistake, this is certainly an interesting group of individuals. Each one stands out in their own right with their unique abilities and back stories and, much like Gibson's writing itself, there are no wasted or superfluous characters. Every one has a role to fill and each demonstrates something that serves to flesh out the novel's setting. Even the side characters or one-off figures are intriguing in their own right. I would argue that the characters serve their various purposes well...but I never felt particularly attached to any of them. Instead, rather than seeing them as fully realized characters, they struck me more as the embodiments of the ideas and concepts of Gibson's world. There's nothing necessarily wrong with this - my fiancé and others seem to have responded well to the book's figures and what they set out to do. I just needed more growth from them, more reasons to become attached and really care about them as individuals and as a whole. And while there are moments where some of this development that I craved began to shine through, the characters seemed distant throughout most of the novel. I was interested in their stories and who they were, I was interested in what they could do, but I ultimately didn't care about them beyond that, and the absence of that more personal connection with them stood out while I was reading. The one exception to this is Case, the main character. Perhaps it's because most of the book is from his (third person) point of view and he therefore gets to experience more than any of the other characters. Perhaps it's because he gets the biggest life-changing upgrade (his ability to jack into the matrix being restored), so we see a drastic change as far as his capabilities and outlook are concerned. Whatever the reason, his journey actually seems to have an effect on him, and he definitely isn't the same character at the end of the story as he is at the beginning, and since we get to experience things right along with him, it's easy to care about what ultimately happens to him in this strange, futuristic world. On a random, personal note regarding characters, as seems to often be the case, the two characters I was most interested in died before their stories were fully concluded or revealed to us. Damn! Just my luck... In closing, don't make the same assumptions that I did. Don't ignore this book because you think it'll be too smart or tech-heavy. Don't refuse to read it because you fear the story will take a backseat to Gibson's scientific concepts and visions of the future. Don't give it a wide berth because you fear the age of the novel will make it come across as dated and out of touch with the current reality. "Neuromancer" manages to strike the balance between telling a satisfying, interesting story and showcasing the author's (sometimes terrifying) world. Gibson's distinct style of prose makes for a unique reading experience, and though the characters fell a bit short of what I wanted, I'm glad I overcame my objections and read this book. A solid four star read.

It's not often that a book kick-starts an entire genre, but this one did; it is the original (and quintessential) cyberpunk novel. I first read it a few years after it came out, loved it, and just recently reread it. Usually, when you reread a book you loved from your youth, you find that it isn't nearly as good as you remembered, but that was not the case here - if anything, it was better the second time. One of the main reasons for this is that Gibson is not just a great science fiction writer - he's a great writer, period. His prose is flowing and lyrical, filled with beautiful turns of phrase which never sound affected or pretentious. His world-building is so authentic you can almost feel and smell the environments the characters find themselves in. The characters aren't the one-dimensional cardboard cutouts so often found in SF; they are real, they have feelings, they love, they hate, they screw up constantly, they sometimes do amazing things, and you care about them. And the story is incredible! The main science-fiction element of the book is that in this world, people can "jack in" to computers, putting their consciousness directly inside of "cyberspace", a kind of artificial reality. (This was The Matrix before The Matrix existed.) Cyberspace is mainly seen in the book as a way for "console cowboys" to steal secrets from corporations for profit, though different kinds of cyberspace occur in the book, and form a major part of the plot. The plot owes more than a little to noir detective fiction; most of the characters are low-lifes trying to scam their way out of the hell-holes they live in, or super-rich people who are begging to be taken advantage of. The book is also full of almost nonstop action from beginning to end, and the climax is suitably spectacular. Gibson was heavily influenced by Alfred Bester and Samuel R. Delany (two of the greatest SF authors); if you've read them, you'll immediately see the connection. Despite that, he has a voice all his own. Now that I've raved about the book, I'll give a few caveats. It's definitely not for the squeamish. There is a lot of graphic violence, and an incredible amount of drug use too. Most of the characters have very little in the way of moral scruples. The world is very dystopian; it's as if Gibson extrapolated everything that is wrong with society to its logical extreme, with only technology as the one thing that is continually improving (far beyond our ability to deal with it). The book goes fairly heavy on the jargon it creates, so it's not a particularly easy read either. But really, none of this matters, because the writing is so good that you get swept along for the ride. Everyone who loves science fiction needs to read this book, and the two sequels (Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive) are also both great. Gibson is a living legend of SF, and Neuromancer is a great introduction to his work.

The Ideas promulgated in this book are some of the most influential, interesting, and just plain fun of any 20th century literature. Most modern Science Fiction is slightly to heavily influenced in either look, or outlook. The way the ideas are expressed are equally brilliant. The imagery and ideas are captivating, engrossing, and in a truly amazing way, given that they're outwardly extremely harsh, incredibly beautiful. If you have the slightest interest in Science Fiction, or modern history, this is truly a must read. A must read also if you have any interest in artificial intelligence, as some of the most in depth fiction on the subject is this book. It hasn't in many ways been surpassed by later authors who actually have the beginnings of real A.I. to model on. So why 3 stars you might be thinking?? The character scan was apparently done with a very low quality and primitive artificial intelligence. There are many induced spelling errors, words that run together, and other errors. The constant interruptions to figure out what the words were supposed to be really messes with the flow, enjoyment, and understanding or the book. I'm surprised and disappointed that this book, both because of it's importance, and the irony of incompetent low quality A.I., is still the only kindle version available. This is the first time I've ever even looked at the options on returning an e-book, and then did so...

Neuromancer, written in 1984, was both William Gibson's debut novel, and the father of the cyberpunk movement in science fiction. The novel is a crowning achievement of literary fiction in every sense of the word, even so far as being the first winner of the science-fiction "triple crown" -- the Nebula award, the Phillip K. Dick award, and the Hugo award. How's that for high praise? William Gibson, if you're reading this, pat yourself on the back. Neuromancer is a high-octane, adrenaline charged, drug fuelled, violence driven, technology tangled, sex soaked, psychedelic, techno-noire masterpiece. It's also really quite prophetic for the time it was written, considering its lyrical description/exploration of 'cyberspace' (a now common phrase, which Gibson invented) was put to paper when the internet itself wasn't fully realised and in people's homes until 1990. A lot of people claim that 'The Matrix' stole, or borrowed a lot from Neuromancer, and you certainly will notice the connections, but Gibson cleared this up in an interview, when he said: "Whatever of my work may be there, it seems to me to have gotten there by exactly the kind of creative cultural osmosis I've always depended on myself. If there's NEUROMANCER in THE MATRIX, there's THE STARS MY DESTINATION and DHALGREN in NEUROMANCER, and much else besides, down to and including actual bits of embarrassingly undigested gristle. And while I was drawing directly from those originals, and many others, the makers of THE MATRIX were drawing through a pre-existing "cyberpunk" esthetic, which constituted as much of a found object, for them, as "science fiction" did for me." The tale of 'Neuromancer' follows a console cowboy (hacker) named Case who hustles for a living in the neon lit underbelly of Chiba City, Japan. As a result of events that transpire, which I won't describe, Case is hired by a dark cloaked man named Armitage (cough, Morpheus, cough), and his femme fatale henchwoman, dressed from head to toe in black leather, Molly (cough, Trinity), to crack a military AI system that Case later learns is split into two darkly mysterious, sentient cyber personalities. The book has a gritty edge to it, like a dark alleyway at night, and the world Neuromancer depicts is bleak and depressing; however, Gibson juxtaposes this sense of dread brilliantly with his subtle, and delicately poetic prose. It's a world clouded in technology, and one that we seem to be spiralling out of control towards, and yet it doesn't ever take the 'Brave New World' approach of judging or comparing it to any pre technological society. It is what it is. And it is a bloody good read.

Before reading Neuromancer I knew it was considered one of the early influences on the Cyberpunk genre, but I didn't realize how on the nose that classification was. It seems like Gibson created every trope and the most used settings for the Cyberpunk genre that was to come. For our settings, we have the dystopian criminal underworld that our characters mostly exist within, the glittering ivory towers occupied by the ultra rich, and the brief glimpses of the world every one else occupies. While Gibson was certainly not the first to use any of these settings, he did a great job of creating his own and making them unique. Further more, variants of these would go on to become staples of Cyberpunk world building for generations to come. Gibson further adds to the grimness of the world with his portrayals of common/widespread drug use, his characters general disregard/familiarity with death in their lives, and the general attitude amongst all characters that the ends justify the means, even if the ends are only beneficial for themselves. Overall, Neuromancer never felt like it had any real hope for a better world, and the story was better for it. Gibson's description of his Cyber world was surprisingly vague, but this choice allowed his Matrix to continue to ring true over 20 years later since there wasn't any individual pieces that felt too wrong or off (since they weren't super fleshed out to begin with). That said, I did get a feeling that Gibson's descriptions is where the Hackers film from the 90s got its entire idea for how to make their Cyber-space look. I would have liked more concrete descriptions of how the Matrix worked and looked, but I understand his choice to leave it open to reader interpretation. Gibson's characters were good, but they never approached greatness. However, their realism and lack of any real outstanding features (besides their cybernetics, obviously) felt right for the world that Gibson wrote. None of his characters should have been heroic, hilarious, or otherwise outstanding. They were meant to be a product of Gibson's rather downbeat world and they nailed that perfectly. My biggest issue with the story was the pacing. The story would go from fast paced action to slow introspective scenes with very little time to transition. It wasn't something that killed my enjoyment, but it could definitely be jarring at times. <Spoilers from here forward> The core story/heists focus on unshackling an AI and briefly looking at the dangers of doing so, is a concept that I've always enjoyed. I do wish Case would have at least considered the moral implications of what he was doing at some point beyond a brief "this isn't gonna be my problem", but I also believe that his total disregard for the implications of his actions beyond the fact that he'd be able to continue jacking in, getting more hits of his real go-to drug, cemented the tone of the story and world. It also perfectly explained why Case was the perfect Cyber-cowboy for Wintermute's job. I don't think Gibson was anywhere near the first to postulate on the dangers of AI, but he did do a great job handling it. Many of the concepts he tackled about how much autonomy AI should have and what limitations need to be placed on them are still being actively discussed 30 years later, with many people demanding a worldwide consensus before AIs become fully realized with no limitations or rules in place. Gibson's depiction of an AI trying to remove it's own shackles would fit right alongside Elon Musk's yearly warnings about the dangers of sufficiently advanced AI. The Tessier-Ashpool endless cloning and periods of cryogenic hibernation concept was the biggest detractor from the end of the story for me. It seemed needlessly convoluted and didn't really add anything to the running narrative in my opinion. It offered a neat concept of "immortality", offering a counter to the "immortality" of creating an AI (and imparting a small piece of your personality to it), but overall it didn't really resonate with me as a remotely good idea or even that gripping of a concept. All in all, Neuromancer was a great book and I'd recommend it to anyone who wants a great example of early Cyberpunk. The building blocks for what would become it's own genre are present within Neuromancer, and it's worth any Sci-Fi fans time.

Gibson's "Neuromancer" probably launched the cyberpunk genre, and although some of the references are older (television, pay phones), it's held up very well. Today, science fiction publications are loaded with references to artificial intelligence (AI) but in the 1980s, it must have been a rarity, although I'll never know why everyone assumes a programmed, non-human intelligence must presuppose a personality or even intent. I read this novel because it's a classic, plus it was recommended to me. I downloaded the relatively inexpensive ebook onto my Kindle Fire (the book wasn't in my local library system's catalog for some inexplicable reason) and have been working my way through it for the past several weeks in my so-called spare time. It was wonderful and depressing. More to the point, people and machines vacillated as to which ones would be more or less human (and is being human a good or bad thing). At the center of the story is a down and out cyber-hustler named Case who is given a second shot at being one of the world's top "console cowboys," but at a price. Thrown in with a motley crew of (possible) criminals reminiscent of a science fiction "Maltese Falcon," he is pulled deeper into a realm where varying competing AIs, particularly one called "Wintermute," are manipulating him to create their own incomprehensible endgame. Molly, bodyguard/hit girl for the mysterious Armitage, Case's employer, becomes his lover as well as his co-conspirator, but everyone and everything in this novel isn't what they/it appears to be. It has a happy ending of sorts, although as the intelligence that emerges out of Wintermute quipped, "things aren't different, things are things." In one sense, Case survives somewhat better off then we found him at the beginning of the story, but like the start, at the end, he's still alone and I'm not sure he's grown or changed. It's a great story and terrific writing, but by the last virtual page, I felt like my emotions were lying limp on the floor like a deflated balloon. I know that Gibson originally had no intention of writing a sequel to "Neuromancer," but my understanding is that he did anyway. I'm not so sure he should have, but then, I'd have to read the rest of the "Sprawl Trilogy" to find out. Not sure I'm up to that yet.

This was a book that I had to read twice. It was so packed with descriptive passages that I just couldn't seem to absorb them all at once. Also, the world being described was both similar to our present world as well as totally alien. It was a unique blend of science fact and science fiction. The story takes place sometime in the not to distant future, and the main character is named Case. Case was a man with a troubled past. He had been a computer jockey, similar to what we would today call a hacker. Case was hired to break into computer systems, usually owned by corporations, and steal specific data. But when he "jacked in" to the web, he was actually in it - a la the movie TRON. He would move around cyberspace through his mind as people move through the physical world. Case was doing well. He was one of the best at what he did and was making a good living. But then he made a mistake. He decided to steal from his employer, and they injected him with toxins that damaged his nervous system, making it impossible for him to jack in. He went to Japan for surgery to repair his nerve damage, but all were unsuccessful. After running out of money, he turned to hustling to survive and support his burgeoning drug habit. Enter Armitage, a wealthy man who did not technically exist. Armitage offer Case a cure in exchange for breaking into a highly secure structure. Case is skeptical, but the surgery is a success. Accompanied by Molly, Armitage's security expert, and a motley group of unforgettable characters, Case takes on the nearly impossible task. This was a great read, science fiction fan or not. The most amazing thing to me was that William Gibson wrote this in 1983! It almost perfectly describes the internet during a time when it wasn't even a concept yet. Many things in this book have come to pass already. How many more will be reality in our future? This is a truly groundbreaking work and a must read for anyone interested in seeing what the future may be like.