A review by willowbiblio
Neuromancer by William Gibson

challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

“The high wore away, the chromed  skeleton corroding hourly, flesh growing solid, the drug-flesh replaced with the meat of his life. He couldn’t think. He liked that very much, to be conscious and unable to think.”
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I realized while reading this that low/no context books are still one of my absolute favorite styles of writing. Throughout you have this consistent immersion because we as readers don’t get to be omniscient observers. We experience the plot as we experience life – in real time and by moving forward. 

I loved the creativity around cyberspace and the matrix. I also found an interesting how Gibson was exploring the reality of addiction and how technology, body modification, and substance abuse were wrapped up in this society. I saw the seeds of so many other iconic science fiction stories like The Matrix, Altered Carbon, and more. This also reminded me of heist movies like Ocean’s Eleven and The Italian Job, especially with the way Case flipped between perspectives.

As our current society debates the novel use of AI, it was interesting to see how the society captured in this book recognizes the potential impact and has safeguards in place to prevent further growth of AI. 

This book made me think about inequality and what drives choices, or how the lack of choice drives out comes. I enjoyed feeling off-balance and how much this book grabbed my attention and forced me to listen.