Neuromancer – William Gibson
Kindle Edition | Paperback
Being a huge Sci-Fi/Fantasy reader I though it about time I should catch up on the classic reads of my genres so this was a starting point for my new quest.
Neuromancer by William Gibson, is the book that started the ‘Cyberpunk‘ genre and opened up many new ideas within the Sci-Fi world. It was ground breaking in many ways with the first mentions of things such as ‘Cyberspace’ and ‘Virtual Reality’, influencing many other books and movies, such as The Matrix and Inception.
From the book
The Matrix: a world within a world, a graphic representation of the databanks of every computer in the human system; a consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate users in the Sprawl alone. And by Case, computer cowboy, until his nervous system is grievously maimed by a client he double crossed.
Japanese experts in nerve splicing and microbionics have left him broken and close to death. But at last Case has found a cure. He’s going back into the system. Not for the bliss of cyberspace but to steal again, this time from the big boys, the almighty megacorps.
In return, should he survive, he will stay cured.
Plot
Case, a futuristic geek, manages to get his nervous system seriously damaged by an ex-client he double crossed gets the offer of a life time ~ to be cured, but only if he does one last job for the mega-corporations.
Review
With many references to drug-use, surgical ‘enhancements’ and a thriving criminal underclass, this book places itself in the same realms of Blade Runner (words that usually sends tingles down any Sci-Fi fans spine – cut to long discussions of people’s favourite bits).
There is a conspicuous film noir feeling as you progress through the book, meeting some interesting characters, a femme-fatale love interest, and some intriguing locations; You can almost smell the dank streets as Case gets dragged deeper in to the plot.
The story does leave some questions though, apparently these are answered in the next instalments – Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive.
I had some difficulty reading in some parts as the plot wanders a little in places, and the characters are not too well represented, but here’s a lot to really like in this book.
Overall I’d give it a 8/10.
