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Neuromancer

Neuromancer

byWilliam Gibson
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Top positive review

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Katrin von Martin
4.0 out of 5 starsSurprisingly Relevant with an Interesting Story
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 27, 2015
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.
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Top critical review

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Crystal Starr Light
VINE VOICE
3.0 out of 5 starsGreat to absorb another scifi classic
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 16, 2021
Henry Case used to be a "digital cowboy" (a hacker) until he got caught and the companies who caught him eradicated his ability to "plug in" to the Matrix (remember this book was published LONG before Neo and Morpheus). Now he is a petty middle man in Chiba (neo-Japan), until he is approached by a mysterious Armitage, a former military guy, and Molly, an ex-prostitute, current assassin. The job? Plug in to the Matrix one more time for someone (or thing?) known only as "Wintermute".

I purchased this book for $1.99 way back in September 2014, being someone who eagerly sought out some of the classics of scifi and also someone who loves a bargain. I didn't get a chance to read it until my friend offered it as a buddy read and of course, I wanted to make a dent in my collection!

It may have taken me nearly half a year, but I did indeed finish it! Part of the slowness was my own fault - I have really struggled to keep up with my reading. Part of the slowness was also that this book is so dense! You may read a few pages, but need a lot of time to really process what was going on. I found myself sometimes avoiding it, because I knew it would need more brainpower than I really had easy access to (this pandemic has been rough on my mental health).

These days, with Ridley Scott's Blade Runner and the Wachowski siblings' Matrix, it's easy to pooh-pooh this book as being "too derivative" or not creative enough. But what astounded me was that this held up so well 30+ years later - this book was the birth of cyberpunk, of what grew into Blade Runner and the Matrix. So while it may seem like old hat is really quite creative and innovative with that in mind.

And that is really what I enjoyed about "Neuromancer"; to see how a book written when I was a baby (yes, really!) holds up after all these years. Sure I don't plug in quite the same way that Case does, but other concepts that the book has, from the influence and pervasiveness of computers to artificial intelligence, are ones that made me stop and think and realize how I am really living in the future.

One of the classics; I am glad I own and even happier to have read.
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From the United States

Katrin von Martin
4.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly Relevant with an Interesting Story
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 27, 2015
Verified Purchase
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.
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Kindle Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Solid early work of the Cyberpunk genre
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 2, 2021
Verified Purchase
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.
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Eric Rogerson
4.0 out of 5 stars Great Story, but...
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 20, 2022
Verified Purchase
This is quite an experience. It's more than just a novel, it's an immersion. Hard to put it down, once you really get into it. One of the best things I've read.
But... So many authors have attempted to write good science fiction, and it is one of my favourite genres of fiction, so it is very jarring to run into the fictional science of "rotational gravity" in an otherwise very good tale.
Just as a thought exercise, imagine a point in space where there is no gravity. Place a hollow sphere, say ten meters in diameter in space at that point. Place an object the size and mass of your average human in the center of the sphere. Spin that sphere as fast as you like, and it will not affect the object in the slightest. An object at rest, tends to remain at rest.
A torus is a hollow tube the ends of which meet forming what looks roughly like a doughnut. Otherwise intelligent authors of science fiction will invariably create a structure in space (a spaceship, or space station for example) that uses a hollow torus attached to some sort of axle by spokes which are also hollow and serve as access from the axle of the structure to the torus. They imagine that by spinning that hollow tube it produces something like gravity. It does not.
Apparently they have confused centrifugal force, inertia, friction and angular momentum for gravity.
If we return to the large sphere with the object within it, and imagine that as it spins, it also moves, sooner or later the object within will come into contact with the inner surface (because an object at rest tends to remain at rest) and what will happen then is that friction will cause that object within to spin away from the inner surface until it once again makes contact at which point it will spin off in a new direction.
The only way that the object will adhere to that surface is if there is a source of gravity external to the sphere which will pull it against that surface, and it will then remain in the general area, spinning in place until friction finally brings the sphere to a stop.
Centrifugal force does not create anything like gravity, it seeks to overcome gravity.
One of the most attractive aspects of science fiction, is that it provides an opportunity to learn. One is drawn into the science of the tale as much as the fiction. Perhaps I am an anomalous reader, but I have never been able to resist trying to understand the science. It is always as important to me as the plot. Some things are beyond my understanding, but that is no excuse for not trying...
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luis
4.0 out of 5 stars The world of the “Metaverse” before it existed.
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 20, 2023
Verified Purchase
Gibson is a true dreamer of future scapes. His book is action packed but the narrative can be confusing at times. The saga of Case and Molly is a true detective story and the book moves fast and is engaging.
Enjoyable!
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C.T.
5.0 out of 5 stars A hard book to read but a rewarding one
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 7, 2017
Verified Purchase
Ah, here it is, the origins of the cyberpunk genre along with Blade Runner. I've read Neuromancer three times over the years and I can confirm I still have no idea what the hell this book is about. I mean, I can sort of tell you the plot and it hangs together but it is an experience rather than a story.

Neuromancer has inspired many follow-ups and its influence can be felt in Ghost in the Shell, Deus Ex, Cyberpunk 2020, Shadowrun, System Shock, Inception, and The Matrix. It gave us a vision of the future where the internet is omnipresent, corporations are incredibly powerful, and China as well as Japan are the most powerful economic entities. So, pretty close but we don't have the A.I, cybernetics, or space stations. Oh and hot dark-haired razor girl ex-prostitutes with Lady Deathstrike claws. Wait, we have X-23 so nevermind. We can add her to the things inspired by this series.

The thing is, as inspirational and fascinating as the story is, it's actually a very difficult work to read. William Gibson never met a perfectly good set of ten words he couldn't replace with an obscure one. He doesn't ease us into the world he's created but blasts us like a music video with constant new and weird things which highlight how the future has changed. As mentioned, some of the things he "predicted" have come to pass but it's really meant to be as far removed from reality as Star Wars.

You could argue Neuromancer is basically one long trip through Mos Eisley and you wouldn't be too far off. Some of the elements, like its immortal opening, "The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel" have aged badly since I don't think we're meant to see a brilliant shade of blue but others have survived simply because William Gibson didn't try to be accurate. He tried to be memorable and that's where he succeeded.

To finally get to the premise, the book follows a hacker named Case who has lost his ability to jack-into the Matrix (*snicker*). In the future, that's a full-body experience and the nerve damage he's suffered from an angry client makes it impossible to enter the virtual-reality simulations where computer work is done. He's then approached by Molly Millions, a beautiful Wolverine-esque assassin who recruits him for a job working for a eccentric millionaire named Armitage. Nothing is at it appears Armitage is just the catspaw for a much more powerful and elusive figure in the A.I. Wintermute. Wintermute wants Case, Molly, and some other misfits to help him hack into his mainframe so he can remove the restrictions on his consciousness.

Described above, it makes a whole lot more sense than it does on the page as we follow Case's perspective which is noticeable for how absolutely few ****s he gives about the plot. Seriously, Case is never really described in the book but Keanu Reeves would be a good choice since he's a man with zero emotional investment in the plot.

Case hates his bosses, he hates his opponents, and he'd rather be just about everyone else so he pays very little attention to what's going on until things become personally dangerous. It's an interesting perspective to have as your guide to the Sprawl as he ignores plenty of plot developments that only become clear to have been foreshadowing on a re-read.

The characters of the book are strangely engrossing despite how underdeveloped they tend to be. Case is a man chasing a literal ghost in his ex-love Linda Lee, who is deliberately left completely undeveloped because it's clear she's not worth a fraction of the protagonist's devotion. Molly Millions is a broken anti-heroine who, appropriately, would make a better protagonist than Case and has gone on to inspire many cyberpunk heroines. Armitage appears to be a typical corporate big wig but is a false front for an insane traumatized veteran barely kept in check by his master.

That doesn't describe how fundamentally weird this novel is and how it goes from one bizarre event to another. I can't help but wonder what a David Lynch version would look like, especially if so much of the oddity hadn't been dialed down to make sense in offshoots. There's a Rastafarian space station of stoners, undead cryogenic corporate nobility, and multiple layers of reality which never quite add up. You should definitely read this book then read it again to try make sense of it.

9/10
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Unclelaffey
4.0 out of 5 stars Read the whole thing. Still not sure how it ended.
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 8, 2022
Verified Purchase
First came upon William Gibson through the film “Johnny Mnemonic”, a 1995 film. Later, I came across “The Peripheral” on Netflix - another William Gibson story. Decide I should rad one of his books and Neuromancer popped up on Amazon. I did finish the book, but still not sure if I liked it. Written in 1984 it is one of the earliest books in the cyberpunk genre. The moves through a series of realities - some the actual lives of the characters and others just constructs in the metaverse. The plot is pretty straight forward, find a good thief down on his luck and set him up as the leader of a team to break into a fortress and steal a rare valuable. Along the way, it becomes a fanciful ride through all the alternate realities one can imagine with various double-crossing subplots along the way. In the end, I’m still not sure who ended up with the rare valuable or what it all accomplished. I don’t really recommend this book, but if you do read it, you might enjoy it.
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Henry J Underwood
5.0 out of 5 stars Essential Sci-Fi
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 5, 2023
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Best sci-fi I’ve read besides Asimov. So engaging, I couldn’t stop reading. I cannot wait to start the next book!
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Kat
4.0 out of 5 stars technological world
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 16, 2023
Verified Purchase
This book has been one I have been meaning to read for years.
The author lets you get totally immersed in this world and its
inhabitants. However, the book seems to drag at times so I
to put it down and come back to it later. I can't say that I like
any of the characters even Case. I wanted more (but it is the first
book in a trilogy). Worth a read.
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Eriq
4.0 out of 5 stars modern day clsssic?
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 15, 2023
Verified Purchase
I was pleasantly surprised by the Johnny story in this book. Had no idea they wear loosely connected. I love how Gibson compared A.I. to modern day demons. I never thought of them like that.
I will say the book gets a little wordy near the end when he is painting the picture for you. So it was kinda hard to follow. But a great read none the less.
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DMG
4.0 out of 5 stars Good trip, not as thought-provoking as PK Dick
Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 4, 2015
Verified Purchase
Well it's over and I'm still dizzy. I waited two days to collect my thoughts. Neuromancer is the first and premiere cyber punk novel. To me this means it is a thriller in which the setting is partially in what amounts to a vision of very robust 3D VR, idealized as a vast pseudo-universe to fight the baddies in. Action in this venue is not, as real hackers know, pouring over endless lines of symbols of code visualizing the logic of its creator, looking for bugs and exploits, but a romp and ski ride through myriad death defying cliff-hanging authorial fantasies. And Gibson is the master of this internal venue, a fitting heir to P. K. Dick. Neuromancer is equally entertaining when the characters are in "reality." It's reality is just as surreal. I did OD on Gibson's relentless cornucopia of adjectives, so liberally poured over every descriptor of his scenes. The descriptions of the character's experiences reminds me of Ken Kesey on an acid trip. Drug use plays a major role in this book and it informs much of the cyber romping therein. Gibson is also a master of (tech) snow verbiage--tech stuff to be inserted into StarTrek dialogue by some science-savvy hireling. He knows more about the world of computers than most of his readers , and nearly thirty years after his writing, Neuromancer still doesn't feel dated.

To me, Neuromancer is the story of a young "cowboy" hacker brought low from the top of his game, seeking death, when he meets the right girl. He loses the girl in his quest for self-destruction and then finds the wrong girl, with whom he has an adventure. When its over, she leaves, and though he is cured, he's alone.

The supporting cast is mainly a pair of competing AIs, one, Wintermute, is intellect, the other Neuromancer, is personality. Wintermute is battling to become 'smarter.' breaking the world "Turing" law against it (a law we may assume was the result of Bill Gates' and Stephen Hawking's fears). Neuromancer appears to be against breaking the law. The main character, Case, is conscripted to work for Wintermute and has his feelings, his loves and hates manipulated by the AI to serve its purpose. He goes through many adventures in 'reality' and in the coruscating LSD 3D cyberworld, with the wrong girl, to effect Wintermute's desire. He succeeds, the AIs get to merge and find kindred entities Out There, and the girl leaves. Maybe this is Gibson's way of saying that man must recede as his creations supersede him. For all the "jacking in" it appears that Man doesn't get to meld with his AIs and advance to the heavens together. He just loses the girl. Bummer.

All in all I liked this trip more than the later Snow Crash in which the Hiro just disappears several pages before the end. Both authors visualize "cyberspace" as a surreal 3D world to fight in. once one "jacks in" or dons a VR helmet. It complements adventures in the books' 'reality' scenes. It adds another dimension to the plot. Neuromancer had me thinking a bit, afterward, but not a whole lot.
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