Author: William Gibson
Series: Sprawl #1
Genres: Cyberpunk, Science Fiction
Publisher: Penguin Putnam Inc
Source: eBook
Pages: 288
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SYNOPSIS: The Matrix is a world within the world, a global consensus- hallucination, the representation of every byte of data in cyberspace . . .
Case had been the sharpest data-thief in the business, until vengeful former employers crippled his nervous system. But now a new and very mysterious employer recruits him for a last-chance run. The target: an unthinkably powerful artificial intelligence orbiting Earth in service of the sinister Tessier-Ashpool business clan. With a dead man riding shotgun and Molly, mirror-eyed street-samurai, to watch his back, Case embarks on an adventure that ups the ante on an entire genre of fiction.
Hotwired to the leading edges of art and technology, Neuromancer ranks with 1984 and Brave New World as one of the century's most potent visions of the future.
It was the book of the month chosen by Nosferatu from Carpe Noctem for the Iskriptus Bookclub. I have personally never read anything of cyberpunk but I know Nosferatu loves it so I was not surprised at all when we received an invitation into this strange but awesome world. Therefore, I was very very intrigued to read this book!
First of all I have to state that when it comes to cyberpunk (I think that's the term?) I am at pre-elementary level. I have heard from Nosferatu this term and know that there are many people loving it but other than that, I really have no idea. So please be kind to me if I misread things or just was not educated enough in this genre to understand them. I am very ashamed but it is true and so here it goes my first cyberpunk experience!
THE WORLD: It is a dystopian word of a little bit like matrix, you have your physical self and then there is cyberspace where your consciousness can live as in you can be downloaded into the cyberspace. Also, when it comes to physical self people are advanced, it reminds me of cyborgs really. Other than that everything else in this book's dystopian world is normal - crime, sex, drugs, money and so on.
CHARACTERS: Case, the main character in this book is first presented as a low life really. He once was a genius hacker but then decided to steal from his employes and had a payback of his nervous system being all racked. Therefore, he ended up killing people for money and for his drugs. But when you think about it, all Case really was looking for was some cure for his brain. Therefore, I somehow find him not so bad after all. Tho, sometimes he was very very confusing. Molly is sorta Case's sidekick. She is damn smart and a bad ass really. There was this scene in the beginning between her and Case and one minute it was like he is getting up after procedure and next thing you know Case and Molly are all over each other (no, I do not mean love). I was like WOW what just happened? But not in a bad way, the way this book is written...you need to really read it to understand it. Then what I also consider as playing a great role in this book are Armitage and Riviera. When it comes to Armitage all I can say really is that he was seriously messed up. Like seriously. Now you could also say it about Riviera him being a psychopath and all but you know what? I actually loved Riviera very much. Something about him being absolutely out of his mind I guess.
PLUS: I think the biggest plus of this book for me was that it was so so new for me. I am not a stranger to books about crime and manipulation but that element of cyberspace being involved...it gave this type of stories an absolutely new edge.
MINUS: As cyberspace is a plus it is however also a minus for me. Not that I do not like it, please do not judge me! I did like it! It was just so absolutely confusing, about 50% of the book I had no idea what was happening.
OVERALL: Just like most of the books I have read this one also really fast and now I regret it. I think when I have time maybe in summer I will reread it just because I want to understand the details. It was seriously confusing book for me, like seriously! But despite that I enjoyed it, especially when it was again so so different from what I normally read.
EXTRA: I also think that maybe Neuromancer was too advanced level of cyberpunk for me. Maybe some of you who loves this genre could recommend some less advanced books for me? As to sorta ease in and create a background for me so I would not be struggling to understand it next time?
What did you guys think about Neuromancer?
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Matrix belongs to cyberpunk genre, you got that correct :)
ReplyDelete(cyberpunk is basically sci-fi type of thing with the world ending or already ended, so it can be post-apocalyptical, in a sense it was in Matrix, or just going to shit in a moral sense, the way it was in Ghost in the Shell, etc. Very often it's disgusting, truly, because it's over the top in every sense. Hyperconnected, hyperactive, hyperaware, dare I say Hyper-don't-care? I dare. it portrays the corruption you took good sense of, the very same we have out here, but in a hyperbolised way, so that you can't miss it, it's THE point, it's THE center of the whole mess)
I liked Riviera too :D
If you feel like you read it to fast, you might want to indulge into something lighter or just force-continue with the other two books in trilogy, since by the end of the second one, I do believe you'll be grasping proper on all the things. I believe that because it's not as much the terms, as much the way it was written, this book. For I am no stranger to cyberspace, and yet I had to stop at moments too, because of that comma there, this word here, that broken line over there.
It's the first of its kind, Neuromancer (almost the first, but definitely of the biggest impact). Naturally thus all that came after were far better polished :) I'm glad you liked it as much as you did (I refuse to think of three stars as of "as little")
As for extra literature, try Blade Runner :) I think we all, from that little club of ours, at least heard of it, haven't we ;)
For comics, I would highly recommend Transmetropolitan and Ghost in the Shell, the latter being a gem of cyberpunk (or watch the first two anime movies, gives a sense of what it'd be like to meet an AI)
OMG I did not know cyberpunk means that! I was sorta thinking it is a style for basically having advanced technology in it like vampires or fairies in fantasy! :D I feel so so silly now, but I absolutely love the real meaning of it! And yes, I think I will read the Blade Runner, I have heard everybody talking about it but never approached myself yet.
DeleteAnd noooo I did not mean it 3 as bad! It was just because it was difficult for me to read, otherwise it would have been a solid 4!
I also forgot to mention above, thank you very much for picking this book ;)