Neuromancer Review

Title: Neuromancer (Sprawl #1)
Author: William Gibson
Published: Mass Market Paperback
Originally published by Ace Books, 1984
271 pages
Rating: 6.5/10 lightsabers

 

Goodreads Summary

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 employees 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.

 After all the madness this month, I finally managed to finish Neuromancer. This was a rough one for me to get into. I found it hard to read. I honestly wasn't sure what the hell was going on for the first half of the book. It jumps all over the place and I wasn't following it very well. It is pretty fast paced and Gibson doesn't slow down to explain anything to you. You're on your own in this book. 

  I started getting into the story in the second half of the book when you meet Wintermute. The rastafarian pilots from Zion are interesting, too. However, I felt the other characters were pretty blah. Gibson does a great job describing the setting/matrix, but is less successful developing his characters. For example: Molly the Razorgirl. She looks really cool. She has mirrors in her eyes and retractable razorblade fingernails. However, personality wise there isn't much to talk about. Case is a dead beat drug addict. It's not that I didn't like the characters. I just thought they were boring.

I was snoozing through the book until Wintermute showed up. The scene when Case answers the phone and it is Wintermute was great. He hangs up and then the rest of the payphones start to ring as he runs by them. That's why I started getting into the story. I thought the idea of Wintermute and Neuormancer was brilliant. I loved the ending! The second half of the book makes up for the confusing first half. Maybe I just enjoyed the second half more because I was getting used to Gibson's writing.

 After finishing the book, I can see  why it was so revolutionary. I can imagine reading it in 1984 and being even more confused than I was reading it in 2013. This one might need to be reread because I'm sure I missed a lot of details. Gibson coined the term cyberspace, pushed cyberpunk in the the mainstream, and influenced countless books and movies. I hope this book finally gets made into the movie. The Matrix was obviously influenced by the book, but I would like to see a film adaptation of it. Apparently, Liam Neeson has been offered the role of Armitage and Mark Wahlberg was offered the role of Case. We'll see if this actually happens.

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