creamfresh reviewed Count Zero (Sprawl, #2) by William Gibson (The Neuromancer Trilogy)
Another look into the world of Neuromancer: hackers, mercs and corporations
5 stars
Lovely read, recommended for those that liked Neuromancer and those that tried to like it. It works standalone and might be worth a try if, like me, you had trouble getting through the first part.
Three stories, that seem unrelated at first but interweave beautifully towards the end, each contributing to the satisfying ending. Each story expands on a different part of the retro futuristic vision Gibson established in Neuromancer. We explore different locations in America (mainly the sprawl of the east coast, between Boston and New York), Paris, Brussels and Earth's orbit, through the eyes of a newbie hacker, a mercenary and an art curator.
In a way the world feels more grounded than in Neuromancer, while the themes are even more esoteric. Gibson foregoes technical feasibility in favour of something that could be described as cyber-magic. Sure, you could potentially try to explain how jockeys establish …
Lovely read, recommended for those that liked Neuromancer and those that tried to like it. It works standalone and might be worth a try if, like me, you had trouble getting through the first part.
Three stories, that seem unrelated at first but interweave beautifully towards the end, each contributing to the satisfying ending. Each story expands on a different part of the retro futuristic vision Gibson established in Neuromancer. We explore different locations in America (mainly the sprawl of the east coast, between Boston and New York), Paris, Brussels and Earth's orbit, through the eyes of a newbie hacker, a mercenary and an art curator.
In a way the world feels more grounded than in Neuromancer, while the themes are even more esoteric. Gibson foregoes technical feasibility in favour of something that could be described as cyber-magic. Sure, you could potentially try to explain how jockeys establish some kind of, potentially lethal, neural link with the cyberspace, but it works just fine within the story. Really, this is not for you if you prefer long technical info-dumps.
This is book is definitely one of my SF favorites.
