Neuromancer

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Summary: When Will We Learn? ---Never
Review: Yes,Neuromancer is pessimistic, but perhaps the targeted Ubermensches and Uberfraus could benefit from this classic. Perhaps that sounds elitest, but really, a novel of this caliber would not make "Oprah's Picks." What do we do with this moral fable? What did we do with Mary Shelley's fable--stay the same. Humans will be humans. Our Death Instinct is in tact, and no amount of moralizing will ever change humanity's collective consciousness. The reality between Thanatos and Eros cannot extinguish itself. Wintermute and Neuromancer merged, but at our expense. Our insecurities and hatred will always spawn what we sow. Thanks Mr. Gibson for giving us the dose of reality that your readers need. Coca-Cola, GM, GE, Disney, and Microsoft have replaced the Vatican---welcome to the future, Neuromancer is here.

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Summary: So sick of this being compared to Snow Crash.
Review: Neuromancer is a bit of brilliance. Gibson's got such a strong mastery of the language that his words can focus like a laser and bludgeon like an airhammer, often at the same time.

Stephenson is a pretty good writer too, but he's not at all on par with Gibson, whose ideas Neal fed off of and whose abilities Neal can't hope to match.

Neuromancer really does get better with every reading. And Snow Crash? Well, after the first time, you start noticing all those sentences that Neal should have either added to, taken awayfrom, or left out entirely.

Sure, Stephenson is more friendly to the MTV generation and all of those "JAVA is God" people, but for great writing and prophetic utterances, look to Neuromancer.

Not to mention Molly, THE coolest character from any book ever written, plays a key role in NM.

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Summary: it really is THAT good!
Review: [not a long review...] it is The Defining cyber/future spawning work of the late 20th century. reading Mr. Gibson's work is truly like seeing the very plausable future in you mind. The scope and texture of his work often reminds me of Ms. Tanith Lee's early works. It is art, in word and concept. Thank you Mr. Gibson...

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Summary: futurism at its best
Review: If you ever read a single book, this has to be it. Not as much a novel as poetry in the guise of one. Everyone who gives this book less than 5 stars is flat out dumb or he did not understand it.I am ready to challenge every such person.Be it in argumentation or a fist fight. I will just let my man Gibson do the talking:

Cyberspace, a consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators,in every nation by children being taught mathematical concepts..a graphic rep of data abstracted by the banks of every computer in the human system.Unthinkable complexity.Lines of light ranged in the non-space of the mind,clusters and constellations of data.Like city lights, receding...

THe chrome stars held his gaze.They were mounted against scarlet ultrasuede with nearly invisible loops of nylon fishline,their centers stamped with yin-yang symbols.They caught the street's neon and twisted it, and it came to case that these were the stars under which he voyaged, his destiny spelled out in a constellation of chrome.

The semiotics of Villa Straylight bespeak a turning in,a denial of the bright void beneath the hull.Tessier-Ashpool climbed the well of gravity to discver they loathed space.

It was hot, the night we burned chrome...

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Summary: The novel that defined cyberpunk
Review: With Neuromancer, William Gibson climbed to the summit of sci-fi and planted the flag of cyberpunk. His dark vision of a hi-tech future in which data is power hits the mark like no other story. Writing in the early 1980's, he brought us into the Information Age with his depiction of "the matrix, a consensual hallucination" and his coining of the term "cyberspace" to describe a virtual world composed of pure data. Since then, reality has raced to keep up with his prophetic vision, spawning the Internet, a two-dimensional parallel to the matrix, complete with hackers just like Case. If you're looking for a sci-fi novel, go read Isaac Asimov or Arthur C. Clarke. If you want to read the most believable look into the future of the information culture and the book that has become the benchmark in cyberpunk literature, get a copy of Neuromancer.

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Summary: Skip this mess of a book - Read "Snow Crash" instead
Review: I can't believe that this piece of trash is considered a "classic". Gibson cannot write to save his life! I surmise Gibson's objectives in this book as follow: - Do a really bad imitation of Hemingway style

- In place of plots, throw in heaps of incoherent and cliched episodes

- In place of characters, throw in the most cliched and stereotyped cut-outs possible

- Confuse the heck out of readers, and they'll respect you as a 'visionary'

For the paragon of cyberpunk, read "Snow Crash". If you want to know what I consider a supreme example of sci-fi (with great plot and characters), read "Ender's Game".

Rating:
Summary: Doesn't matter
Review: William Gibson redefines the word "future" - whether you like it or not. You will see what I mean when you read this novel.

Rating:
Summary: Neuromantic
Review: I have read allot of books, I mean a heck of allot from Adams to Shakespeare, Clarke to Lovegrove, but this is one of the first books that really got to me, the words surging through my mind as if I was in direct contact with the characters, lost in a world of Cyberspace and pain, bright neon, and acrid grime. Gibson paints a picture that is both beautiful and grotesque, with the sheen of the future, interacting with the rot of the past. What ever this man is getting, it's not enough.

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Summary: Dance with Gibson
Review: A few years ago I was looking to get back into reading Science Fiction. I sought out the advice of a friend who was well read in the genre. I told him I needed to catch up on Sci Fi and could he recommend a few books? He gave me a few titles, then I randomly spotted a catchy title on the shelf and asked about it. He said, "Good book, but the author depleated his creative juices on this one."

That was my introduction to Neuromancer. Other than my friend's bittersweet recommendation, I had no foreknowledge of the book's content, reputation or award winning status. Perhaps that is what helped make this book such a great read for me; for all I knew, I was reading a book the Sci Fi community had yawned its way through and long forgotten about. So I simply dove in.

Once accustomed to Gibson's peculiar prose (yes, it did take some getting used to), I couldn't put the book down. And I put a lot of books down.

Gibson's creates a compelling future. I found beauty in its ugliness, and haven in its danger. His characters are hip and subtle; his plotting complex & challenging, yet digestable and satisfying. I was especially happy Gibson didn't spoon-feed his concepts to the reader; he just throws them on the table and lets you piece them together. The end result is a sophisticated page-turner that is both a challenge and an accomplishment. For me, it proved that there life after stale, Old Guard Science Fiction.

Neuromancer is a wild ride; You'll either ride this wave or it will utterly drown you. Either way you won't likely forget this book.

Rating:
Summary: Important milestone, yet forgettable
Review: Boy, I still can't believe I was disappointed by this book. I never ever expected this - I LOVE cyberpunk. And with all the hype surrounding this book, I was 99% sure I was going to love it. I was even ashamed it took me so long to buy it and get to reading it.

Well, the 1% took over, and I have to say - it didn't live up to my expectations. Apart from the interesting use of language and vivid descriptions of Gibson's unique world, the plot and the characters are lacking. While they're interesting characters, they're not interesting ~individuals~. By the end of if, I couldn't care less who was doing what, why and where. Sadly, it was incredibly hard to follow, for some reason. The only reason I'm giving it four stars is because this novel IS important for the genre of sci-fi. Leave along the sub-genre of cyberpunk, which it practically gave birth to.