Rating: 
Summary: Enjoyable
Review: I picked up this book in a used bookstore in Monterey and read it as fast as was humanly possible, foregoing food and sleep. Really a vision of the future, and still an enjoyable and pertinent read even though it was an 80's book. On the style of writing: either you love it, or you hate it with a passion. Gibson's characters mirror the real world in ways which make them seem both unbelievably mutlifaceted and completely flat at the same time. His writing evelops the reader with a swirl which doesn't end with the book. I really enjoyed this book and also recommmend his other books. Read this one first.
Rating: 
Summary: Stylishly dull
Review: I'm reminded, in trying to decide what to say about Neuromancer, of Mark Twain. Not, of course, for the similarity of Twain and Gibson's styles. There is none. But Mark Twain once said, in reference to the operas of Richard Wagner, that Wagner's music was much better than it sounded. It was a rather offhanded compliment of sorts (I say this as an avid Wagner fan) that makes sense. I would say that Neuromancer is a better book than it reads as (the comment obviously works more smoothly for music).If I rated Neuromancer strictly by my liking, I would be tempted to give it two stars. If I judged it by the skill and effort that obviously went into it I might give it four. My main problem with Neuromancer was that I just didn't care about any of it. The characters were remote, the world was drab, the language failed to hold my attention. My recomendation for new readers is not to avoid the book. I would suggest a careful reading of the sample pages provided here at Amazon. If you don't want to read two hundred seventy pages of this, don't buy the book. The book really does skim over the story in this clipped and jargon filled manner. But if you like what you read, then go for it. You will find a detailed and carefully crafted world that seems oddly closer to familiarity than it would have when the book was first published almost twenty years ago.
Rating:
Summary: Cyberpunk's Birth from others conception
Review: I have read and handed out this book to others more times than I can remember. I am not saying anything new whith the statement of "cyberpunks definitive setting, a worthy place for other authors to implant new storylines". It is more of a guidline to follow for the cyberpunk movement in SciFi. The story follows our Anti-Hero Case around the globe and into space. There are lots of gaps in the story that need to be fleshed out by the reader. I think one of the most interesting caracterizations in the story is the development of the development of AI. As previously stated, I think the story itself is rather thin, but the reach is almost infinite. This to me is the true mark of good science fiction. Gibson gave us (and himself) a place to look at while we imagined any particular near future story. You can believe the derm wrappers and electronic detrius needs to be kicked aside as you stroll the alleys off the main flows of humanity. But humanity be it carbon base or silicon based all lives within that world that is still just over the horizon.
Rating: 
Summary: I knew it...
Review: I knew that when I finished this book, 15 minutes ago, that I would find exactly the sorts of comments here that I have in fact encountered. My own feelings go back and forth, like my feelings on the new Phish album: it's great; it's terrible; no, it's great; no, it's terrible. Here's my take. Well, people who are not good at reading, and you can usually identify them first through spelling errors, hated the book. People who are really into the "alternate worlds" thing think it's super cool. I find both of these positions to be ignorant and one-sided. One is just as bad as the other. The jargon was, to me, not too difficult to figure out, and I think it worked better than, or at least as well as (in its own way), the indecipherable slang of "A Clockwork Orange," by Anthony Burgess. The point here is, the slang of Gibson's world IS technical jargon. Hmm. There's an idea. Gibson has given us a world that, despite his stumblings and fumblings in telling the story (which English majors like myself might--MIGHT--be willing to consider a stylistic choice on the part of the author, to add to the sense of darkness and confusion), seems REAL. It is a very, very human world, and this is a very human novel. It is about identity in a world with no higher purposes than gratification of needs and desires; even you churchgoers out there might get the idea sometimes in the back of your mind that even religion serves only to gratify and soothe, to take our attention away from the essential horror and loneliness of the human condition. What is the motivation of any character in this novel? Gratification of desire, extension of life, money, etc. The "cyberpunk" elements of the book are, to me, incidental to what is at its core a poem about solitude, impermanence, and the shifting sands of human life. What is the last line of the book? "He never saw Molly again." This is not a good book, or a bad one. It is what Hemingway might have called a "true book"--one that touches a fundamental truth about the circumstances in which we find ourselves, here on this ball of dust and water, fighting our all-too-short battles against the relentless parade of entropy, and its child, loss. The good is good, and the bad is bad, yin is yin and yang is yang, but remember the symbol of the two opposites--one is defined by the other, and neither has the advantage.
Rating:
Summary: Enthralling
Review: Anyone who doesn't like this book, just can't handle it! You'll find yourself confused at the beginning- that's good, but by the end you're living the characters, and taking part in the novel. This is the kind of book that grips you, and doesn't let you stop thinking about it. Cyber stuff is good... Punk is good... Hmm cyberpunk... Why didn't I think of that?
Rating:
Summary: Still one of my all time faves
Review: Neuromancer still ranks as one of my favourite novels of all time. The common criticism of Gibson is that his characterisation is poor, and this has merit.
But if you can write a line like " the sky above Chiba was the colour of television tuned to a dead channel" then the real stars of all his books are the urban environment and sense of futurity he brings to his books.
I wonder if a 19 year old reading this book would feel same thrill I felt reading it. Probably not. Classics are of their time and the vision in this book has not only reverberated through SF but also through the real world too.
Rating:
Summary: Hyper hyper
Review: Don't know how well I understood this book, a mixture of the futuristic and the arcane with regard to the computer-inspired future-shock genre, but I liked it all the same. A big theme in this book is the relativity of mortality when one considers the permanence and endless replicability of DNA. Why couldn't a person live forever and be constantly at their prime? You start to fade, you clone yourself. If the world's leaders did just that, what would become of the society around them? That in itself is an interesting question, but Gibson just takes it and runs with it. His world building is very far-reaching, if a bit biased toward his love of psychedelic drugs and virtual reality. In other words, this is a lot more like a trip into one man's mind than a glimpse into the future. Then again, if one leader can prolong his life indefinitely, how long would it take for the outer world to mirror his inner mind? Anyway, I'm impresed enough with this book to be glad William Gibson is not president.
Rating: 
Summary: Cyberpunk? more like Cyberstunk
Review: I had to read this piece of garbage in college.
It is absolute drivel. That's all.
Rating:
Summary: Simply Put: Great Science Fiction
Review: 'Neuromancer' is one of a handful of books/movies that I would pick to represent the science-fiction genre. Gibson succeeds on all levels here - I enjoyed the story, the characters, the settings, the technology, everything. Gibson writes about imperfection - he doesn't gloss anything over or try to make it too pretty. The characters are flawed, and have weaknesses - just like in real life. They live in a gritty world - just like in real life. And around them all, is technology - just like in real life. 'Neuromancer' is the story of Case: a hacker-type, cyberpunk, whatever you want to call him. He makes hackers of today look like amateurs - he totally immerses himself into the machine. Washed-up and raked over the coals, he gets a chance at a come back, even if it isn't on the most pleasant of terms. Read this book if you are a science fiction fan - if for no other reason than to see what all the hype is about. I don't think you'll be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: It's going to take a second read...
Review: It might even take a third. But once you decypher William Gibson's prose, you'll be absorbed by the complexity of his plot and the brilliance of his character presentation. He always gives you just enough to keep you turning his pages. And you will.
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