Count Zero

Rating:
Summary: Read Neuromancer instead
Review: I love Neuromancer, but this one is just to weird. It dosn't have the drive that kept Neuromancer interesting.

Rating:
Summary: Not as good as Neuromancer
Review: I loved Neuromancer and was happy to find that it was made into a sort of trilogy, but I was quite disappointed with Count Zero. I think it is a combination of the writing style, characters, and overall plot.

As part of a trilogy, it does not have all that much in common with Neuromancer other than the world it is set in. None of the main characters from Neuromancer appear except for the Finn but it's only a cameo appearance here. We get the impression that the Wintermute AI sort of split into multiple entities at some time between the stories, which is suggested to be a few years.

As for the characters, none of them really appealed to me the way the ones from Neuromancer did. The main protaganists are underdeveloped and rather bland at the end. They just weren't that sympathetic and I couldn't really get myself to care about them.

Then there is the writing style. While Neuromancer was written entirely from Case's point of view, Count Zero is seen through the eyes of three different people who take different paths throughout the story. At the end of the book the paths converge but they do so in a rather sudden and Deus-Ex-Machina like way that is hard to swallow. It felt to me like Gibson was running out of pages and had realized that he needed to tie all these plot threads together. The book could have used a couple more chapters to straighten everything out, rather than having the non-ending it has like Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash (a small flaw in an otherwise phenomenal book.) This writing style however, has become common in Gibson's later novels, though fortunately in Virtual Light he learns to tie the three characters together better and in Idoru he sticks to only two main protagonists, which makes it easier to follow.

Overall, I would only recommend reading Count Zero if you intend to read Mona Lisa Overdrive (final book in the trilogy) as it takes off shortly from the end of Count Zero with some of the same main characters and developes them more. In the big picture, Count Zero doesn't stand very well on it's own and mainly bridges the gap between the beginning and the end.

Rating:
Summary: Not as good as Neuromancer
Review: I loved Neuromancer and was happy to find that it was made into a sort of trilogy, but I was quite disappointed with Count Zero. I think it is a combination of the writing style, characters, and overall plot.

As part of a trilogy, it does not have all that much in common with Neuromancer other than the world it is set in. None of the main characters from Neuromancer appear except for the Finn but it's only a cameo appearance here. We get the impression that the Wintermute AI sort of split into multiple entities at some time between the stories, which is suggested to be a few years.

As for the characters, none of them really appealed to me the way the ones from Neuromancer did. The main protaganists are underdeveloped and rather bland at the end. They just weren't that sympathetic and I couldn't really get myself to care about them.

Then there is the writing style. While Neuromancer was written entirely from Case's point of view, Count Zero is seen through the eyes of three different people who take different paths throughout the story. At the end of the book the paths converge but they do so in a rather sudden and Deus-Ex-Machina like way that is hard to swallow. It felt to me like Gibson was running out of pages and had realized that he needed to tie all these plot threads together. The book could have used a couple more chapters to straighten everything out, rather than having the non-ending it has like Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash (a small flaw in an otherwise phenomenal book.) This writing style however, has become common in Gibson's later novels, though fortunately in Virtual Light he learns to tie the three characters together better and in Idoru he sticks to only two main protagonists, which makes it easier to follow.

Overall, I would only recommend reading Count Zero if you intend to read Mona Lisa Overdrive (final book in the trilogy) as it takes off shortly from the end of Count Zero with some of the same main characters and developes them more. In the big picture, Count Zero doesn't stand very well on it's own and mainly bridges the gap between the beginning and the end.

Rating:
Summary: SuperCyber!
Review: I read "Neuromancer" and loved it. Then I actually thought that Gibson would have less to give in "Count Zero" seeing that sequels and series never seem to compare to the original, first work. Boy, was I WRONG. "Count Zero" is way better than "Neuromancer"; the story is better, the characters are superbly portrayed. If you like the genre, read "Count Zero" or miss out big time!

Rating:
Summary: Accelerates from where "Neuromancer" left off
Review: I read "Neuromancer" several years ago and thought it was OK. The writing style bothered me a bit, not for it's noirish quality, but for tech references and buzzwords which were not explained well. That was really irritating. I read other excellent sci-fi books which lost nothing because the author spent some time on defining the world and/or technology. I next read "Burning Chrome" and enjoyed it thoroughly. The short form definitely suits Gibson. Then I read "Count Zero" and I have to say it was a solid story, entertaining, a page turner, all that. I guess the lesson to be learned for the uninitiated is to read "Burning Chrome" FIRST, and then go on to the "Sprawl" novels.

Rating:
Summary: Not as absorbing as Neuromancer
Review: I read Neuromancer and LOVED it...so of course I had to finish the trilogy. Count Zero was a good read, but didn't have enough new techno gadgets to satisfy me. Also, I didn't think the characters were as empathetic as Molly and Case were. Still, you definitely have to read it before you get to Mona Lisa Overdrive since MLO is pretty much a direct continuity from Count Zero.

Rating:
Summary: Cyberpunk -- and science fiction -- at its best
Review: I think I like this book even better than Neuromancer, the award-winning novel that preceded it, though I missed Molly the mirrorshaded razor girl. Tightly plotted, with likeable characters and great dialogue, it is rich in Gibson's trademark technopoetry, his knack for the telling image, the gleaming detail. In this novel he deepens his exploration of his favorite themes: the culture and politics of cyberspace, the look and feel of artificial intelligence, the perversity of extreme wealth, and the morphing of everything from relationships to art by technological change. Gibson at his peak (so far), before he began repeating himself.

Rating:
Summary: Gibson's best.
Review: I'd never read a book that started with a bang quite like this one, with the hero of the novel caught in a lethal blast on page one. The story continues foward from there. This is one of the seminal works of the cyberpunk movement; you can be rebuilt more handsome and more dysfunctional.

Like the protagonist, the book's perspecive is shattered here, whirling away in fragmentary views of the action that follows from a handful of different characters who know nothing of each other until they all fall into place at the end and all, or most, is made clear. It's a literary style that Gibson uses for every work after this one, but never with quite the same perfection as this first time.

It's hard to not see this work in the shadow of Neuromancer. It's also tempting to see it in the light of the Star Wars Trilogy. (Yes, of course I'm talking about the original trilogy.) If Neuromancer is the captivating first work that could have started a genre all by itself, and Mona Lisa Overdrive is the somewhat dissappointing finale that you love anyway for the series it was in, then Count Zero is the edgy piece in the middle. It's the one that's brimming with the promise of everything that came before and after, and in the end, rewards rereading again, and again.

Am i making sense here? No? Well, perhaps you should read the book and decide for yourself then...

Rating:
Summary: Best of the Series
Review: I'll make it short and sweet. Of the neuromancer series, this on was the best.

Rating:
Summary: more than just a sequel
Review: Let's face it: Neuromancer was so good and its effects so widespread that anything coming along after it could easily suffer in comparison. So, don't compare. Neuromancer was Neuromancer and that was a really great story and well told. If you want another Neuromancer, you're just going to have to keep reading it over and over.

Count Zero, on the other hand, is a fine story all by itself. It's not a continuation of Neuromancer or just a precursor to Mona Lisa Overdrive and you haven't already read this one.

The action moves pretty fast in Count Zero and there are a pretty interesting group of characters. Some of the characters will be familiar to readers of Neuromancer although sometimes only in reference (Molly, for instance, who was so central in Neuromancer is only vaguely referred to once early on and again later as ' a girl with mirrors for eyes'). Still, it's fun to remember our earlier heroes while picking up a whole new crew; you won't be disappointed.