Rating: 
Summary: Buy This Book!
Review: I have to admit, I've been a fan of William Gibson's since when I first read Neuromancer. I've greedily devoured each of his works as soon as I could get my hands on them. No author, excepting Neal Stephenson, writing in the genre even comes close to his ability to tell a story. No other sci-fi author can do so with such well-crafted prose. I can be said that his novels are inferior variations on Neuromancer and its storm-the-villa-Straylight climax; but if that is true Gibson has here found a way to recapture that summit.
Rating: 
Summary: Gibson's gone downhill since _Neuromancer_
Review: Gibson's first three books were taut, suspenseful and visionary. From _Virtual Light_ on, Gibson has lost some of the edge that made him so interesting. Other than its nonsensical title, All Tomorrow's Parties is a series of vignettes of 'cool people' and 'cool stuff'. It comes as no suprise to see a full length picture of Gibson himself clad in Armani proudly displaying a latest-model Motorola cell phone clipped to his belt. He appears himself to have succumbed to the 'cool gadget' measure of success.Early on, Gibson was appaled at those who seemed to take his ideas as cues to build neat new toys. A prime example would be 3-D Virtual Reality meant to be viewed through goggles-remember VRML? Rather than bristling at technophiles blindly attempting to implement his ideas, Gibson appears to have joined the ranks of the most sanguine of techno-boosters, a bleeding edge that worships things like the newest Motorola and that is chronicled by Wired Magazine. Whether as a result of this or not, his novels have suffered. _All Tomorrow's Parties_, like the other books that share the same characters, is low on suspense but high on glitz (All preparation and no H). It is an enjoyable read simply because the characters, the locales and the devices are cool. But the plot line is slack and, frankly, things like sovereign franchise are handled better by the likes of Neal Stephenson. Where Gibson used to outshine his cyberpunk peers like Rudy Rucker and Bruce Sterling, he is now eclipsed by greater talents, particularly that of Stephenson. Recommended to those who simply can't miss the latest Gibson. If you're not hooked yet, pick up a copy of -_Neuromancer_.
Rating:
Summary: Dull Party
Review: I was disappointed in Tomorrow's Parties. Very little happened. Most of the characters, endearing as they are, are recycled from previous stories. Some new ones -- Silencio, Bomzilla, anonymous killer -- were excellent. Some of the actions seemed pointless: why was the bridge burned? Is Gibson as burned out as some of his characters? His futuristic hardware and software seems little beyond today's realities.
Rating: 
Summary: One word short of 5 stars!
Review: Neuromancer is one of my favorite books (especially after about a dozen readings), and I read all of Gibson's books up through The Difference Engine, but I will shamefully admit I somehow overlooked the first two books in this trilogy, so my perspective may be unique. First, my one complaint: why does Gibson use the word "website"? Since websites are so grounded in technology, and technology changes so quickly, I don't see that term being in use 5-10 years from now. After all, how many people still know what gopher, archie, and veronica are (were)? Admittedly, many of Gibson's readers know these terms, but the public as a whole does not. I don't know what words and tech will supplant the web, but I do know that it will happen, and Gibson missed his chance to tell us. This one little word nearly shattered my suspension of disbelief, but I managed to work my way through it. With that out of the way, the rest of the writing is very exciting. Early in the book, one of the characters looks out the window of a van and notes, "What were those white things, so many of them, off in a field there? Wind things: they made electricity." I love this quote! So simple, but it evokes such a clear image in the reader's mind. The majority of the book is like that, in fact, so much so that I know I will grow to love this book more and more with each re-reading. The characters are superbly written. I especially liked Boomzilla. Every kid would love to have him as a friend; but that would be every parent's nightmare. Boomzilla reserves a place right up there with Molly in my list of favorite Gibson characters. As for the plot, I liked it. The alternating storylines and short chapters kept me reading well into the night because I had an intense desire to know what would happen next. Possible spoiler: I thought the ending was very much like Neuromancer in that we are left with the knowledge that technology has greatly evolved, but the ramifications of that evolution are left for the reader to ponder on his/her own time. Overall, an excellent book, and I look forward to reading the first two books in this trilogy.
Rating:
Summary: Consensual hallucination
Review: Typecast as herald of some questionable cyber salvation -- from the body, from "meatspace" (ugh!), from (who knows) getting a Real Job -- Gibson was initially catapulted up the charts for reasons that largely missed his genuine talent, which is *writing.* I knew this on encountering the first line of Neuromancer (from memory): "The sky over the port was the color of television tuned to a dead channel." Wow. And his writing has gotten better, his inner ear more attentive to the (real) real world. Never mind what he's saying. Listen to how he says it. There is genuine poetry here. Gibson should be hailed not for mapping new concepts that presaged the Internet, but for extending something very much older: the language. *That* is the ultimate consensual hallucination. Long may it wave!
Rating:
Summary: Elegant prose poem from Gibson
Review: Gibson always draws criticism when his latest book turns out not to be the new Neuromancer. But then, it's not 1984 any more, either. All Tomorrow's Parties is a mature work, with the previous pyrotechnics toned down and handled as much offstage as on. And the most enigmatic character bears a remarkable resemblance to the jacket photo of the author. As I read, I could hear Gibson's laconic drawl reading the words deliberately. This is definitely not a book to speed-read. Can't wait for the audio books version.
Rating:
Summary: Mature, humane, different.
Review: The new Gibson novel, All Tomorrow's Parties revolves around data surfer/cowboy Colin Laney in a postworld San Francisco. Laney's orphic talent for sussing out nodal points is in full flow, anticipating a seachange in the world, the widespread dissemination of reproductive nanotechnology.(Oops) Laney's talent is the result of his exposure to a psychic drug in an orphanage. Halfway through the book I finally grasped the larger theme and the book builds well from page 132 on. This is one of his best novels, bringing his sci fi noir style to another pinnacle, and his'life goes on even after the deluge' messae comes across sharper than before. My nodal points were stimulated by some of the best descriptions Gibson has ever written, (one of his strengths for us struggling hacks)
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant - Gibson's Best
Review: Brilliant; gritty and trademark Gibson. The next important question is: what happens next? I would love to know what transpires from hereon. Come on Bill, you know what we want ...
Rating:
Summary: Read it if you love prose, characterization, and ideas...
Review: I don't give five star reviews easily. Nevertheless, I'll say that both stylistically and in terms of dealing with real ideas about the future, this is Gibson's best or second best book. As others have noted, he's stylistically back to the evocative, Delaney-inspired prose that made _Neuromancer_ and so many of his short stories work so well. And the characterization is much stronger than in the previous installations of the series. It eschews the contrived "gotta have a plot" scripting of _Virtual Light_ and _Idoru_ in favor of a well-thought-out progression toward an end that, as another reviewer has noted, passes almost too quickly to see -- a typical "Gibson ending", to be sure. As for the future he depicts.... let's just say that in its own way, it's one of the more chilling dystopias I've ever encountered, wherein society and culture are made manifest in lawsuits and trash TV, and grim hope lives out on the margins in the "autonomous zones"....
Rating:
Summary: Cool.
Review: Well written and engrossing. If you like his other books, you'll like this one. Gibson is in a league of his own. His writing is different from the usual fodder one finds in the sci-fi section. I wouldn't put this book in the same league as Idoru or Neuromancer, but it was still very good. I am anxious to see where and when his next book will take us.
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