Rating: 
Summary: Painfully bad (and I LOVE Gibson's work)
Review: Please please please do not let this be your first or only Gibson book. It is incredibly shallow, trite and painfully contrived. Get Neuromancer instead, because it is a much more deeply woven story.
Rating: 
Summary: Lesser Gibson
Review: My first William Gibson novel was "Neuromancer," and I keep waiting for him to match it. "Mona Lisa Overdrive" came close. "Virtual Light" does not.By this point in his career, Gibson was beginning to repeat himself. He had the flawed knight errant, Rydell (think of Case in "Neuromancer"); the tough street-girl, Chevette (Molly in "Neuromancer"); the sinister corporate interests. But this repetition is not the biggest flaw of this book. Its biggest problem is sloppy construction. The plot runs out of gas; Gibson ties off the story with a flimsy, unsatisfying ending. The story turns on a pair of virtual-reality glasses, but their importance is never convincingly portrayed. Gibson introduces the character of a Japanese grad student,then all but gives up trying to use him in a meaningful way. The book's virtues? Gibson still keeps me turning the pages, even when he's not at his best. He always brings in startling ideas and visions. His best in "Virtual Light" is the Golden Gate Bridge, closed due to an earthquake and taken over by squatters who now live on it. Next up for me is "Idoru," and word is Gibson recovered some of his "Neuormancer" form with it. I hope so. "Virtual Light" entertained me, but I wasn't dazzled.
Rating:
Summary: For cyberpunk fans certainly; for others, not a priority
Review: This isn't Neuromancer, and in some respects I worry if the success of that book has spoiled Gibson for all the others, because he has put in what made the first book successful (dystopia, out-of-control technology, bizarre but plausible human subcultures), but somehow it just doesn't come together as well as his other works. The plot is all right for the first half, but it delves into the deus ex machina and contrived for the end and an entire plot thread involving a fascinating character is harped upon for many, many chapters and wasted. Not to say that this is a bad book; I enjoyed it a lot, but it's not a classic of the genre. If you love Gibson, then you'll love this. If cyberpunk-style SF is a sometimes thing for you, give this one a miss.
Rating: 
Summary: Rich in its visions...
Review: I had been a fan of Gibson for some time before I had read Virtual Light, but when I touched this book I was blown away. This is quite simply Gibson's best work, creating a society based entirely on the absence of planning, and then cementing that society with some of the wildest characters ever to hit paper since The Stand. If you read no other Gibson book, read this book.
Rating:
Summary: A great book, if you like this kind of thing.....
Review: "Why can't you give zero stars?" I'm sorry that the person who said this feels that way, because to me everything that Gibson has written provides an enjoyable experiance. "Technology that isn't fully explained...don't know what it does or how it does it..." Gibsons ambiguity is what makes the books interesting. He gives skeletal details, and your imagination fills in the details. Techno-babble and an alternate future make for an interesting story despite, or maybe because of, the lackluster plot and un-inspired characters, but an interesting story it is, which means that it's a good book.
Rating: 
Summary: Why can't you give 0 stars?
Review: Futuristic drama? Cutting edge suspense? I don't know what these other readers are seeing in this book. All I got was senseless dialogue, idiot characters, technology that isn't fully explained, long rambling passages of senseless thoughts that have no meaning or relation to anything. Notice I didn't mention any plot in that list, because there isn't one. Somebody loses some expensive electronic toy, somebody else finds it, the first person tries to get it back. This would have been better if someone had explained what the thing is, where it comes from, what it does, or why it's so important. We never find out. Instead people get chased for a while, and then.. nothing. The book just stops. No resolution or explanation at all. When I buy a book I expect an actual story, with intelligent (or at least intelligible) dialogue, and characters that seem like more than cardboard cutouts. This book sadly fails on all these counts.
Rating:
Summary: Faster moving,even if not "true cyberpunk"
Review: I enjoyed this book immensely, and I have tried to read Gibson's books "in order" (Neuromancer, Count Zero, Mona Lisa, and then this one). Although some people may be quite right in claiming that this book contains not quite the technological visions in the great quantities that were in his previous writings, the plot moved along at a quick pace. Yes, his writing style would be considered sparse, and in this one even more so than usual, but the characters were interesting, and I guess I found the habitation of the Bridge to be fascinating. I think if you are wanting hard core tech, look elsewhere. However if you enjoy a writing style which to me personally was more a mix of pulp and some sci-fi, than you will enjoy this book.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent cyberpunk.. couldn't put it down!
Review: Gibson is most definitely one of science fiction's best writers. The characters in this book are very vivid and the technology he describes is fascinating. The bridge was a great concept, as was the Shapely sub-story, I also was intrigued by the television watching Christian sect. This book, and others like it, are what make reading a great form of escape and entertainment for me and thousands of other people. Check this one out!
Rating:
Summary: One of the best books I ever read
Review: I have not been able to get the story, setting or characters from this book out of my head. I still dream about it. I was profoundly astonished to find this gem. I think it is his very finest by far.
Rating:
Summary: Like other Gibson, only more so
Review: Virtual Light left me kind of cold, but it wasn't until after reading it that I realized why: it is *too* Gibsonian. The usual Gibson textures are there, with a few delicious nuggets like bridges becoming squatting grounds and police state satellites, but in other areas his technology vision seems constrained to everyday objects like laptops and airplane video games. The real fault here is the incredibly light plot. Things seem to happen for no reason, and I found myself skipping ahead, looking for the next techno-description. Plot has never been WG's strong suit (quick, anybody remember the plot of Count Zero or Mona Lisa?) but the rewards for enduring it here are comparatively thin. If you're looking for post-Neuromancer-era Gibson, pick up Idoru instead.
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