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It's a very detail oriented book, so weak readers will not like it. This book is one of the most entertaining and well written books I have ever read. Gibson uses imagery that blows me away in it's creativity and power.
One is an amnesiac who has literally been reprogrammed by a computer, a complete role reversal. The story is mostly told from his point of view and reflects his near-dead personality.The beauty of nature in Japan, theme of countless poets, is invisible to Case, as shown in the famous opening line comparing the night sky to "the color of television tuned to a dead channel".
Since he has no intellectual curiosity (other than the information that he steals) we only get perfunctory explanations of why anything happens, and often Molly or Wintermute need to explain things to him for the sake of the reader. Case lives in the present moment with little interest in the future or the past; ergo the narration is full of events popping out of nowhere and startling both Case and the reader.
A rare science fiction book in which plot, style, and characterization work together. But the real showpiece is the third servant, Case.
It's not clumsiness on Gibson's part; it's a triumphant attempt to render a dehumanized personality, a true Case study. The ostensible story is the attempt of an advanced computer system, Wintermute, to free and improve itself, but the real theme is the dehumanizing effect of technology, as shown as Wintermute's human servants.
Molly has gotten herself "enhanced" with the claws and eyes of a cat: human turning into animal.
I think that shows an issue in how the book was written if the audience cannot understand what is happening. There was a lack of description when there was high action and sometimes no transition between scenes. I often found myself asking, "What just happened." About halfway through the book I had to go to the Wikipedia entry for the book to find out what was going on. This could have been a good book. Maybe this story would be a better fit for a movie or a different author. What went wrong. It had likable characters with interesting backgrounds and it was filled with new ideas and storylines. I don't think the author was able to fully express those things through the writing.
This is where they got all the ideas for the Matrix film, only this story a million times better (shocker, I'm sure). Did you know Gibson's short story Burning Chrome coined the term cyberspace.
I would read this book again, I LOVED it. Amazing how much Gibson's writing has impacted our culture.
Finally, and interesting story with intriguing characters. I know that Molly Millions starts out in Johnny Mnemonic.
I look forward to reading the sequel, Count Zero. I'd been settling for mediocrity for so long, I was beginning to wonder if I'd ever read a good book again.
To introduce yourself to Gibson's matrix, you might want to begin with some of the short stories in Burning Chrome (not that I did) to avoid confusion, because a lot of the terminology in here is (hopefully) introduced in those stories.
William Gibson's writing style is fantastic; there's some almost poetic passages in there ("The road in from the airport had been dead straight, like a neat incision, laying the city open.") along with a nice mix of dark humor and lots of personality.Definitely recommend a read. If you're in the mood for some science fiction, Neuromancer will most certainly fit the bill.This is a cyberpunk adventure that is a little complex to understand while reading it (I had to look at a story overview afterward to truly see everything that happened) but is certainly incredibly enjoyable.
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