Ratings140
Average rating3.8
Winner of the Hugo, Nebula, and Philip K. Dick Awards, Neuromancer is a science fiction masterpiece—a classic that ranks as one of the twentieth century’s most potent visions of the future.
Case was the sharpest data-thief in the matrix—until he crossed the wrong people and they crippled his nervous system, banishing him from cyberspace. Now a mysterious new employer has recruited him for a last-chance run at an unthinkably powerful artificial intelligence. With a dead man riding shotgun and Molly, a mirror-eyed street-samurai, to watch his back, Case is ready for the adventure that upped the ante on an entire genre of fiction. Neuromancer was the first fully-realized glimpse of humankind’s digital future—a shocking vision that has challenged our assumptions about technology and ourselves, reinvented the way we speak and think, and forever altered the landscape of our imaginations.
Featured Series
3 primary books4 released booksSprawl is a 4-book series with 3 primary works first released in 1984 with contributions by William Gibson.
Series
3 primary booksSprawl Trilogy is a 3-book series with 3 primary works first released in 1984 with contributions by William Gibson.
Reviews with the most likes.
I DNFd this book. If you'd like to find out why, check out my review here. https://youtu.be/r2Y3d7YJBjU
There are classics that are impressive for being the first of their kind and still standing the test of time, and others that make you so happy for how far a genre has come. Neuromancer is the latter for me. Gibson here seems more invested in cramming in as many made-up techie-sounding words into a sentence rather than building anything interesting character or story-wise. I love cyberpunk because I love the interaction between man and machine, but while Gibson drops cybernetic terms left and right, there's no real cultural, biological, or personal significance to any of it.
The prose has no rhythm, no allure. The character interaction is so stilted its laughable - the main female character, Molly, is such an obvious 80s action girl fantasy, who of course immediately jumps on the dick of this depressed drug addict, Case. I couldn't really tell you much else about what anyone did because I could not focus on any of it between all the random tech lingo and uninteresting plot. Oh right, and all the white people hanging out in future Japan. eye roll
Cyberpunk, and sci-fi in general, has come a long way since Neuromancer. I think I'd rather keep going forward than look back.
What an amazing book! So ahead of its time that it still feels futuristic today, as well as prescient. Yes, it's dense and Gibson in no way holds your hand through the maze of lingo and concepts he invents, but you soon learn to glide over the parts you don't get and let the neon-lit tech-noir story wash over you. Thrilling, philosophical, and enigmatic, I'm really glad I read it. Wish I'd done so sooner, and will probably revisit it and other works by the author in the future. The actual plot is secondary to the characters and sometimes-throwaway ideas, and this is where it slightly falls short - it's just a complex heist story really. I wish that what Case and co. were up to had mattered more in the grand scheme of things. I want to see this team saving the world, or breaking it.
Featured Prompt
30 booksNew readers often struggle to find books that they connect with. It often takes exploring different genres and writing styles from a many points of views to understand your own tastes. If you've ma...
Featured Prompt
680 booksWhen you think back on every book you've ever read, what are some of your favorites? These can be from any time of your life – books that resonated with you as a kid, ones that shaped your personal...