Neuromancer

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.