Neuromancer (Though not the same cover I have)
ISBN-10: 0441569595
ISBN-13: 978-0441569595
Rating:
Sometimes you come across a story that exceeds your expectations, no matter how high or low they might be. Not because of their sheer awesomeness, but because of their depth. Because of how far the story is taken, how much it encompasses, how large it grows to be. For me, Neuromancer was such a story.
I am the type of reader who always tries to guess where the story will go next (and I have a fairly high success rate, but probably only because I modify my guess every time I find out something new). With Neuromancer . . . well, I could have never guessed where it was going to go, it's just goes so far beyond. And this is a good thing.
Neuromancer is part of the sub-genre to Science Fiction called Cyberpunk (yes, it's not just a style of fashion; in fact, I believe the fashion is based upon the literary genre--but I could be wrong). The book is actually the beginning of the genre; it was so far beyond what had come before it that a new label had to be created to describe it. Having read it, I can certainly understand why. Gibson redefines the Internet (introducing the term "cyberspace") and introduces the idea of exploring the capability and the possibilities that come with Artificial Intelligences.
Neuromancer is a one of those stories that takes place all over the world--Japan to the US to Turkey to Space colonies, as well as the vast expanse of what we call the Internet. Or perhaps even what Gibson envisioned the Internet evolving into. In this, it becomes a journey of epic proportions. And in this, I perhaps find one failing of the book that actually irks me. The main character, although he seems to evolve dynamically through the entirety of the book, ends up falling back into the same lifestyle he lived just prior to the beginning of the story. As if waiting for some cycle to reoccur (though I would hope that he is smart enough that it will not, but who knows? That, in some ways, is left up for the reader to guess at). There is no real demonstration to either side, that he has or has not learned some lesson through the fate that led him on the crazy journey that is Neuromancer. Though in another way, it seems a strange sort of closure; the character can be nothing more than what he is, and he has always seemed to be defined by his abilities to traverse cyberspace more than any force of personality--and perhaps that is the true failing here (and perhaps what another character is getting at when he implies that the main character is easily predictable).
The book is probably not for everyone. You have to be a substantial geek for computers (or just have a fascination, it isn't the terminology that will get you, it's just whether or not you find it interesting), to really keep up with the book. The concept of traveling the Internet with the mind is one I find interesting on several levels; the psychology of it, the neurology of it, the spirituality of it--all of which are touched on in one way or another through the course of the book.
Of course, you could be like me and have something as trivial as "street samurai" tip you over the edge. Though, that is definitely not what kept me reading. ;3
