William Gibson
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Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Authors, A-Z -> ( G ) -> Gibson, William
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 156
Average rating: 3.0 of 5
Don't waste your time 1 out of 5 stars.
0 of 2 people found this review helpful.
This book reads like a chore. The style is smug, the plot is plodding, and the abrupt chapters make it impossible to become truly immersed in it. There are a few redeeming qualities here, but don't waste your time sifting through this swamp to get to them. Read this book if you're stuck in an elevator, otherwise, move on.
Cyberpunk meets John le Carré, but not Tom Clancy. 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
Gibson, for me was always an automatic read. Still is. Since I have recently read 'easy' novels (like Twilight, on the request of my daughter), I was slowed and confused by the first couple of pages. I forgot what a constant wall of cultural references was like, and how it makes one think. Then it becomes fun, and interesting.
I am no longer impressed by gratuitous wacky descriptions, like "the sky was like the polished steel of an assassin's blade" - not the Gibson ever says that, but he more or less perfected the art. He has a whole new batch of that stuff for this novel. Some of it is fun, and some I just gloss over. I must admit that I am his ideal audience because I more or less 'got' all of his references, and cultural/technical references are the joie de vivre of this novel.
I liked the spy part: very smart, and I was only slightly disappointed when I guessed the ending 50 pages before the end. That didn't keep me from staying up two hours too late just to get to it. It closes nicely, I was never bored.
What I didn't like was the political aspect of it. I am perfectly capable of forming my own conspiracy theories about the Iraq war, which are not really incompatible with his, but I'm both intrigued and disgruntled to find that in a 'spy' novel.
Yes, I'll still buy, and read his next novel. He hasn't turned me off as bad as Neil Stephenson did with that boring 'Baroque Cycle' thing (blech), or David Brin with 'Infinity's Shore' (double blech). How do great authors get boring? I'm still a Gibson fan.
Editorial Review:
The New York Times bestseller from “one of the most astute and entertaining commentators on our astonishing, chaotic present.”( Washington Post Book World)
Hollis Henry is a journalist on investigative assignment for a magazine called Node, which doesn’t exist yet. Bobby Chombo is a producer working on cutting-edge art installations. In his day job, Bobby is a trouble-shooter for military navigation equipment. He refuses to sleep in the same place twice. He meets no one.
Hollis Henry has been told to find him.
