Neuromancer

"Cyberspace. A consentual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation."

"The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel."

Neuromancer by William Gibson was a groundbreaking sci-fi novel, and was awarded the Hugo, the Nebula, and the Philip K. Dick awards in 1984. It effectively introduced "cyberpunk" as a sub genre of science fiction. Gibson coined the term "cyberspace" and envisioned the internet and virtual reality well before either existed.

The book follows Case, a former cyber cowboy, who jacks in and surfs cyberspace for his employers. But he went to far and now has been severed from the matrix. A mysterious power offers to fix him, in return for going along on one last, dangerous mission. Case is joined by Molly, and lovely yet deadly bodyguard, and the ex military man Armitage.

Neuromancer is a relatively short book clocking in at just over 250 pages in my trade edition. The influence this book has had on the genre is undeniable. Movies like the Matrix seem derived almost completely from this work. The world Gibson unfolds for us is remarkable. Like Verne before him he predicts where technology will go uncanily.

However, personally I found it rather hard to follow it points. The story never totally grabbed me. Conceptually I was hooked, but I just couldn't like it as much as I wanted to. I don't think this style is really my cup of tea.

8 out of 10