Neuromancer

It's a wonderful book and inspires my love for the cyberpunk genre.

It's not often that a book kick-starts an entire genre, but this one did; it isthe original (and quintessential) cyberpunk novel. I first read it a few yearsafter it came out, loved it, and just recently reread it. Usually, when youreread a book you loved from your youth, you find that it isn't nearly as goodas you remembered, but that was not the case here - if anything, it was betterthe second time. One of the main reasons for this is that Gibson is not just agreat science fiction writer - he's a great writer, period. His prose isflowing and lyrical, filled with beautiful turns of phrase which never soundaffected or pretentious. His world-building is so authentic you can almost feeland smell the environments the characters find themselves in. The charactersaren't the one-dimensional cardboard cutouts so often found in SF; they arereal, they have feelings, they love, they hate, they screw up constantly, theysometimes do amazing things, and you care about them. And the story isincredible!The main science-fiction element of the book is that in this world, people can"jack in" to computers, putting their consciousness directly inside of"cyberspace", a kind of artificial reality. (This was The Matrix before TheMatrix existed.) Cyberspace is mainly seen in the book as a way for "consolecowboys" to steal secrets from corporations for profit, though different kindsof cyberspace occur in the book, and form a major part of the plot.The plot owes more than a little to noir detective fiction; most of thecharacters are low-lifes trying to scam their way out of the hell-holes theylive in, or super-rich people who are begging to be taken advantage of. Thebook is also full of almost nonstop action from beginning to end, and theclimax is suitably spectacular. Gibson was heavily influenced by Alfred Besterand Samuel R. Delany (two of the greatest SF authors); if you've read them,you'll immediately see the connection. Despite that, he has a voice all hisown.Now that I've raved about the book, I'll give a few caveats. It's definitelynot for the squeamish. There is a lot of graphic violence, and an incredibleamount of drug use too. Most of the characters have very little in the way ofmoral scruples. The world is very dystopian; it's as if Gibson extrapolatedeverything that is wrong with society to its logical extreme, with onlytechnology as the one thing that is continually improving (far beyond ourability to deal with it). The book goes fairly heavy on the jargon it creates,so it's not a particularly easy read either.But really, none of this matters, because the writing is so good that you getswept along for the ride. Everyone who loves science fiction needs to read thisbook, and the two sequels (Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive) are also bothgreat. Gibson is a living legend of SF, and Neuromancer is a great introductionto his work.

About the physical properties of the product:In my opinon; a decent product. Text is not super small, paper is not too thin or fragile and it holds up well enough to through in the bag when traveling. Good overall quality.About the book: If the genre suits you, read it!

Après avoir fini Cyberpunk 2077, j'avais envie de m'immerger encore plus dans ce type d'univers. J'ai donc regarder en ligne quel était les meilleurs livres dans le style "Cyberpunk" et Neuromancer par William Gibson était toujours présent dans le top des classements, j'ai donc fini par l'acheter. L'auteur a un style impeccable pour décrire l'ambiance du monde dans lequel l'histoire se déroule, on a vraiment l'impression d'être dans la tête du personnage, tellement il y a de détails dans chaque scène. Que cela soit la couleur des murs, l'odeur des lieux, les bars avec des noms japonais et français, les sons de la rue, les relations entres les personnages, la criminalité, etc. Le plus gros problème que j'ai avec Neuromancer, c'est la façon dont les dialogues sont écrits. Je ne sais pas trop comment le décrire, mais l'auteur a un style bien à lui, qui passe ou casse avec le lecteur en question. Résultat, même arriver vers la fin du livre, j'avais l'impression de comprendre seulement un quart de l'histoire, j'ai donc regarder le résume de l'histoire en ligne pour comprendre ce qui se passer et pourquoi telles personnages faisait telle actions et pour quelles raisons. C'est un phénomène très étrange, parce que j'ai lu plus d'une centaine de livres en anglais et c'est la première fois que j'ai eu autant de difficultés pour comprendre le récit. Je pense que Neuromancer, fait partie de ces livres qui doivent être lu plusieurs fois pour vraiment faire attention à tous les petits détails présents dans les pages.

Thanks for fast shipping and great packing. I'm going to buy other books soon.