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This book is one of the most entertaining and well written books I have ever read. Gibson uses imagery that blows me away in it's creativity and power. It's a very detail oriented book, so weak readers will not like it.
Since he has no intellectual curiosity (other than the information that he steals) we only get perfunctory explanations of why anything happens, and often Molly or Wintermute need to explain things to him for the sake of the reader. The story is mostly told from his point of view and reflects his near-dead personality.The beauty of nature in Japan, theme of countless poets, is invisible to Case, as shown in the famous opening line comparing the night sky to "the color of television tuned to a dead channel".
The ostensible story is the attempt of an advanced computer system, Wintermute, to free and improve itself, but the real theme is the dehumanizing effect of technology, as shown as Wintermute's human servants. A rare science fiction book in which plot, style, and characterization work together.
But the real showpiece is the third servant, Case. One is an amnesiac who has literally been reprogrammed by a computer, a complete role reversal.
Molly has gotten herself "enhanced" with the claws and eyes of a cat: human turning into animal. Case lives in the present moment with little interest in the future or the past; ergo the narration is full of events popping out of nowhere and startling both Case and the reader.
It's not clumsiness on Gibson's part; it's a triumphant attempt to render a dehumanized personality, a true Case study.
There was a lack of description when there was high action and sometimes no transition between scenes. It had likable characters with interesting backgrounds and it was filled with new ideas and storylines. This could have been a good book. I often found myself asking, "What just happened." About halfway through the book I had to go to the Wikipedia entry for the book to find out what was going on. What went wrong. I don't think the author was able to fully express those things through the writing. I think that shows an issue in how the book was written if the audience cannot understand what is happening. Maybe this story would be a better fit for a movie or a different author.
I would read this book again, I LOVED it. Did you know Gibson's short story Burning Chrome coined the term cyberspace.
I'd been settling for mediocrity for so long, I was beginning to wonder if I'd ever read a good book again. Finally, and interesting story with intriguing characters.
I know that Molly Millions starts out in Johnny Mnemonic. This is where they got all the ideas for the Matrix film, only this story a million times better (shocker, I'm sure).
To introduce yourself to Gibson's matrix, you might want to begin with some of the short stories in Burning Chrome (not that I did) to avoid confusion, because a lot of the terminology in here is (hopefully) introduced in those stories. Amazing how much Gibson's writing has impacted our culture.
I look forward to reading the sequel, Count Zero.
If you're in the mood for some science fiction, Neuromancer will most certainly fit the bill.This is a cyberpunk adventure that is a little complex to understand while reading it (I had to look at a story overview afterward to truly see everything that happened) but is certainly incredibly enjoyable. William Gibson's writing style is fantastic; there's some almost poetic passages in there ("The road in from the airport had been dead straight, like a neat incision, laying the city open.") along with a nice mix of dark humor and lots of personality.Definitely recommend a read.
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