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/lit/ - Literature

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6817309 No.6817309 [Reply] [Original]

I just finished this. Are all his other works this good or should I move on to other writers? And if so, which ones?

>> No.6817323

The sprawl trilogy is quite good but his other works are hit and miss.

>> No.6817329

>Idoru: dropped
>Peripheral: dropped
>Count Zero: on the verge of dropping

I've only enjoyed Neuromancer and Virtual Light, so far.

Virtual Light feels very much like Snow Crash.

>> No.6817332

>>6817323
I was thinking of moving straight onto the bridge trilogy instead, because the idea of works which follow the shanty town under the bridge ringed well with me.
Are they much worse?
>>6817329
What made you drop those three?

>> No.6817333

>>6817309
His short story collection - Burning Chrome - is almost as good. I've read Count Zero as well, and although it was okay, it was a big step down in quality. Splitting it into multiple viewpoints diffuses any tension.

Haven't read any of his later books yet. Book critics (non-SF ones) tend to like his later books better, which doesn't necessarily bode well for their quality as works of SF.

>> No.6817355

>>6817333
Burning Chrome was a must for me either way, I like to crunch through short stories.
Does Count Zero at least keep the same noir atmosphere Neuromancer had?

>> No.6817360

>>6817332
Idoru: Unlikeable characters and setting--boring, autistic fashionistas and uncultured hillbillies. Vapid pop culture is the impetus driving things. Didn't seem much like "Japan" to me. Pretension and silly theories motivate the plot.

The Peripheral: Nightmarish and dank. Bleak characters in a bleak setting buried under obfuscating pretension. Nothing worth caring about, all is lost and everything is shit.

Count Zero: Quite a bit like Idoru. Characters seem too dissociated and autistic. Can't get a firm handle on what's going on. The book seems poor at conveying the overlying thread of the plot.

Neuromancer and Virtual Light work because they're both action-packed heist books from the get-go, and that really balances out Gibson's tendency to drone about things no one really gives a shit about.

>> No.6817367

>>6817355
Yes, it retains the same atmosphere. I think if he'd restructured the story to focus on a single set of characters, it could have come close to the quality of Neuromancer. Books where various different threads come together at the end can work well, but I don't think it's Gibson's strong suit.

>> No.6817368

Gibson comes into a Starbucks near me once in a while and I don't want to nerd out on a nigga when he is just getting his coffee, but its hard not to.

>> No.6817377

>>6817329
virtual light is pretty funny but after reading it i feel like vomiting.

>> No.6817378
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6817378

>>6817368
>drinking Starbucks

>> No.6817392

>>6817309
Did you like the end? The heists were great but when they got to the space station it became too weird for me.

>> No.6817403

>>6817368
>gibson drinks starfucks

makes sense. He glorifies independent none-corporate stuff in his books, but when it comes down to real life he is a corporate cuck with no taste.

typical

>> No.6817404

>>6817367
I'm slightly ashamed to say it, because it was a pornographic book more than a science fiction one, but I liked how this one book did it...
I read it at least 10 years ago and can't remember the name at all. Something about light, and it was from the pov of 3 different characters.
One, a genetically modified pilot of a super advanced warship gone rogue, another the inventor of the whole FTL and physical system they used who, incidentally, was also Bateman tier crazy, and a last one being the fuzziest, this guy who wanted to run from the shitty planet he was confined to.
It was filled with tasteless pornography but the other parts impressed 12yo me.
>>6817368
"Do you come to this Beautiful Girl often?"
On second thought he might think you are a sexual predator.
>>6817392
I had embraced it as the second part of a cyberpunk world. The rich part. Most everyday cyberpunk I've seen focuses on the poor shanty towns or doesn't stray much from the deus ex formula, but the idea of space stations had me fully on board. Zion, too, was something I got into with a bit of suspension of disbelief. If the founders had to spend so much time building that their hearts grew weak due to microgravity while working on their haven, and if they were poor workers, what were they even eating in the meanwhile? Space logistic isn't exactly cheap.

>> No.6817407

>>6817378
I don't. I know the manager there and pick her up from work once in a while.

>> No.6817429

What was count zero even about? I read it but I cant remember anything

>> No.6817434
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6817434

>>6817360
I didn't get Idoru either until I read this review:

http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2435206?book_show_action=true&from_review_page=1

would rate 3.5/5

>> No.6817562

>>6817429
still about Wintermute trying to escape. using little Bobby Newmark as a test subject.

forget Gibson, move on to Bruce Sterling already. "The Caryatids" is more like what the world will be like in fifty years' time.

>> No.6817571

>>6817562
I dont read sci fi just for the sake of seeing a predicting of the future

>> No.6817693

Neuromancer is his best work by far, at least from what I've read (I haven't read Peripheral, Difference Engine, or his short stories or essays).

The rest of the sprawl trilogy is fun, but as usual he's best when he's focusing on a single protagonist, and the other two books shift POVs a lot which I find irritating.

The Bridge trilogy is probably my least favorite. I still enjoyed it but they have a habit of kind of petering out towards the end. Come to think of it, this is a weak point of his throughout his works. The cyberpunk element is downplayed but still present. I do like the idea of the bridge itself, I like the Idoru, I like the cute little messenger girl who gets in over her head because I want to fuck a chick like that.

I surprisingly liked his Blue Ant trilogy more than I thought I would, considering it isn't cyberpunk at all but more speculative fiction. It has the same problems, the stakes don't seem high enough towards the end where things are resolved in a less than suitably climactic fashion, but they're fun reads about people getting in over their heads and globetrotting and some curious things going on and Gibson name-dropping fashion brands like it ain't no thing.

They're all fun, listen to the audiobooks while doing something else if you can't be bothered to read them, just know that he's never reached those Neuromancer heights again as far as I know.