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“Still loving Gibson cyber punk. Concludes set of 3 that begins with virtual light.”
Butch F wrote this review Wednesday, September 2 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Gibson's books usually have some interesting ideas about the near future, but I thought he fell down a bit in this one. That might be because it's a bit dated after nine years. I had a bit of trouble following the plot as well, but that's not unusual for Gibson.”
Gary K wrote this review Sunday, July 5 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“ A very odd story. There are shifts of location that sort of take you by surprise and then there are the trips through a computer land. Eventually you understand that this is a future world. It is an odd jumble of events that create the interest.
joey b wrote this review Sunday, March 1 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
At first there is the odd character, Laney, who talks crazy and lives in a cardboard box near a commuter train station, yet is believed by Yamazaki, for some unknown reason, and you find yourself wanting to believe him also. Then there is Rydell, a loser in Los Angeles, who is marked by Laney as some one special. Lord only knows how Laney gets to know what he is talking about. He is a computer genius who was given drugs to enhance his ability and now he says he sees the future.
There are other characters introduced in subsequent chapters. You begin to wonder how they all will mesh in the end. Laney travels through a cyberspace as if it was a place anyone could go to. Rydell travels there some as well. I begin to wonder about what cyber trips would be like. Computers are just machines with code to work with. The output is more code. There is no 'place' a person could go to. I could see sitting there being all involved with the input and output, but seeing or acting like you are somewhere else, is beyond my comprehension. But for the sake of the story, I am willing to let the characters act and do as they will.
It is interesting that there is a self aware computer personality that becomes a bit of a star player in the story. Nothing is made of this situation, as if it was not really there, or was not understood for what it was.
There is also a fellow who follows the Tao. He is a killer extraordinaire. It is fascinating that the next book I read was “The Wandering Taoist.” The culture of the Chinese Taoist's is martial arts as well as healing and finding their place in the Universe. But killing is not all that far from what all Taoists do.
The ending is awfully surprising and basically happy.”
“Really, what can I say? Gibson always writes amazing books, and the Bridge Trilogy is my favorite. This is book 3 and it wraps the first two books up in a great intriguing storyline.”
euicho wrote this review Friday, December 5 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“I was reading this while in Curacao! I liked it but didn't love it. Gibson is an excellent stylist but sometimes his novels are a little hard to follow and anti-climactic when something finally happens. Not his best, but I really like his style!”
Jeff M wrote this review Wednesday, August 27 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“Reading other people's reviews, it seems that readers either hate this book or love it. Gibson invented cyberpunk, so liking cyberpunk is the first requirement to like this book. According to some other readers, this book is a sequel to Gibson's book "Idoru", which I don't think I've read.
Neal R wrote this review Wednesday, July 30 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Anyhow, I liked this book, even though I don't understand everything Gibson tells us about this very different new world. I would not like to live in this world, but it is fun to read about(for me).
There are two characters who are controlling events in some way that I don't really understand. One is the head of some very powerful company, and the other lives in a cardboard box in a Tokyo subway. Two other characters who are caught up in the action just try to react ot events and protect themselves as best they can.
A lot of the action takes place on the Oakland Bay bridge in San Francisco. At this point in the future, the bridge cannot be used for vehicular traffic. People who would otherwise be homeless have built a lot of rattle-trap dwellings, stores, bars, etc. on the bridge. The bridge occupants think of themselves as a separate community, and the police don't go there much. ”
“Vintage Gibson; the has worn off a bit. Still waiting for the earth shattering ending...”
David W wrote this review Sunday, July 6 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
