Nunez, Julian

October 29, 2016

English, Period 4

Book Review #1

 

Neuromancer

William Gibson

Science Fiction

263 Pages

Hugo, Nebula, and Philip K. Dick Awards

 

   The book, Neuromancer, is about a man named Case who was the best data thief until he made the mistake of that he promised never to make, stealing from an employer. Instead of killing Case, the ex-employer made sure he was never able to hack again. Case spends a while unemployed, until a man named Armitage hires him and gives him another chance at hacking. He is paired with street samurai named Molly Millions. Problem is, Molly doesn’t trust Armitage. Their first job is to steal a ROM (read only memory) construct with the memories of Dixie Flatline, who was once Case’s mentor. With Dixie’s memories and skills, he hacks into a database in London with Armitage’s past. It turns out Armitage is actually Colonel Willis Corto, who was the sole survivor of a failed military program named Screaming Fist. Corto was so traumatized from the experience; he lost all sanity, so the government made him a new personality, which was Armitage. Case isn’t able to use the information because his team is already going to Istanbul to pick up another member, a man named Rivera. At Istanbul, Case meets an advanced artificial intelligence named Wintermute. Wintermute is the one who is controlling Armitage and is in charge of the whole mission. Things begin to go south when Armitage’s breaks down and Corto is released and tries to sabotage the mission. Also, Rivera ends up betraying the group. When Case tries to save Corto, Wintermute throws him out of an air locker. Molly ends up getting captured by Rivera, so when Case goes to save her he finds another artificial intelligence named Neuromancer. Neuromancer is Wintermute’s other half, and Case finds out the mission is to bring them together.

    One of the main reasons why I liked this book was how deeply thought out it was. There was so much detail it was hard to believe that a human was writing it. I also liked how different it was from other books; most Sci-Fi books are about space and futuristic settings. You typically don’t see stories about hacking and artificial intelligence. But sometimes, the book was too advanced for me. There would be times where I would get confused and I would have to back track to understand it. And sometimes, the book wasn’t very clear on what was happening, that’s why I would back track so much. The ending of the book was decent, not great, but not bad either. It was the ending that was expected, there was no twist or anything special. I would recommend this book to people if they really enjoy reading; the book is pretty complicated and long. There is also some bad language throughout the book and some violence, but it is not over the top. This is one of those books that I feel like would make a better movie rather than a book.