Author: William Gibson
Average Rating:
Last Reviewed On: March 4, 2004 (by Scott)
Scott's Review:
on March 4, 2004A science fiction set in the here and now. There's really not much that makes this book qualify as a science-fiction book, it's more a fiction book that sets itself in today's science, though I'm sure if you're not engulfed in today's Internet culture, it might seem like it's set in the not too distance future. We follow a character through a somewhat bland story. Her saving grace is sensitivity towards logos and patterns in general. She can tell if a new logo will be a hit with the public, and she tends to see the world through marketing. It's an interesting quirk that plays itself out in somewhat unexpected ways.
This coupled with Gibson's writing style makes for a fascinating read. The plot has our heroine traveling around the world; seemingly for no other reason than for Gibson to point out the "mirror-world" features of other countries. Once you get bored with that though, the plot kicks in. A series of movie scenes are hitting the internet, published by some anonymous source for unknown reasons. We follow the adventure of trying to figure out who's behind it all, and why. The end results are rather disappointing, the entire mystery is pretty much all wrapped up in one monologue from a character who literally steps out of the sky to save our heroine.
Science fiction books tend to take one element, twist it, and write a story around it. This book is no different, though I think it really lacks somehow. It never really caused me to think about something, or search my soul. The little tidbits about how England and Russia do things differently are the most interesting bits of the book to me, which is sad. The morsels of decoration around the book shouldn't be more interesting than the plot.
-- Scott and Michelle