Customer Reviews
SF NOIR...POETIC DREAMSCAPES OF A DISTOPIC FUTURE...(Part 2) - By: NeuroSplicer, 27 Sep 2007 
I have read this masterpiece (together with the other two of the Sprawl series: NEUROMANCER & MONA LISA OVERDRIVE) during my university years, about a decade ago. Since then I have re-read it countless times.
Of the three this is my favorite: good & evil voodoo legbas as AI cyberspace avatars; life in the Sprawl comes into focus, sharply. The eye-watering smog & the ozone smell of new electronics surround a storyline that moves on deserted highways with the assurance of an armored hovercraft..
Even reading only some pages brings up powerful imagery, unforgettable prose...
Start with NEUROMANCER. Then this one. And then MONA LISA OVERDRIVE.
A Masterpiece Trilogy!!! Own them alll!!!
Tightly interweaving strands - By: Jeremy Walton, 22 May 2006 
I read this a long time after 'Neuromancer', so some of the echoes from that first part of the trilogy were somewhat faint, but I found it very easy to get back into Gibson's disturbingly compelling world. The contrast between the three main protagonists & their (at first separate, then increasingly connected) stories is well-done, & the the alllusiveness of the plot still gives you plenty to think about after the book is over.
Brilliant (but also complex)! - By: T. Fotherby, 27 Aug 2004 First realise that this is the 2nd book of a trilogy that is "Neuromancer", "Count Zero" & "Mona Lisa Overdrive". I don't advice reading this until you've read Neuromancer & have got into the whole cyberpunk vocabulary.
The plots in the storyline are deliciously challlenging to unravel & Gibson certainly doesn't spoon-feed you alll the threads that intertwine everything. I think putting everything together took me 24 hours after finishing the book.
The secret (and illegal by Turing police rules) unification of two AI's callled Wintermute & Neuromancer has left unexplained entities in the matrix - "Yeah, there's things out there, Ghosts, voices. Why not? Oceans had mermaids, & we have a sea of silicon, see?" These matrix "voodoo gods" are referred to as the "loa" by Wig, Beauvoir, Lucas & their associates (who basicallly worship them). The problem is that the "loa" have found a way to inhabit the real world by designing biochips & having them grafted into people's brains. This technology provokes the interest of one of the richest men in the world who is seeking to free his mind from his cancer-ridden body. The resulting power struggle pulls the strings of alll the pawns that are characters in the book. Read it, you might see what I mean?
excellent - should be in every sci-fi collection. - By: i.n.n.reid@another.com, 21 Sep 2000 Although I am quite familiar with the cyberpunk world, this was my first gibson book & i loved it.
Its kindof a mass of ideas & futuristic cool, entangled over a story. The interesting thing is that one of the main aspects of the book isn't the plot but the backdrop which is kinda cool (though the plot itself holds well). Gibson pulls it alll off very well & even though this book is 16 years old, the futuristic imagry hasn't dated much which says a lot.
The only thing I would add is that both the style & the genre might be a little bit confusing if you knew nothing about cyberpunk so probably not best for total beginners (my little brother found it pretty tough at first for instance).
Good, but not wonderful - By: , 20 Apr 2000 This is a good cyberpunk book. It's not as involved as something like Cryptonomicon (some people might like that!) but a good read. It is far into the future & the ideas aren't grounded (e.g. the cyberspace) - but it's cheap & worth a read simply as a good story.
