Jacked In: A Look Inside Neuromancer’s Futuristic World

Considered to be the book that started the cyberpunk genre, Neuromancer by William Gibson is an incredible look at the future filled with “console cowboys,” cybernetics, cyberspies, artificial intelligence and where corporations own everything..sounds pretty familiar to something like Cyberpunk 2077 right? What’s more astonishing is that this book came out in 1984, long before people had their own personal computers or the interconnectivity of the internet. It’s easy to look back on the book now and pick out the incongruencies of what we know of the internet and computers nowadays, but back then, it must have been a fascinating look at the unknown. I’m not normally a sci-fi reader, but I wanted to try something that was outside of my wheelhouse. While I enjoy cyberpunk for the most part, I’ve actually never read a cyberpunk novel before.

The setting and the atmosphere that Gibson creates in Neuromancer is fascinating, but unfortunately I found myself struggling to care for any of the characters in the book. This is a book that you’ll need to be patient with, especially when you’re thrown into the deep end with hardcore sci-fi lingo. Case spends this book in a digital cyberworld called “the matrix” filled with AI-constructs, cyber ninjas, and hovercrafts and a lot of it is told without holding your hand. The plot was a bit convoluted for my tastes but it ended up being an entertaining story. I probably won’t continue the series, but I’m glad I gave it a try! 

What’s a genre you don’t normally read that you’re going to give a try this year?