My overall experience was very up and down. It was enjoyable and very gripping much of the time, but other times a chapter would leave me confused and a little tired. It’s a very dark book, full of crime, drugs, and violence. I’m not much into books like that normally; I tentatively enjoyed Neuromancer.
One of the most admirable parts of Neuromancer is that the style of Gibson is very interesting and enjoyable in it’s own merit. At times, his descriptions are unlike anything else. Completely new, yet very effective, and are undoubtedly his style. There are plenty of those moments, though there is the occasional page that’s just a blank wall. Prose that describes in great detail, yet is unable to create an image. The former is more numerous than the latter,at least.
Be warned that Gibson doesn’t know much about how computers work. The computers and technology in this book is pretty much magic made of conductors and semiconductors. It makes sense in it’s own way, but for someone who understands computers it’s a little jarring to hear Gibson misuse RAM, or his idea of how computer programs work. It was funny when, despite their society being advanced space-farers, Case had someone retrieve information by phreaking his phone line.
Neuromancer was good, a mixture of impressionable moments and sometimes a lull. It’s griminess is sometimes senseless and unpleasant, but sporadically and briefly, it burned bright. I am glad I read it and will probably reread it in the future.