It took me a while to pick this one up. I was slightly put off because of the comparison with Gibson's Neuromancer, book that I love but one that at times is so impenetrable due to lingo and weird psychedelic visuals 9I enjoy sometimes to let myself to the story flow but hey, most of the time I like knowing where I am).

I am glad I picked this one up because in form this book is nothing like Gibson's work and for me that is good thing. If you want me to compare it to some of the other authors in the field I think that Richard K Morgan is the first author that comes to mind. I am sure that Cowboy and Sarah would be quite an Envoy team.

First lets see what this book has in common with Gibsons Neuromancer when we look at two main elements that Gibson is known for:
- hardly pronounceable made up words and terms - no
- frantic, almost Jodorowski-like psychedelic scenes that make you scratch your head and force you to re-read chapters to figure out what happened- no

Walter Jon Williams prose is much more clearer and on the spot and because of it it is much more enjoyable to me.

While Gibson's books sometime read like a fast forward movie with occasional glitch so that viewer can figure out what a heck is going on (imagine Unreal tournament match at high speed), Williams paints the picture much clearer, more real. It is still fast action movie but one I can follow and actually see with my inner eye. While with Molly and Henry I only managed to follow the story without figuring out what is that actually drives them, Cowboy and Sarah are much more fleshed out characters, I can follow their flow of thought and their motivations.

Book is straight forward action fest - from the first Cowboy's smuggle run to Sarah and her wet-work, various mercenaries, spies and hit-men to grand finale, all out conflict (air battles are pure joy to read) and something very, very satisfying at the end :) In my opinion book is cross between Neuromancer (when it comes to descriptions of neural interfaces and the "flow" hardwired people activate when things get funny), Tom Clancy's No Remorse, A.J.Quinnell's Tom Creasy (Cowboy is one hell of a merc, when he is on a quest you do not want to be in his way) and Burnell's Rythm Section (Sarah's love-hate feelings towards the Orbitals, making the difficult decisions and always ending as played out party but picking up and pushing on).

Book has it all: corporations, mercs, high-end technology, AI, rich in heaven, poor in dirt. You name it it's there.

Unfortunately as most dystopian books this one was also prophetic in the portrayal of the society, way drugs and industrial corporations (pharmaceuticals especially - I like mention of Pfizer in the book - it seems this industry giant was as controversial in 1980's as it is now - as a matter of fact it seems that entire society in 1980s was more wary of big industry (Big Pharma, Toshiba, Hughes etc) unlike today, unfortunately) control the world below, keep people in fantasy world of freedom while they control all the channels and means of distributing the goods (legal and illegal).

This disconnect between two societies is shown through the manager of one of the Orbitals (corporations) - Roon. I cannot but shiver every time I read parts with this guy in. Reason? I cannot but see parallels between all the elite in our world (of any political persuasion) that feels this need to enlighten the majority of populace (read rest of us) while themselves live in completely other universe from that very populace (remember that Marie Anotionette's famous "Let them eat cake [instead of bread]" - well they all suffer from the same syndrome).

Again while the world in this book is interesting and full of intrigue it is world we must not thrive for, because that world means humanity went upside down completely. Seriously!

Highly recommended book to anyone who wants to read about dystopian future and at the same time read about greater than life characters engaged in lots and lots of action :) ( )

It took me a while to get into this book but once I got halfway through the book, I was hooked. Unfortunately, there a few unrealistic ideas that prevent me from fully immersing myself into the story. And here's the obligatory spoiler warning, read on at your own risk:

1 - I can't accept that the panzers, a sophisticated form of tank/hovercraft hybrid, are able to cross the USA from coast to coast in what seems to be about 2 days. Having read it while on a road trip, I can't see how these vehicles can go across obstacles such as forests, mountains and buildings at such a fast speed.

2 - On the last page, we learn that Reno overwrites Roon's consciousness. To me it would seem unbearable for the emotionally weakest and vulnerable character to take over the consciousness of the most horrible character especially considering that he's a unapologetic pedophile!

3- I don't understand why there's a division between east and west coast. It seems to be just an elaborate way of manipulating supply and demand but simply selling to everyone seems like the easiest solution. I do believe that in the end, this is the final outcome and makes the world a better place.

Other than that, I loved both of the main characters and how their relationship grew through time. The main plot was fairly solid. The body enhancement concepts were interesting. The control of IT was well done considering the age of the book. Mostly because the author thankfully didn't try to either over explain it or try to pass it along as some kind of metaphor.

I liked this book way more than Necromancer because I understood what was going on! It didn't feel like a dark and gritty cyberpunk novel. Somehow, I always imagined beautiful the characters action taking place on nice sunny days. I even had to read the definition of Cyberpunk just to be sure. But it did portray a brutal and dangerous world that I enjoyed learning about.

I'm definitely going to read this one again later on and add its two sequels on my list. A solid recommendation on my part. ( )

Arguably a seminal work in cyberpunk fiction after the work of William Gibson and Bruce Sterling. This is a speculative, almost dystopian world with orbital corporations, controlling the Earth from a distance. Featured within our weapons of mass destruction, conspiracies, smugglers, and people just trying to get by. there’s quite a lot of violence involved and some of the cybernetics seems somewhat primitive even by today’s standards. It’s amazing to think that water John Williams wrote this in the 1980s. It was worth a re-read ( )

This is one of those books with lots of jargon that isn’t explained in advance, and so you wander through a world with nomenclature and terminoloy that means nothing to you until, in the case of the term “thatch” for example, you get over 60% of the way into the story before someone explains what the word means. I would suggest that it’s definitely well worth reading the bit at the back named “Panzerboy” before you begin as that helps a little settling in.

Other than the nomenclature/terminology issue, which i suggest you just deal with it and accept it for what it is, it’s a super good story that became a very much couldn’t-put-downer towards the end — which is kinda once i’ve figured out all the nomenclature/terminology — and i found myself diving straight into Solip:System without a pause.

It’s certainly got me wanting to re-read the series again in a few years time now i know what things mean before i begin.

So yes, indeedy, it’s certainly rather good cyberpunk and worthy of it’s praises as a classic of the genre. ( )

Skiffy cyberpunk goodness from 1986. One of the earlier works in the genre and it's a good one. How this story has not yet been turned into a movie is puzzling. The characters, narrative, action, and dialogue are all very cinematic. I will definitely be reading the sequel, Voice of the Whirlwind in the near-future. ( )