Matrix – DaneCobain.com

Title: Neuromancer

Author: William Gibson

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 320

Rating: 3*/5

William Gibson – Neuromancer

I was given this book by a friend who wanted me to read it, and so I had high hopes to begin with – they’ve read a few books that I’ve written, and they have a good idea of my taste in literature. So I was a little disappointed when I got into it.

The main problem here is that the futuristic dystopia that Gibson depicts is so alien to our own that it’s often hard to understand what he’s talking about. I was able to understand what was happening in the overall plot, but the little intricacies were lost on me and I kept finding myself either drifting off or getting confused when a plot twist happened. I kept not realising it was a twist because I didn’t know what was happening to begin with.

The story follows a character called Case, who’s injected with tiny sacks of mycotoxin that bond to his artery walls and threaten to eventually disintegrate, killing him. The only way for him to avoid death is to take on a mission for a man who says he has the antidote. Case’s skills lie in weird sci-fi obscurity, involving the ability to connect to a weird Matrix thing and see events through other people’s eyes.

William GIbson

I usually like science fiction, but this was such hardboiled sci-fi that I’d say it’s only for die-hard fans of the genre. That’d be why it won Hugo and Nebula Awards. At some points, it reminded me of William Burroughs, which can be equally difficult to read. But this wasn’t William Burroughs and for me, it just wasn’t much fun to read, and I was glad when I finally finished it.

Overall, then, this is the book for you if you’re into classic sci-fi. If you’re not, don’t bother. It’s pretty much that simple.

William GIbson Quote

Click here to buy Neuromancer.

Stephen King – Cell | Review

Title: Cell

Author: Stephen King

Type: Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 420

Rating: 5*/5

Stephen King – Cell

There’s an interesting concept behind this story, but then there always is with Stephen King and, as a reader, you come to expect it. Sometimes he fails to live up to the hype, but with this book he proves that he really is the master of contemporary storytelling. Part of this comes back down to the premise – King takes the prevalence of a modern day object, the cell phone, and uses it as a narrative device to create a post-apocalyptic world where anything could happen.

Loosely speaking, then, this book follows the story of young artist Clayton Riddell – a.k.a. Clay – as he finds himself in a world that’s falling apart. After an event called ‘The Pulse‘, which he witnesses up close and personal in the middle of Boston, every time someone tries to use a phone, they lose their minds. It’s a bit like a cross between rage zombies and a glitch in the matrix, which turns people into homicidal maniacs, at least to begin with. But to say any more than that would be to give away the story line.

One of the good things, though, is that this book hooks you in right from the get-go. I’d say that it has arguably the fastest pace of any Stephen King novel, which is one of the reasons I enjoyed it so much – when I first started reading King, I thought his work was too long-winded, but he’s got better and better as time goes on at packing a lot of detail in while keeping the action (and the story) going.

Stephen King Quote

I also like the fact that this is *sort of* a zombie novel, although not really. I wasn’t sure what I expected when I picked it up, but it constantly surprised me along the way, setting my expectations higher and higher and higher. I even liked the ending, although it probably isn’t for everyone – it left a question unanswered, allowing the reader to draw their own conclusions. And while the characters weren’t as fleshed out as some of his others, they didn’t need to be – they still felt real, and there was no need for a complicated backstory to explain their actions. It’s the fricken end of the world, for God’s sake – no one cares who they were before the shit hit the fan.

Overall then, a great, fun read, and a good place to start if you’re new to King’s work.