VoidPhil

Larry Niven's 1970 science fiction novel Ringworld is a mixed bag. On the one hand, Niven manages to spin a good story out of a fairly simple premise. The story's pacing and narrative structure are good, and its scientific grounding is excellent. On the other hand, it suffers from overt sexism and an utter lack of believable or enjoyable female characters. Ringworld is one of the classics of hard science fiction, and rightly so.

William Gibson's novel Count Zero, the sequel to Neuromancer and the second book in the Sprawl trilogy, is a thrilling and action-packed work of science fiction. While the action is still very much there, the novel doesn't feel as polished as Neuromancer and seems to have lost a little of that je ne sais quoi that Neuromancer had. The subject matter and plot are still great, but the prose doesn't have quite the same weathered, smooth feel that Gibson so carefully cultivated in his first novel.

Burning Chrome is an anthology of William Gibson’s short stories. Overall I enjoyed the collection. All of the stories were good, but there were 2 or 3 standouts that seemed exceptional. Johnny Mnemonic is the first and probably most famous of the stories in the collection. The story is a precursor to Neuromancer and the other Sprawl trilogy books. I enjoyed the story, although having read Neuromancer beforehand made is somewhat less interesting.

William Gibson's Neuromancer is a landmark work of science fiction, one of the formative works of cyberpunk literature. Neuromancer foreshadows many of the current societal and economic issues surrounding capitalism and technology, and presents a compelling and disturbing vision of the future. As a big fan of science fiction, I wish I had read this book (and other Gibson works) far earlier. The most easily noticeable thing about Gibson's work is his writing style.