Count Zero
Feb. 13th, 2004 03:33 amWilliam Gibson, Count Zero
The second book in Gibson's Sprawl cycle. It's not really a sequel to Neuromancer, and that really impresses me for some reason. It's set in the same universe, about seven or eight years later, but you don't have to have read Neuro to understand Count. Well, okay, you'll be really confused as to who the Tessier-Ashpools are, and where the loa came from, but other than that.
Count takes three stories (Turner the corporate commando, Bobby / "Count Zero Interrupt" the young netrunner punk, Marly the art gallery curator) that seem utterly unrelated, and switches between stories each chapter. Gradually they start coming together; gradually the events in Neuro get roped in as well. It's not so much a sequel as it is a logical extrapolation of the end of Neuro. Maybe that's what impresses me; it doesn't build on the plot or characters of the earlier work (though the Finn makes an appearance) so much as on the events.
I'm pretty sure Count Zero is a better book than Neuromancer. Gibson aims higher; he gives us more than the two sympathetic characters. Plus Count had two genuine "oh-my-god" moments (both dealing with Turner and the mole), whereas Neuro only had the one (the end of Armitage). Plus vodoun makes more sense to me than Rastafarianism. If Mona Lisa Overdrive continues along the path of linear improvement . . . the mind boggles. I may even have to reread Virtual Light.
The second book in Gibson's Sprawl cycle. It's not really a sequel to Neuromancer, and that really impresses me for some reason. It's set in the same universe, about seven or eight years later, but you don't have to have read Neuro to understand Count. Well, okay, you'll be really confused as to who the Tessier-Ashpools are, and where the loa came from, but other than that.
Count takes three stories (Turner the corporate commando, Bobby / "Count Zero Interrupt" the young netrunner punk, Marly the art gallery curator) that seem utterly unrelated, and switches between stories each chapter. Gradually they start coming together; gradually the events in Neuro get roped in as well. It's not so much a sequel as it is a logical extrapolation of the end of Neuro. Maybe that's what impresses me; it doesn't build on the plot or characters of the earlier work (though the Finn makes an appearance) so much as on the events.
I'm pretty sure Count Zero is a better book than Neuromancer. Gibson aims higher; he gives us more than the two sympathetic characters. Plus Count had two genuine "oh-my-god" moments (both dealing with Turner and the mole), whereas Neuro only had the one (the end of Armitage). Plus vodoun makes more sense to me than Rastafarianism. If Mona Lisa Overdrive continues along the path of linear improvement . . . the mind boggles. I may even have to reread Virtual Light.