The peripheral

oyviaase@books.babb.no reviewed Peripheral by William Gibson

A drepressing future

4 stars

First of all I enjoyed the TV series more than the book. Both are a bit slow at the beginning, and to certain degrees follow different story lines, which is kinda expected. The world is kinda interesting, but the setting never gripped me as much as I hoped it would, and it is a depressing setting. All in all well worth a read. If you enjoyed the show you might be a bit disapointed by the book all depending on which part of the show you enjoyed the most.

reconbot reviewed The Peripheral by William Gibson

A lot of fun, no kidding it's a tv show now

4 stars

A wonderful world to visit, a classic Gibson story that leaves you gasping "that escalated quickly"

Thom reviewed The peripheral by William Gibson (unspecified)

Review of 'The peripheral' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

The first time I picked this up, I was struck by two things. It feels like Gibson, and, what the hell is going on? I set it down 100 pages in with no clarity, and ended up rereading it from the start a few months later. This second start resulted in the momentum to finish, but now I feel like I've read a 600 page book. At least it is a standalone novel... whoops, now there's a sequel.

Chapters alternate between two different points of view, and later you find out those alternate between two different universes. There are some fantastic scene descriptions, and cool tech makes appearances. "Cyberspace" doesn't show up in this future, but a pocket universe does, and the tech behind that is completely unexplained. Nanobots also show up, in the form of "assemblers", but always under control somehow. And the plot? A very drawn out murder …

The first time I picked this up, I was struck by two things. It feels like Gibson, and, what the hell is going on? I set it down 100 pages in with no clarity, and ended up rereading it from the start a few months later. This second start resulted in the momentum to finish, but now I feel like I've read a 600 page book. At least it is a standalone novel... whoops, now there's a sequel.

Chapters alternate between two different points of view, and later you find out those alternate between two different universes. There are some fantastic scene descriptions, and cool tech makes appearances. "Cyberspace" doesn't show up in this future, but a pocket universe does, and the tech behind that is completely unexplained. Nanobots also show up, in the form of "assemblers", but always under control somehow. And the plot? A very drawn out murder mystery (of sorts) and also a struggle for power between two factions. Neither is particularly satisfying. 2½ stars.

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