Neuromancer

Sprawl Trilogy, Book 1

By: William Gibson

Narrated by: Jason Flemyng

Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's Summary

Narrated by actor Jason Flemyng.

The book that defined the cyberpunk movement, inspiring everything from The Matrix to Cyberpunk 2077.

The sky above the port was the colour of television, tuned to a dead channel.

William Gibson revolutionised science fiction in his 1984 debut Neuromancer. The writer who gave us the matrix and coined the term 'cyberspace' produced a first novel that won the Hugo, Nebula and Philip K. Dick Awards, and lit the fuse on the cyberpunk movement.

More than three decades later, Gibson's text is as stylish as ever, his noir narrative still glitters like chrome in the shadows and his depictions of the rise and abuse of corporate power look more prescient every day. Part thriller, part warning, Neuromancer is a timeless classic of modern SF and one of the 20th century's most potent and compelling visions of the future.

©2016 William Gibson (P)2021 W F Howes

Unsuitable Audio

The audio may be unsuitable for commuters or people that can't listen to the book in complete silence.
The narrator tends to mumble a lot which is a great artistic choice and adds to the neon noir atmosphere of the book. The problem is that if you are listening to this book in any other setting than that of a quiet room you will miss most of it. If you commute on a train or in a car for example, this will be very hard to listen to.

I lost track of the story many times and I finally gave up at the 2 hour mark. Maybe I will pick up this title in the future (in print so that I can enjoy it in a quiet room).

Difficult book to get through but good atmosphere

The story: I loved the cyberpunk setting, the grimy atmosphere is brilliant but I frequently found myself confused and struggling to follow that's going on. There are tons of things happening and you're presented with dermadisks here and simstims there and the book does not hold your hand very much in terms of explaining the plot. I was almost tempted to give the story three stars but I'm upgrading it to a four because I guess being dumped into a sci-fi world and left to figure it out yourself is part of the experience. Also, I bet I would get more out of it if I were to do a re-listen sometime down the line.

The narration: The narrator did an ok job, however I would have liked more variety in between the different characters. Sometimes I lost track of which character was speaking which of course might be just me and my attention span's problem. I found the narrator a little boring and dull to listen to. Also, a few times throughout the book it sounds like certain words have been overdubbed. I have no clue why that's necessary but it was distracting the few times it happened.

Worth getting

I’ve always wanted to read this book but I didn’t know if I would enjoy it, but I’m happy to say that I did like it, and it’s worth getting

For all cyberpunk and Blade Runner fans

I really enjoyed listening to this book even though l rarely listen to fiction. After recently re-watching Blade Runner ( my absolute favorite film ), l decided to give fiction a chance and first listened to Phillip K. Dicks Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep ( essential for all Blade Runner fans and highly recommended ), followed by this fantastic book. I look forward to listening to this again. I will also be listening to the other two books in Gibson's Sprawl trilogy. The narration on this is perfect for the story. Nice work Jason Flemyng!

Of its time

Looked forward to this as a classic of the genre but I struggled to get into it and returned it after half way, having given it a fair crack.
It set a good, visceral atmosphere which put me in mind of classic neon city environments which you'd expect in a cyberpunk genre.
Unfortunately as it went on the word salad of tech words became distracting and slightly cringe-worthy. The dialogue was very much of an 80s action film.
Perhaps it's unfair of me to criticise what must have been revolutionary at the time and perhaps I've been spoiled by subsequent works by the likes of Neal Stephenson.
The narration was a bit "east end" for my liking. Not a bad job, though. Perhaps slightly fast, hence that sensation that the word salad of tech words was just washing over me.

Really good. But hard to follow

Loved the overall book. The tone and story.
But if you are going to listen to this. It can get a bit confusing towards the end.
So not something to have on as an easy listen in while doing something else.

Great narrator... Poor narrative

Every fibre of my being should love this book however, I cannot gel with the story at all just something about it my brain doesn't want to like, which is baffling because the genre is right up my street. Crazy.

Jason Flemyng is great as the narrator and hats off to him.

Not am easy boom to listen to, better to read

I struggled to follow the book by listening. I think this would be a better book if read

incrediable book 11/10

one of the best books I have ever listened too. i followed the whole story with book in hand. the plot, characters, setting and writing were amazing from start to finish. i look forwaed to reading the rest of the series ☺️

Probably one to read rather than listen to

I was really looking forward to this one. I loved the Peripheral and Agency, but just couldn't get into the Neuromancer. Other reviewers have mentioned the lack of distinction in the narration between different parts of the story making it hard to follow and i'd certainly agree. Probably easier to follow in print.

better late than never

stunning sci fi debut that still backs a punch 34 years later. my only regret is not engaging at the time as Gibson’s work has so evidently shaped some of the greatest writers of my life.

Truly incredible SF for 1984

Prepare to realise where huge parts of contemporary speculative fiction started. Absolutely vivid, intense stuff.

Need the rest of the sprawl set

Brilliant need the rest of the sprawl series but doesn’t look like there being uploaded in English so bought the books

less impactful now and confusing

Would benefit from a full cast style reading.
Flemyng does a passable job with the accents and stuff but a x he just gets the inflection and intonation emphasis on the right word wrong.
To be fair though, it's hard to criticise any characterisation he puts into it as the author offers scant info that helps understand or really sympathise for the characters.

The book itself is pretty cool the only thing that it really suffers from is a lack of coherence at times from the fact the action move so fast between scenes.
I understand it's actually necessary in some scenes but it's frustrating and distracting in others when you have had little time to digest and process new concepts, characters or environments. It would definitely benefit from a rereading of the actual book.