Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
All Tomorrow's Parties  By  cover art

All Tomorrow's Parties

By: William Gibson
Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $19.95

Buy for $19.95

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

Rydell is on his way back to near-future San Francisco. A stint as a security man in an all-night Los Angeles convenience store has convinced him his career is going nowhere, but his friend, Laney, phoning from Tokyo, says there's more interesting work for him in Northern California. And there is, although it will eventually involve his former girlfriend, a Taoist assassin, the secrets Laney has been hacking out of the depths of DatAmerica, the CEO of the PR firm that secretly runs the world, and the apocalyptic technological transformation of, well, everything.

William Gibson's new novel, set in the soon-to-be-fact world of Virtual Light and Idoru, completes a stunning, brilliantly imagined trilogy about the post-Net world.

©1999 William Gibson (P)2009 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about All Tomorrow's Parties

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    206
  • 4 Stars
    124
  • 3 Stars
    66
  • 2 Stars
    16
  • 1 Stars
    6
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    194
  • 4 Stars
    77
  • 3 Stars
    21
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    4
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    166
  • 4 Stars
    80
  • 3 Stars
    36
  • 2 Stars
    12
  • 1 Stars
    3

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Very different, kinda cool :)

Poetic thoughts and images, but not the bardic/literary kind ....more artistic somehow. This author DEFinitely has his own style. Very dense, very thick weavings. Great characters. Very very interesting. The story is not your normal, straightforward sort and also not "typical" sci/fi. Know this first. BIGtime. It took me a couple (afterwards) to GET IT and then I did. Soo cool. Not your normal read. I did a LOT of re-winding (so to speak) throughout. But, I DEFinitely enjoyed the ride :)

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Worth several listenings.

Very densely and artfully written. I listened to it multiple times, sometimes as a cure for insomnia. I would not recommend it for commutes as it is too low-key for that. I loved the conception of living on Golden Gate Bridge, but never would have hung in there, due to nebulous plotting, if it had not been for the relaxing and yet entertaining reading of Jonathan Davis. His reading of Rydell was particularly amusing.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Best production, great listening experience

Thank you for the great narration, Jonathan Davis. I can't image how you accomplished such a great listen; is very enjoyable.
I ended up enjoying this book the most of the trilogy. I've read "All Tomorrow's Parties" a couple of times, but listening to this version is much better.
William Gibson has a great talent for describing the past, present and future (all at the same time) with a great tongue in cheek style.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Technology will save us

Good character study, but I don't think the author's vision of hope is viable because the root cause problem (human culture) was not addressed.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

top notch narrative performance

This is more than just a reading, it seems more like a dramatization, with amazing vocal performance by Jonathan Davis. I'll be seeking out other books with his voice.
I had read the previous book(s) in the series, so I was familiar with the general milieu. If I hadn't, then the story would have been even harder to follow, but I just relaxed and enjoyed the atmosphere.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Decent Narrator, Confusing Story Line

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Not really worth the time spent. It took me three days to go through a process where individual descriptives or paragraphs turned out to be catchier than what was actually being described. Characters were basically cardboard and amoral. I could not see why it was necessary for the author to invent a new addictive drug, and he never made the case for why it was deadlier than cocaine.

What could William Gibson have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

The cyberspace characters could have been much more convincing. Especially the idoru. It might have made more sense if I had known *why* my sympathies were intended to move with or against any given character. More attention was paid to the scenery than to the characters, and the climax felt weak as a result.

What does Jonathan Davis bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Davis's vocal characterizations were quite strong, I just got the impression that he was working with a weak script.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

No, I would not go see this as a movie. I don't believe in decay for it's own sake, nor do I believe in the glorification of drugs or other vices.

Any additional comments?

Rated R for mature themes and violence.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Lucid prescience

Colin Laney working from inside the inside of the inside of a Tokyo subway station finds the red thread that leads to our future. Pulling it ever so gently he contrives to manipulate the manipulator and find a way away from "rich powerful corrupt men" seducing us into a culturally homogonized nightmare.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

DIFFICULT NOT TO FINISH ONCE BEGUN, 1ST RATE!

Loved it, not as dazzling as Neuromancer, but much more finely constructed. A tale of a perfectly believable American favela, intricate and independent.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

It lost me

I tried this book a while back and I found myself not paying attention. Since I now have a long commute, I tried again, rewinding any time my mind wandered. I don't mind character studies, but I have to like the characters. Some of the ideas in the novel were interesting, but none of them really likable. I found the ending lackluster and unfulfilling. Of course the my mind wandered at the ending, but I couldn't justify rewinding.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

The most satisfying third of the Bridge Trilogy

After the Sprawl trilogy, the “action” in Gibson’s work is more about patterns of behavior and the poetic nature of human interaction. (Post-sprawl books are more sophisticated, but sometimes I miss Molly.)

All Tomorrow’s Parties is the most traditionally structured of the Bridge Trilogy, and the poetics are punctuated by a hitman, chases, and a seriously cool chain gun. A good time!

Best read after the first two. Competently acted.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!