Idoru

By: William Gibson

Narrated by: John McLain

Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

21st century Tokyo, after the millennial quake. Neon rain. Light everywhere blowing under any door you might try to close. Where the New Buildings, the largest in the world, erect themselves unaided, their slow rippling movements like the contractions of a sea-creature...

Colin Laney is here looking for work. He is an intuitive fisher for patterns of information, the "signature" an individual creates simply by going about the business of living. But Laney knows how to sift for the dangerous bits. Which makes him useful - to certain people.

Chia McKenzie is here on a rescue mission. She's 14. Her idol is the singer Rez, of the band Lo,Rez. When the Seattle chapter of the Lo,Rez fan club decided that he might be in trouble in Tokyo, they sent Chia to check it out.

Rei Toei is the idoru - the beautiful, entirely virtual media star adored by all Japan. Rez has declared that he will marry her. This is the rumor that has brought Chia to Tokyo. True or not, the idoru and the powerful interests surrounding her are enough to put all their lives in danger...

©1996 William Gibson (P)2018 Tantor

Another unique and interesting story from Gibson

I love watching his stories unfold. Very non-linear. Lots of great characters and interesting details in this one.

I don't get all the hatred for this narrator

Yes, his pace takes a little bit to get used to but honestly, some of these review bombs on him are just over the top hysteria. He isn't Jonathan Davis - who narrates All Tomorrow's Parties, the next book in the series. But he's good. Get the book, sit back, and listen.

Still holds up today

William Gibson has a way of staying current even with his older works and Idoru is no exception. Wonderfully relevant and fun to listen to on my long drives. Reminds me of when I originally read this book and wondered at a future that seems like it’s happening now.

Another weirdly prescient outing from William Gibson

Big data, Meta-celebrity, and deepfake technology - Gibson was speculating on these and their implications in 1996. I kind of wish I had read this before I willingly gave big tech all my info 20 years ago!

Gibson is one of the more perceptive writers out there about how the world works - he’s really good at pointing out an oddball feature of society that influences you more than you might think. In the Bridge Trilogy how the world works is the point.

While the Sprawl trilogy had heists, shootouts, and chases, the Bridge Trilogy so far feels like far lower stakes. I suppose the artistic reason for that is to center you in an individual character’s world, and in some sense knowing all there is to know about someone renders weapons obsolete anyway. If you are looking for lots of action, best look elsewhere. If you want to ponder what pervasive information tech does to people, check this one out!

Narrator not a good fit

I started to listen to it. I don’t think I’ll be able to finish it. I read the book many years ago but due to eye problems, it is hard for me to read these days. The narrator just doesn’t cut it. I’m disappointed that I work on be able to enjoy the story again because I love William Gibson.

Unusual but interesting near future story.

I love Gibson but this one dragged and the Narrator was hard to listen to

Good sci-fi about what's now called the Metaverse

I liked this book which I read in Nov 2021, because it's an early vision of what Zuck calls "the Metaverse." It's about a Seattle fangirl who flys to Japan to chase down a male recording artist who apparently has decided to marry a female non-player-character. She gets mixed up in a nasty situation with people connected with Russian gangsters, etc. Not bad, with reading again

Prescient

Gibson never disappoints. The themes he introduced here in 1996 are critically important in todays social, cultural, political and of course media world.

Good post-cyberpunk Gibson...with problems

Through the Bridge Trilogy and on into the Blue Ant trilogy, Gibson moved into his post-cyberpunk work that's near-future-to-basically-present and relates more directly to the current world.
Idoru is the 2nd in the Bridge Trilogy

As the second work, I think it suffers from some pacing problems that a second work in a trilogy can have (though his stuff tends to read as stand-alone stories pretty well) - so nothing unusual in that middle child problem - and as long as you are invested in the trilogy, any hiccups wash out in the mix

PROBLEM : audible doesn't seem to carry "virtual light" (the Frank Muller performance is classic Muller with all the quality you'd expect...excellent and easy on the ears. I believe there is a Peter Weller read version as well, but I haven't heard it). That really breaks up the series

I think the MAJOR problem with the trilogy is performance
1) This particular performance is...I'm sorry to say it - just not very good
2) The companion pieces aren't done by the same readers so, as a trilogy, you don't get the "the voice of the trilogy" that keeps things cohesive


I'd hope, esp as it's an older series, audible could maybe work out a deal to rerecord as it is a major work for Gibson

Wow!

I loved this book. The author made the detail rich descriptions of the environments a very tangible thing. The story made me want to sit all the way through to the end. I had difficulties putting my phone down during the course of my day.

The reader did a great job. The reader carried me into the environment like a tour guide who had seen it all. you hear the main characters distress carried by the reader.

This is one great Cyberpunk novel. I really enjoyed this story.