The Peripheral
By William Gibson
- Release Date: 2014-10-28
- Genre: High Tech Sci-Fi
Description
The New York Times bestselling author of Neuromancer and Agency presents a fast-paced sci-fi thriller that takes a terrifying look into the future.
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Flynne Fisher lives down a country road, in a rural America where jobs are scarce, unless you count illegal drug manufacture, which she’s trying to avoid. Her brother Burton lives on money from the Veterans Administration, for neurological damage suffered in the Marines’ elite Haptic Recon unit. Flynne earns what she can by assembling product at the local 3D printshop. She made more as a combat scout in an online game, playing for a rich man, but she’s had to let the shooter games go.
Wilf Netherton lives in London, seventy-some years later, on the far side of decades of slow-motion apocalypse. Things are pretty good now, for the haves, and there aren’t many have-nots left. Wilf, a high-powered publicist and celebrity-minder, fancies himself a romantic misfit, in a society where reaching into the past is just another hobby.
Burton’s been moonlighting online, secretly working security in some game prototype, a virtual world that looks vaguely like London, but a lot weirder. He’s got Flynne taking over shifts, promised her the game’s not a shooter. Still, the crime she witnesses there is plenty bad.
Flynne and Wilf are about to meet one another. Her world will be altered utterly, irrevocably, and Wilf’s, for all its decadence and power, will learn that some of these third-world types from the past can be badass.
Reviews
Gibsons worst
1By Wurtis1I love Gibson, and this surprised me in that his skillset seems to be completely missing in this one book. if I didn’t know better, I would say he was very ill or very high when he wrote most of this. Plot lines are almost impossible to pick out and harder still to follow. Frankly, I don’t understand how the Apple TV writers were able to salvage this - their show is excellent and almost invisible in this book.Yes, the show is better
3By Lono2013As other commenters have said, the TV show is better: same characters but in a much better story. In the book, you need to get into 100-200 pages before much of the technobabble is explained, and the “crime” is never fully resolved, ever, to my satisfaction. The crime in the show is far more interesting and the relationships between the characters better fleshed out.Difficult book to read
1By azzzawqrtExtremely difficult to read. Very confusing. Interesting plot but just too difficult to figure out what’s going on. A lot of new terms and vocabulary that’s not explained.Do not watch the tv show first!
3By TjhappelThis would be the rare exception that I think a show is better than the book. It could totally be my fault for having watched 5 episodes first then buying the book…. It’s a great idea but a little hard to keep up with. Still great workNot worth the effort
1By ExtremelyUnimpressedI read the 85 page sample. Completely incomprehensible and nothing of interest that would make me want to press on. Don’t waste your time.🙃🙃🙃
3By amandax345Hard to understand, hopefully the show will be better.Gibson’s top form
5By WinstondeathMy favorite William Gibson is the one where he builds a sci-fi world that’s both fantastical and yet completely believable, and he’s back to that form in this book. Fantastic.Well written and comes together nicely!
4By 01010010 01010011Like many of his books, the first few chapters are a bit of a tough read. It takes me that long to adjust to his brilliant writing style. Then I'm hooked! Well written with a good story line and a nice implementation of not so distant future technology to start. Highly recommend.Gibson's best since Neuromancer.
5By tgeorgoThank you.Please endure the first 100 or so pages
5By jaxxstaticIt is really worth it. This is one of those books that I will reread soon because it is so worth it. Characters, environment, plot, and pacing all flesh out eventually, like all of Gibson's recent work. If you can push through the beginning, you'll end up--just like any great book--in a place you don't want to leave.A finely crafted novel
5By ERDugganGibson explore two alternate futures, each with uncomfortable echoes of our present, in this compelling book. The short, fractured chapters generate a kind of narrative vertigo, a sensation entirely appropriate to this tale in which so many of the characters are dealing with disorientation of one kind or another. The only negative is that I found the resolution of the book just a a bit too pat, even a bit mawkish. I hope the ending doesn't preclude a future novel (or two, as he tends to work in thematic trilogies), exploring both the enigma of the continua-creating server, and the almost equally enigmatic character of Ainsley Lowbeer.Sooooooo tedious
1By KbayhamI can't even begin to describe all of the ways I hated this book. It was a slog, a chore, an incessantly unoriginal story, made even worse by the prose. Just. Plain. HORRIBLE.Well written
5By Jake R. PaulsonI found the book to be well written and contained a fresh perspective. I passed it on to my brother I liked it so much. Happy reading!Savory
5By dthorsrudDetails so rich, every so often you'll rewind a couple of pages just to experience the moment a second time.Incomprehensible
1By MarkWhiteLotusCompletely incomprehensible. Gave it 100 pages but never could pick up the thread of the story or begin to care about any of the characters. Horrible book. Save your money.Still the best cyber punk
5By drdavedsbAlthough he must be much older, Mr Gibson still has a super fresh tone and his dialogue, although pinky to grasp, sparkles with acronyms and 'made on the spot' mashups that are techie but hackable so you can deduce what these future people are running on about. Very good stuff. High order writing.Excellent
5By Pauley UnsaturatedMr. Gibson, at his most prophetic and effortless. I can't count the number of times I laughed aloud at tiny details that seem obvious in retrospect. Absolutely inspiring and a thoroughly captivating read. This is the best fiction I've read in years.Great book give it a few hundred pages
4By AbeDavisIt goes to some fun places. Starting out it is disorienting. Once he has built the world and context the message is clear. Give it a few hundred pages until all the players and the two timelines are explained.Another Gibson TechnoSyfy Treat
5By SEOhioFull of rich detail, current and past events, character development, dark yet hopeful. If you enjoyed the Neuromancer series this is even better!
