E. M.

*SPOILER ALERT* I'm really upset with D.S. right now, and I usually wait until I've calmed down a bit to write (or at least to post) a review, but I just snapped at my best friend and no dog (even a spoiled lil monster like my Jake) deserves to be on the receiving end of misplaced anger. Of course the anger itself is, more than anything, just a defensive posture assumed to protect and cover for my broken heart. Damn u, Simmons! How could you?! I've read the Hyperian books multiple times (they were my first DS novels) and it was my delight with them that lead to me picking up this (I never read descriptions, preferring to be surprised) but I just threw this book violently down at exactly the halfway point (p. 243) after the first few paragraphs of chapter 20 confirmed what I had yet to let myself believe. Regardless of the stomach churning finality of the previous chapter's end, I kept thinking "he let Jim live! We thought he was a goner after his fall but he surprised us all! ". If that mean little twit (Harlen; "he's not my friend! He's just a hayseed with hay behind his ears") got to live, how on earth could the only genuinely likable character (with the exception of O'Rourke and possibly the Stewart boys) die such a horrible death??? The others are ok kids they don't have the same depth of soul, odd vulnerability ("no one noticed but he'd worn his very best tan pants new plaid shirt") which, combined with his rare mind, quiet strength and the way he was always going out of his way to put everyone else's feelings first, made Duane McBride one of the most likable characters I've come across for a while. I was so upset by his demise I can't bring myself to finish the novel, but I still had to give it 4 stars for evoking such a strong reaction. I haven't been this hurt/ pissed/ disgusted since the ignoble death of Jay Gatsby. At least crazy ol' F. Scott waited till the end of the damn book.

I knew nothing about this book or Gibson when I first picked up a dog-eared copy out of a free box someone had left on their stoop. I was spellbound by the dizzying pace, unique lingo and dreamlike atmosphere. It reminded me of what I loved about scifi back when I picked up my first Asimov... and what kept me plowing through the ever more bizarre installments that followed Enders Game, watching and rewatching Bladerunner until it finally made sense, and old episodes of the Outer Limits, Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. And (this is kinda hard to explain) some of Ten Williams darker works. I can count on my fingers the books that I finished and automatically started reading over again; the Great Gatsby, Slaughterhouse Five, the Time Traveler's Wife, and Neuromancer. I've since read it five more times and worked myway through the rest of his works. I can usually describe what I love about a book, but this one defies description. Idk why; it just appeals to me on an almost visceral level. It belongs in the same category as the collective works of Phillip K. Dick, Snow crash, Ready Player One, Anne Lecki's Ancillary Trilogy and Dan Simmons Hyperian.