Write Out Loud (Reviews and Writing)

“…this isn’t an engaging novel that makes me want to turn the next page…”

Having attempted Gibson’s first ‘classic’ sci-fi novel, Neuromancer, and realising there’s at least two further books in the series, I figured I’d better get started on the second before I forgot the premise of the original.

Just as well I did or I’d have been even more confused that I was!

Count Zero is set in the same universe as Neuromancer and takes place several years after the events of the first book where two giant AI come together to become one. While previous characters are referenced (sometimes obliquely) this book features all new characters dealing with the aftermath of the previous book.

In this story, the splinters of the AI are appearing all over the Matrix as Voodoo gods while powerful organisations battle to control a powerful new technology. There’s definite good guys and bad guys in this novel.

What makes this story so confusing is that Gibson has actually written three independent storylines that come together at the end, though barely, in my opinion. You are effectively reading three separate books in one, trying to keep a track of characters (who weave in and out of the matrix) and figure out what the hell any of this has to do with anything else.

It is one of the few times I found myself going to Wikipedia from time to time to read up the synopsis (as far as I’d got – I hate spoilers) to check what I’d understood and what I’d got wrong. Often, I simply didn’t have a clue what I’d just read.

It’s a pity because Gibson, in this book, has sorted out his ridiculous overuse of hyperbole, metaphor and analogy that I found immensely irritating for the first half of Neuromancer. He’s settled into a more natural writing style by this point and the stories flow well (even if it is difficult to figure out what’s actually going on).

I didn’t find myself warming to any characters, I must admit. There’s certainly no desire to imagine what happens to them next once the book ended. I’m not expecting, nor hoping for, any return of characters from this book or the previous one in the final book of the trilogy.

Indeed, I’m in no rush to move on to the third book at all. Clearly, I’m going to struggle to keep up in Gibson’s fast-paced in-and-out-of-reality-and-the-virtual world that his characters inhabit and I’m going to need to check plot summaries just to explain what I’ve just read. So there’s no need to rush into the next book while the second is still fresh in the memory. Memory is not going to help here at all.

And for those reasons I’m only giving the book three stars, despite Gibson’s place in the pantheon of sci-fi writers. Clever, yes. Good writing, yes – this time. But this isn’t an engaging novel that makes me want to turn the next page. I could see it working as a movie but I doubt it would be as good as Blade Runner (that came out just as Gibson was writing Neuromancer and nearly made him give up) or The Matrix (that is clearly built on Gibson’s world).

My verdict:

Social Entrepreneur, educationalist, bestselling author and journalist, D K Powell is the author of the bestselling collection of literary short stories “The Old Man on the Beach“. His first book, ‘Sonali’ is a photo-memoir journal of life in Bangladesh and has been highly praised by the Bangladeshi diaspora worldwide. Students learning the Bengali language have also valued the English/Bengali translations on every page. His third book is ‘Try not to Laugh’ and is a guide to memorising, revising and passing exams for students.

Both ‘The Old Man on the Beach’ and ‘Sonali’ are available on Amazon for kindle and paperback. Published by Shopno Sriti Media. The novel,’The Pukur’, was published by Histria Books in 2022.

D K Powell is available to speak at events (see his TEDx talk here) and can be contacted at dkpowell.contact@gmail.com. Alternatively, he is available for one-to-one mentoring and runs a course on the psychology of writing. Listen to his life story in interview with the BBC here.

Ken writes for a number of publications around the world. Past reviewer for Paste magazine, The Doughnut, E2D and United Airways and Lancashire Life magazine. Currently reviews for Northern Arts Review. His reviews have been read more than 7.9 million times.

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