Running Through Hugo's Back Yard 7: Neuromancer

Hugo winner: Neuromancer by William Gibson, 1985

My view: For a book that was the first shot fired in arguably one of the biggest internal feuds over style and substance in the SF world since the New Age explosion of the late 60's, Neuromancer has more than a few problems for a book which I still consider one of my personal favorites. In my estimate, Case just isn't as interesting a protagonist as Turner was in Gibson's immediate follow-up Count Zero and Maelcum and his crew of spacefaring Rastas aren't quite as engrossing as characters as modern-day Vodou devotees Beauvoir and Lucas were in CZ, either. Then again, there's the breakneck-speed caper plot of the book, the tech that seems obscenely futuristic at times even today (and probably seemed utterly improbable to all but the most jaded SF readers when Neuromancer was first published) and side characters such as psychologically broken ex-special forces officer Armitage/Willis Corto and technologically enhanced sociopath Peter Riviera. And Molly Millions, who is anything but a mere "side character". Don't forget about her. Or else.

Nuggety? Nope. Not even close. Feel free to look up Gibson's "The Gernsback Continuum" in Burning Chrome as to why this isn't even a subject for debate.