Zero History

Only William Gibson could make a story about fashion industry espionage fascinating.

Great book and satisfying ending to the trilogy. Loved the plot twist at the end.

My third read. God, I love this book.

The characters are generally interesting and the story is readable, but ultimately I have been disappointed by this latest trilogy from William Gibson. I guess I was so impressed by his first cyberpunk novels that now I feel let down he's choosing to write in the present time instead of continuing speculative SF. This book is very solidly in the present or close-to-present. iPhones, twitter, macbooks; current brand-name dropping instead of interesting futuristic speculation. It's an okay story as it goes, but not what I loved about the first William Gibson books I read back when. And really, what's with the fashion obsession? Every single character in the book seems to be ridiculously interested in obscure fabrics and fashion? Just not that interesting to be and I certainly don't think the plot would have suffered for leaving out at least half of the intricate descriptions of items of clothing.

A fine ending to a trilogy. For the most part the plot revolves around Hollis returning to do "one last" job for Hubertus Bigend. Joined by Milgrim, an ex-addict with a knack for details and paranoia. Bigend is up to something big this time, ruffling feathers of some ex-military arms dealers. No one in his inner circle can be sure of their safety now. After reading this trilogy, my sense of branding and clothing industry will never be the same again. A great feat from William Gibson as far as I am concerned :-) There were times where I was shaking with the excitement, but the book didn't seem as action-packed as Spook Country or Pattern Recognition were. The ending is well-balanced though and I enjoyed it immensely. In the end everybody is waiting for the Big End.

Yes. I could read 30 more books featuring Milgrim.

As always, a huge fan of Gibson's tight prose, his eclectic vision, his ability to get to the core of social and emergent technology trends. I continue to love Hollis Henry, the former lead singer of the Curfew, and reluctant employee for Hubertus Bigend, the Belgian cool hunter and billionaire. The tabula rasa character of recovering drug addict Milgrim is delightful in his childlike way he stumbles through the espionage and double crossings. There is a great supporting cast of eccentric and fun characters to discover along the way: Heidi Hyde, former bandmate, just ending her nth marriage; Garrett, the thrill seeking, building jumping, ex-boyfriend of Hollis; Winnie the DoD Goverment agent who sets up twitter accounts to pass secret messages to Milgrim; Fiona the courier/bodyguard, charming in her affection for Milgrim. Who would think that the search for a secret brand of jeans, could be so much fun?

Wow, the first William Gibson that I have been unable to finish. Stalled with 100 pages to go.

I respect Gibson wanting to move beyond cyberpunk. But leaving behind the obsession with unique objects, while taking out all the interesting stuff, did not work for me. Unique hand-crafted cyberspace deck that a protagonist uses to live a life on the edge? Interesting. Uniquely strange diorama created by an AI in a satellite? Interesting. Unique underground brand of designer jeans? Uninteresting.