Something I think that is underrated in the criticisms of Neuromancer is how great the non-human characters are. I'm thinking here of Wintermute (of course), wh

Something I think that is underrated in the criticisms of Neuromancer is how great the non-human characters are. I'm thinking here of Wintermute (of course), who is as cold and alien as a Lovecraftian horror. And the spider-like patience of Wintermute spending years working on manipulating 3Jane to madness and murder... it's terrifying and brilliant. And the Dixie Flatline! The idea of a personality captured as a software construct, to get all the little tics that make the personality so good at what they do. "Case. Joeboy. Quick study." You get that sense that this is a machine that sounds like a person, because it was a person. And toward the end, when the Dixie Flatline asks Case to erase him when it's over? Can a machine have existential horror to the point of longing for its own death? Loved that. And Armitage! Technically, not a machine... just a hollowed-out shell of a man, filled with the sort of temporary personality Wintermute could craft, when Wintermute's ability to comprehend humans was limited, and Corto's madness lay trapped just below the surface, with Wintermute knowing it would crack at the worst possible time. Another truly great science fiction alien.