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I enjoyed Agency, having said that, there's a significant plot thread that is just resolved in a very offhand and uninteresting manner. There was a lot of simi

I enjoyed Agency, having said that, there's a significant plot thread that is just resolved in a very offhand and uninteresting manner. There was a lot of similarity with The Peripheral as well, and there's what feels like forever in the middle where nothing happens except characters shuttle repeatedly between different locations without really knowing anything or doing anything actually significant. None of the viewpoint characters do all that much or have much 'agency'. All of the actually interesting stuff is happening offscreen. I suppose it's strange to say I enjoyed it given those criticisms, but I do like his writing, and there are some fun ideas hidden in there too.

atombender 5y ago
That's a recurring aspect of every single Gibson novel, arguably; the protagonists are mostly passive observers while other characters do things, usually behind the scenes. Gibson's plot always follows this template. Some big shot with limitless financial resources hires the protagonist to do/find/learn something. The protagonist mostly just travels and chats with various people. Meanwhile, some kind of intrigue happens on the sidelines, but the main character actually ends up not doing anything that affected the plot. One of the few exceptions is Case who, while being a passive travel companion for most of the book, actually helps execute a hack. In The Peripheral, this is taken to an extreme. Flynne doesn't do anything. The book starts her witnessing a crime. After that, she simply passively observes everything else. Flynne doesn't even control her own movements; at several points she's transported to a new location for her protection. And most of the action happens behind the scenes, and characters report back with progress on what's happened. It's such a weird novel. As an aside, I read Agency when it came out, and today I couldn't remember a single thing about it. I can vaguely remember the plots of Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive. From there it gets fuzzy. Looking back at his output (which I've read everything of), I find his books simply got increasingly less interesting and less memorable over time. His prose still shines, though.

atombender 5y ago

That's a recurring aspect of every single Gibson novel, arguably; the protagonists are mostly passive observers while other characters do things, usually behind the scenes. Gibson's plot always follows this template. Some big shot with limitless financial resources hires the protagonist to do/find/learn something. The protagonist mostly just travels and chats with various people. Meanwhile, some kind of intrigue happens on the sidelines, but the main character actually ends up not doing anything that affected the plot. One of the few exceptions is Case who, while being a passive travel companion for most of the book, actually helps execute a hack. In The Peripheral, this is taken to an extreme. Flynne doesn't do anything. The book starts her witnessing a crime. After that, she simply passively observes everything else. Flynne doesn't even control her own movements; at several points she's transported to a new location for her protection. And most of the action happens behind the scenes, and characters report back with progress on what's happened. It's such a weird novel. As an aside, I read Agency when it came out, and today I couldn't remember a single thing about it. I can vaguely remember the plots of Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive. From there it gets fuzzy. Looking back at his output (which I've read everything of), I find his books simply got increasingly less interesting and less memorable over time. His prose still shines, though.