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It's been awhile since the inventor of Cyberpunk created a full
length novel, and boy howdy, was it worth the wait.
Is it Cyberpunk? No. Is it science fiction? Seriously, it might
be . . . it contains science, and it's fiction. I cannot tell where
the fictional aspects of the science are woven into the story.
For all I know, there are no fictional aspects to the story.
Gibson is that good in his tale telling.
The style of this book is different; more elegant and polished
than Gibson's previous offerings. I'd re-read page after page
just for the beautiful phrasing of language. Some parts are
unexpected, and humorous. I was reading late at night, and
had to run out of the room, lest I wake my husband up with all
of the giggling.
On to the story. Cayce Pollard is a woman with an unusual
talent. She can look at logo designs and tell if they are going
to work in the marketplace or not. She is listed on the internet
as a cool-hunter, which is basically someone who can see the
emerging trends. Cayce also is a footage head. Someone is
putting snippets of film out on the internet, and an entire
subculture has evolved around the footage. Cayce hangs out in
cyberspace on the Fetish:Footage.Forum where they fuss and
feud and form friendships, just like any other message board
in cyberspace. The maker of the film snippets is anonymous,
and everyone debates what the films segments mean, and
speculate on who makes it, and whether it is a work in
progress, or if its already a completed work.
Cayce's job takes her to London, where she is contracted by
an ad agency to see if the new logo for some athletic wear
works or not. In the process of doing this job, there is a break-
in of the flat she is staying in, and certain intimidating moves
by the woman who represents the designer of the footwear
logo, contracted by the ad agency. Then comes an offer by
the ad agency owner for her to find out who is making the
footage that is creating all the buzz. The ad agency owner
wants to find the creator of the footage because he thinks that
this may be the new wave of advertising.
Against Cayce's better judgement, she accepts the
assignment, and a world spanning adventure ensues. The
ending is surprising and satisfying.
Besides that, they mention Houston a lot, and one of the
peripheral characters is in Houston. The ad agency's owner
visits Houston and parades around in England in a Stetson.
Being from Houston, any mention of Texas in any book is
good : )
-- Sheryl Roberts
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