ALT.SF4M

  Virtual Light

   • k******d@d*****i.com
     29/04/1996 00:00:000 UTC

     VIRTUAL LIGHT

     by William Gibson

     ISBN# 0-553-56606-7

     352 pages, 1993

     Though released in 1993, I've finally gotten around to reading this.
     This is

     not a sequel to NEUROMANCER or MONA LISA OVERDRIVE, but it does have a
     similar

     setting. It's 2005 and California is split up into Northern and Southern

     states. The big earthquake "The Big One" has come and gone and really
     wasn't

     so big (and thus is referred to as "the Little Grande"). San Fransico
     still

     stands, damaged, but still standing. The Golden Gate Bridge, too damaged
     to

     carry traffic is taken over by squatters, and is now a crazy-quilt of
     shacks,

     tattoo parlors and bars.

     Berry Rydell, former rentacop for IntenSecure, finds himself working for
     a

     bounty hunter. The target: a female courier who goes by the name
     Chevette

     Washington, and has stolen a pair pf sunglasses. The sunglasses turn out
     to

     be a pair of virtual reality glasses containing important data.
     Chevette,

     Rydell and Sublet (his former partner and refugee from the Media Bible
     Belt)

     find themselves on a mission to save San Fransisco from the wrecking
     ball.

     Meanwhile, The Republic of Desire (mobster/hackers) and IntenSecure
     struggle

     for the glasses.

     In short, VIRTUAL LIGHT is entertaining, but not nearly as good as

     NEUROMANCER. The character are colorful yet flat. The key element of the

     plot, the glasses, are almost forgotten after the first few chapters.
     And

     it's anticlimactic when you find out what the glasses contain. My

     recommendation: skip it and read NEUROMANCER instead!

     --Doc

     k******d@d*****i.com

     "Sience is not a sacred cow. Science is a horse. Don't worship it. Feed

     it."

     -- Aubrey Eben