Sprawl Trilogy Book Review (2024)

William Gibson

William Gibson’s Sprawl Trilogy is a science fiction cyberpunk series that is also known by the names Matrix Trilogy and Cyberspace. The contents inside talks about a world that is run by powerful corporations and technology that sees all and is present almost everywhere around the world.

If you want to find out more about this interesting trilogy, then make sure to check out this book review of Sprawl Trilogy.

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Sprawl Trilogy

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Neuromancer

 

Near Future

William Gibson’s story begins with the first book, called Neuromancer. There are characters that you get to meet in this novel that appear again in the sequels but all of the books can still be read as a single story as the plots inside are pretty self-contained.

The time period in the book is in a near future, one which has just witnessed World War III. The characters and the events that you get to read about throughout the series are all happening in a span of 16 years so a lot goes on in that time period.

Henry Dorsett Case

The main character who you get to read about in Neuromancer is a guy called Henry Dorsett Case. He has seen better days than now as he has resorted to be a low-level hustler in an underworld city in Japan, called Chiba, a dystopian place that is harsh to many and deadly to the weak.

Henry is not without skill however as before he resorted to this, he was the sharpest data thief in the business. A lot of that was taken away from him by a few people seeking vengeance so they damaged a lot of his nervous system with a mycotoxin.

The Matrix

This unfortunate event has left Case unable to access something called the matrix, a form of cyberspace located in the global computer network that contained so much knowledge about almost everything.

That’s not even all of the bad things that we can list about Henry Case in this book review of Sprawl Trilogy. He has become depressed and suicidal, with no job and being the number one target on the hitlist of a dangerous drug lord called Wage.

Molly Millions

Things were looking like they could end at any moment for Case until he was saved by a character called Molly Millions, a trainer warrior and street samurai working for an ex-military officer named Armitage.

This person offers Case a cure for his unfortunate condition in exchange for his brilliant hacking services. Case doesn’t even ask what he has to do and immediately accepts knowing that he has finally gotten a second chance in life.

Following Orders

For a long time, neither Molly or Case know the true intentions and plans of Armitage and all they can do for now is follow orders. Case is finally cured, but he is still not all the way as Armitage can reverse the changes if he does not complete the task on time.

The events that take place after that are simply too good to be spoiled in this Sprawl Trilogy book review so you can keep all of the excitement for yourself and find out how this first book ends and where it leaves off for the sequel, Count Zero.

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Count Zero

 

Voodoo Gods

Count Zero is the second book of the trilogy and the story in it continues seven years after the events of the Neuromancer. This time, the main plot involves something that is bringing a change to the matrix, and not in a good way.

Strange things that bare the description of voodoo gods have started appearing in the matrix and they are increasing their numbers quite rapidly. This event forces two very powerful corporations to launch a counter-attack to prevent any further damage to the matrix as it is a very important thing in the world that they live in.

Story

The story in this novel is actually divided into three separate parts referred to as threads. In thread 1, you read about Turner, a corporate mercenary soldier, who has been hired to assist another important character, Christopher Mitchell.

Christopher was planning to make a huge and illegal move that ended in disaster and led to Turner to barely escape with Christopher’s daughter, Angie Mitchell. She had the memories of her father and the research and plans that he was working on in her, implanted in a chip.

Biosoft

What she carries is a plan for the creation of something so valuable that it could offer immortality to anyone, this thing is called “biosoft” and you will find in the book that a lot of people are after this. The events go on from there and prove to be exciting as a lot of things happen that involve this invention, and that’s only in the first thread of the book.

Bobby Newmark

The second threat talks about a character named Bobby Newmark, a young and not very experienced computer hacked from New Jersey. He uses the name Count Zero for his hacker persona and finds himself in the possession of a black market piece of software that was given to him by a criminal for testing.

When Bobby plugs himself into the matrix to see what this software really is, he almost dies. There is a lot more to this character’s story that you can read about for yourself.

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Mona Lisa Overdrive

 

Brilliant Ending

There is one more thread in this book which we won’t spoil for you in this Sprawl Trilogy book review as you can read about the ending for yourself. The last book of the series that is left is Mona Lisa Overdrive.

Mona

This novel talks about a young girl named Mona and her story will be one of the most thrilling ones in the series. The story involves huge plots about many people, plots involving some dangerous things, and a lot more thrill than you can handle. Make sure to check all of the books out if you enjoyed what you saw here.

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