Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Hardwired

I've just finished reading Hardwired byWalter Jon Williams.
This is a great cyberpunk novel, written in 1986 when cyberpunk was at its peak - Gibson's Neuromancer was from 1984, and Count Zero was 1986. This is a real cyberpunk novel as well, it's not just a wannabe, it has the hackers, AI, large corporations, fantastic drugs, body enhancements, and recent past massive social (and geopolitical) upheaval. It has beautifully written text, full of imagery born of technology. It has gruesome fights, deaths, and ghosts in the machine. It is paced well.
I just loved the panzers. These are mil-spec hovercrafts travelling at 200mph, bristling with gattling guns and heat seeking missiles, reinforced with armour that lets them blow through just about anything in their path. Great fun.

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