what did I just read?

the concept of the story is brilliant and even though the narration and character accents were masterfully executed, something was off with the pace or flow, which couldn't get me immersed in the story somehow. I could understand what the story was about in a broad sense, but it felt like I lost connection with the characters and zoned out of the story on multiple occasions (the stuff I'm doing while listening, like driving my car or even my own thoughts overruling the narrator)

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the story is good... narrator not so much

something about the voice doesn't work..
i persevered for 12 chapters but found i had to re-listen.. but couldn't get it. couldn't take it in.
not sure if it's a pitch/ tone thing..
but it sure didn't work for me.
audio book dnf.. I'll go old school and read this one.

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Brilliant narration - incredible accents bravo

As prescient as Neuromancer was in the 80s - love the Amazon series - a crime it was cancelled. Gibsons prose is poetry

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1 person found this helpful

I really enjoyed the Scottish accent

this version compared to the previous adds some depth to the characters thanks to the use of accents.

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Great book let down my flat narration

The character voices are fine, but there's just no life and odd, stilted pauses that really ruin the flow for me

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Enjoyable, informative and entertaining.

A fantastic story that the TV series very loosely follows. Great voice actor to boot who helped to bring the audible narration to life.

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2 people found this helpful

This was hard work

Made me realise just how much skill goes into making narration look effortless. The story was engaging, if lacking in character development. But so very hard to focus on through the obtrusively effortful accents and voices. Far too many sentences read with incorrect emphasis, making me listen to them over again to understand what the author actually meant. I'm not sure Gibson's dialogue is really as pedestrian as this made it seem, but I won't be rushing for print versions of other works, to check.

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Great concept but weak plot.

A lot more good be done with the concept. The future characters lacked depth and number. Seemed like it was morphing into a solid whodunnit but the reveal was shallow and disappointing.

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Strong voicing and writing

Razor sharp rapid fire writing in Gibson's usual style. It took me a little while to really get into the story, but once settled it was obvious how deft the storytelling is. With a sci-fi plot like this it could've very easily become totally incomprehensible, but it was honestly fairly easy to follow. You're given tidbits of info along the way so that you can feel turning points coming, but not so much so that you can see every twist coming a mile away. The voice acting is about as good as it gets. Plenty variety in voices, and nothing that sounds annoying. Easy recommend.

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Great concepts, average execution

I've only ever read one other Gibson book and that was Neuromancer which I generally enjoyed, but struggled with in sections. This was much the same.
The premises of the book is superb: namely we have a future post-apocalyptic society using tech to out-source work to the past, but in doing so create divergent pasts. Connection between the two allows the future to manipulate the past from a financial/resource/political way, as they have subsequent knowledge of events to use to their advantage. The past groups can access the future several ways: normal communication methods; via drones, initially in this through a computer game; or via controlling organic constructs remotely, called Peripherals. These constructs normally run via AI which is then superceded if another enters and controls. The Peripherals are used by people within the same time as well as a clever narrative device to bring the past characters into the future setting.
I can't fault the innovative world building. Both the 'past' (a moderator dystopian near-future of tech, drugs, and corruption, mainly in the middle of US mid-west) and the 'future' (a post-apocalyptic hi-tec London) are well detailed and immersive. The plot is okay- essentially a murder mystery, and there's some interesting twists thrown in. But the pacing is utterly askew, it never really seems to gain momentum for me, and the finale kind of went like a damp firework. The strange chapter structure didn't work for me either.
I'd listened to the audiobook, and must say the narrator Katie Leung was perfect. The varied accents helped distinguish characters in an, at times, convoluted narrative.

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