Psychophant's Reviews > The Peripheral

It is good but not great.

The book follows all the writing forms and style that have made Gibson an icon. Almost all his tropes are there, the ultra-rich intersecting with the underside of society, the repurposing of tecnology, small details of how people arrange their lives, though we only have two alternating viewpoints this time. The plot is transparent, as usual, and the time treatment, though new for him, typical in science fiction. The first four chpters, available for preview, are among the best I have read in a long time, polished and buffed repeatedly till they are perfect, but the rest of the book does not manage to keep the level so high. The short chapters do not help, in my opinion.

I also have some personal problems with the 2030 future, compared to the 2100, but that would be giving spoilers. Maybe because I have no experience of small town, Georgia, in 2014, but it feels off as a future to me.

The character interactions and the sexual tension are however much better than in previous books, so we do not have the impression that the juicy things happen off-camera. Even if the actually torrid parts do happen off-screen. Most of the violence, too. I do not think it is a bad thing, considering the narrators.

The book would be much stronger without the two last chapters. Though they feel as an attempt to reduce character reuse in the next novel.

Ash is, without doubt, my favorite character. And one of those with a high potential for reappeareance.

And that is all I can say without being spoilerish. Four stars, rather than five, though I felt I could give it a five till the middle of the book, as there were no more surprises afterwards.