Luce virtuale (1993)

Vibrant! ( )

I liked it, especially the settings, characters, and edge. The story itself took a backseat to a lot of the other things that were going on....but it was there and satisfying in its own (virtual) light. ( )

Engaging characters and snappy writing. Gibson is becoming one of my most favorite authors. ( )

Plus a half star. I enjoyed it a lot. The characters and the world building. ( )

Virtual Light is the first in the Bridge Trilogy, and sets the stage for the series arc more than it sets up any central conflict playing out over the three books. Each novel focuses on its own story, the series arc plays out in the background -- especially in the first two books.

In book one, the staging is simple: the Bridge itself, a few hints surrounding AIDS Saint JD Shapeley, and the Yamazaki subplot are enticingly there, but only just. The setting is the aftermath of two cataclysms, one more evident to the reader (at first) than the other: an earthquake crippling the San Francisco - Oakland Bay Bridge, and a pandemic evidently largely responsible for society not fully rebuilding. The Bay Bridge itself is a stark illustration of the haves & have-nots in this US society, with global trends following closely in the wake of US developments. Interestingly, denizens of the Bridge appear more vibrant & creative than rest of culture despite their subalternity. Dominant culture is tired, mechanized, efficient, and pushing society toward disruption, but all of this is recognizable mostly after reading the other two books. The novel's main plot doesn't involve any of these in any significant way.

Curious book design, the font almost a bold typeface and more suitable for captions or titles than narrative text. Chapter pages take a full facing page, in greyscale, with design reminiscent of a graphic novel. Section breaks within a chapter signaled by a horizontal rectangle, almost Prairie Style and at odds with the font and chapter design. Even the pagination and author / title repeated in upper corners seem more appropriate to an OMNI magazine layout than a hardbound novel. I wonder how much the publisher allowed this because the novel seems short, and all this busy-ness helped "fill it out" for the marketing department. Disappointingly, several typos not caught in copyediting: its / it's, Elliot / Elliott. I don't fault or credit Gibson for any of this, of course.

A solid book and a fun read. Taken alone upon publication, quite satisfying. This second reading I read it in one go with the remaining novels. I was pleased to find the shadowy hints took on a bit more solidity and shape in the context of the whole. The theme of global disruption from pandemic was especially interesting, with COVID-19 fully disrupting human civilisation at the time of reading.

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synopsis | Chevette impulsively steals a pair of sunglasses after an encounter with an entitled misogynist, setting in motion several parties intent on retrieving the glasses and erasing all knowledge of them. Rydell shifts from a job at one subsidiary of DatAmerica to a different job in another, unknowingly moving closer to the center of a private business deal with global implications. There is more than one shadow government pulling strings, however, and evidently most are unaware of (or underestimate) the Republic of Desire. ( )