Idoru (Bridge, 2) - Softcover

Gibson, William

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0241953529 ISBN 13: 9780241953525

Publisher: Penguin, 2011

Synopsis

Idoru - a gripping techno-thriller by William Gibson, bestselling author of Neuromancer

'Fast, witty and cleverly politicized' Guardian

Tokyo, post-event:

After an attack of scruples, Colin Laney's skipped out on his former employer Slitscan - avoiding the rash of media lawyers sent his way - and taken a job for the outfit managing Japanese rock duo, Lo/Rez. Rez has announced he's going to marry an 'idoru' by the name of Rei Toi - she exists only in virtual reality - and this creates complications that Laney, a net runner, is supposed to sort out. But when Chai, part of Lo/Rez's fan club, turns up unaware that she's carrying illegal nanoware for the Russian Kombinat, Laney's scruples nudge him towards trouble all over again. And this time lawyers'll be the least of his worries . . .

William Gibson is a prophet and a satirist, a black comedian and an outstanding architect of cool. Readers of Neal Stephenson, Ray Bradbury and Iain M. Banks will love this book. Idoru is the second novel in the Bridge trilogy - read Virtual Light and All Tomorrow's Parties for more.

'Sharp, fast, bright . . . a must' Arena

'A classic technothriller . . . lean, evocative, tense' Wired

'Luxuriate in prose simultaneously as hard and laconic as Elmore Leonard's and as glacially poetic as JG. Ballard's . . . an exhilarating ride' New Statesman

William Gibson's first novel Neuromancer has sold more than six million copies worldwide. In an earlier story he had invented the term 'cyberspace'; a concept he developed in the novel, creating an iconography for the Information Age long before the invention of the Internet. The book won three major literary prizes. He has since written nine further novels including Count Zero; Mona Lisa Overdrive; The Difference Engine; Virtual Light; Idoru; All Tomorrow's Parties; Pattern Recognition; Spook Country and most recently Zero History. He is also the author of Distrust That Particular Flavor, a collection of non-fiction writing.

About this title

Review:

"IDORU INDUCES READER ANXIETY, AN ALMOST HURTFUL NEED TO JACK INTO THE NEXT PAGE...EVERY WORD IS WHERE IT SHOULD BE -- LEAN, EVOCATIVE, TENSE. POPULAR CULTURE IS WILLIAM GIBSON'S PLAYGROUND. ENJOY THE RIDE".

-- WIRED

"Idoru induces reader anxiety, an almost hurtful need to jack into the next page...Every word is where it should be--lean, evocative, tense. Popular culture is William Gibson's playground. Enjoy the ride."--Wired

"Idoru is a prophecy, a prayer for information baths that never drown the supplicant. It is also a text on paper, beautifully written, dense with metaphors that open the eyes to the new, dreamlike, intensely imagined, deeply plausible. It is a profoundly cunning advertisement for a world whose enclosed spaces--and infinite domains within the skull--we had better be prepared to join."--The Washington Post Book World

"Gibson's vision is disturbing, his speculation brilliant and his prose immaculate, cementing his reputation as the premier visionary working in SF today."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Gibson envisions a future in which the lines between the virtual and the actual are terminally blurred. How 'real' are today's celebrities?...What will happen when the Web allows anyone--anyone at all--to be a star? With characteristic brilliance, the writer who invented the word cyberspace looks for answers."--Rolling Stone

"Gibson remains, like Chandler, an intoxicating stylist...Clever and provocative scenery...vivid, slangy prose. Chia is one of his most winning creations."--The New York Times Book Review

"Spooky...[Idoru is] a sharp satire on the uses and abuses of technology and has much to tell us about the dangerous path science has laid out for us."--Baltimore Sun

"Gibson's trademark of high-tech pyrotechnics and dark psychological comedy is in evidence throughout Idoru, and his characters are as compelling as ever. Gibson's novel should come with a warning label: Objects in novel may be closer than they appear."--Time Out

About the Author:

William Gibson was brought up in the southern United States but has lived in Vancouver for many years. His novels include the hugely successful Neuromancer trilogy and most recently Zero History.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0241953529
• ISBN 13: 9780241953525
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304