Divination by Way of the Nerves and Brain

I had to expect a lot coming into this. Gibson's work has been so built up over the years. Also, this is supposedly the main source of The Matrix plagiarism scandal. So I had a lot of preconceptions "jacking in" to this story.

And I must say, I was largely not disappointed. The characters and story kept me invested. The tech was fascinating, and the Wintermute/Neuromancer AI concept was downright revolutionary.

But then the ending happened. And I was left with a sour taste in my mouth. The ending was rushed, and it essentially screwed a couple of the reasons why I kept reading. The most important one being Case. You grow to love Case as Linda Lee loved him. You grow to hate him as he hates himself. And then, after all that investment, boom. Story ends. And despite all thats happened, Case regresses to being the way he was before the story began. Except that now he can jack in. Yay.

Ever seen the movie Lord of War? You go on this long journey with Nick Cage's character, and after all he has lost, and all he has learned, he chooses to be exactly the same. And he disregards all the emotional trauma and character develop you've been watching for the last 1 hour 50 minutes. That is exactly how I felt after this book.

The shuriken moment at the end was practically a metaphor for Case deciding to disregard all that had happened since before page 1. So, one would ask, why? What was the point? Why did I bother reading all the emotional and character based development before this point if it adds up to dick?

Beats Me.

Overall I enjoyed the ride, but at the end, the roller-coaster derailed, I jumped off, but then the coaster cars landed right on top of me.