William GibsonAgency (The Jackpot Trilogy)

Let’s just get this out of the way. There’s a particular review that was put up the day the book was released where it’s clear the reviewer was triggered by the book and wrote a review, having not actually finished the book but got so mad at Gibson for talking about what’s wrong and right.Anyone surprised by the political tone of this book—kleptocracy baaa’d—either hasn’t read Gibson before or hasn’t thought that one of the main themes in his books has always been: Money and the consequences of extreme wealth. You don’t need to be Einstein to realize Neuromancer was as deeply political about economics as much as it was about technology. Almost all his book have these themes. This book is where he is most explicit about it. If you’re surprised that Gibson has a different political opinion than you do, you may want to pause and consider that one of the most prescient writers of the future and near-future is very much saying what is currently going on is deeply wrong.What this book in particular is very much about is Freedom-agency to choose one’s path.I will say it may not be Gibson’s best book but I think it’s his most effective at capturing a certain sense of the future that a lot of people are feeling right now. And that is worth something. It’s a quick read. Enjoy. Think of what might have been. Also think: what if we’re in a stub?Feb 22.2020 Addendum: now that that awful Troll of a review has been removed or deleted, hopefully, in time, a much better review than mine will be the top review

William Gibson notices things others miss. While his science fiction novels are often described as prescient, what defines Gibson’s body of work is the extraordinary refinement of his focus on the present. By exploring the ragged edges of things, Gibson consistently manages to shed new light on the strange world we inhabit—coining terms like “cyberspace” and making oft-repeated observations like “The future is already here—it's just not evenly distributed.”In Agency, the future is very unevenly distributed. The book weaves together three interacting storylines: the first is set in an alternative 2017 San Francisco where—among other things—Trump didn’t become president, the second in an apocalyptic American South that may or may not be in the process of renewal, and the third in a high-tech, post-apocalyptic 22nd century London—all of which evolve along their own independent timelines even as they indirectly influence each other. The characters, plot, and world are kinetic—spinning off ideas as they hurtle into something new. The story grapples with literally revisionist histories, the branching, unpredictable nature of all the possible futures that splay out from the fulcrum of our present, and just how difficult it is to achieve “agency” in a culture spiraling out of control. Agency reflects how aggressively weird life has become as we embark on the century’s third decade. Reading it feels like gazing into our collective Instagram feed, sans filter.

I’m profoundly disappointed. I feel as though this is a hodge podge of other successful Gibson plot elements: All Tomorrow’s Parties sunglasses, Neuromancer’s AI, Blue Ant’s protagonist now named Verity whose uncanny sense is now for tech, the vaguely ominous but startlingly empathic and efficient characters from Peripheral all glued into a weak, superficial, fast narrative. This isn’t even a meaningful imagining of an alt-Trump America: the unnamed female president appears in a couple of sentences like a paper cutout waving in the breeze, half seen and then gone. Eunice, arguably the most intriguing character, well.... there ain’t enough of her in this book. At one point, the characters idly discuss the nature of “stubs,” these captioned pasts that weren’t until they abruptly ARE, while racing to their next banal assignation; as if alternative realities are no more exciting than Japanese denim sales, OS upgrades, or mummy bags. Certainly the protagonist handles the complete reinvention of all she has ever understood the universe to mean with aplomb, even ennui.Ugh. Go back and read the Bridge or the Blue Ant trilogy, still vibrating with prophetic beauty and inspiring technology. Give this a pass.

I read the whole thing in one day. Fans of the Peripheral will welcome this next adventure...

Agency is William Gibson’s second time travel novel, following on from the Peripheral. Nearly all time travel fiction suffers from the problem set out by Ray Bradbury in his seminal short story, Sound of Thunder where a traveller to the past inadvertently steps on a butterfly, and subsequently returns to an altered present. Gibson deftly sidesteps that in these books with the premise that visits to the past result in new timelines branching off. So as someone visits the past, that ceases to be his/her past.Agency is set in the near future and in the 22nd century. The near future story is built around Verity whose new employer gives her a pair of glasses with built in AI to test. However, far from being a low grade digital assistant, the AI, Eunice is a piece of military technology with ideas of its(her) own about autonomy. When she goes rogue, a frantic chase begins as her backers, the shadowy Cursion, seek to contain her. In the 22nd century, characters familiar from the Peripheral aid Verity while also fighting off a threat from descendants of Russian gangsters who now rule their world. In a nice touch, one of the main concerns of two of the characters, Wilf and Rainey, is childcare, not a regular feature of science fiction.In many ways Agency is absolutely classic William Gibson. He drops the reader into a strange world full of unfamiliar technology and terminology and any explanation is done on the run as the story develops. Just as in the classic Neuromancer, no explanation is given of how the world developed, just vague references to servers in China. At a book club meeting, a friend made an interesting comparison with Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin novels where there is similarly no allowance given for the reader not being familiar with the sea and its particular language. There is also another link back to Neuromancer with the central thread of the story being an artificial intelligence seeking to evolve to full sentience and freedom.The other standard Gibson characteristic is that Agency is a novel absolutely buzzing with ideas. Much of the advance publicity I read focussed on the book being set in a world where Britain voted against Brexit and Clinton beat Trump. While that is absolutely the case that in Verity’s version of reality, they aren’t really central elements. There are tangential points made about Britiain’s separation from Europe making it more susceptible to takeover by shadowy oligarchs, and about a more measured presidency having the diplomatic skills to avert nuclear war, but if you are looking for a detailed account of a world where liberal values prevailed for longer, it isn’t here. The central theme of the book is probably transparency, and the importance of accountability in maintaining a free society, but it also has a strong, if underlying eco-theme. In Wilf and Rainey’s world, the later 21st century brought some form of environmental and societal breakdown known at the “Jackpot”.The weaknesses of the book are also characteristically Gibsonian. He does have a tendency towards style over substance and to world building taking precedence over plot. Here the chase as the Cursion pursue Verity is exciting, but it isn’t quite clear why she is so important, what they want with her, and indeed, who they are.So, this isn’t Gibson’s best, but he is so far ahead of the competition that he still delivers a fascinating and thoroughly entertaining book.

I've been reading Gibson for 25 years. One of the key attractions was that they explored the implications of technology that was on the horizon. The Peripheral moved into the realm of science fantasy where people from the future can impact our world today. It was mildly interesting if implausible. This suffers from the same fault, but compounds it with characters that failed to engage me. it also strayed in the area of politics: US voters got it wrong in electing Trump as president while UK voters erred in voting for Brexit. So these errors must be fixed - and democracy replaced with power wielded by some 'superior' self-selected individual. Arrogant or what?i was tempted to stop reading mid-way, but kept going because I've enjoyed his earlier work so much. I was glad when I finished. If there is a third book in this series as rumoured, i will not be reading it.If you are a Gibson, you probably have to read it. If you are new to Gibson, go back to some of the earlier works.

I read neuromancer when it came out and, like many, found it utterly rivetting. Since then I have read many of William Gibson's novels. I've liked them all, but never felt quite that same degree of complete absorption. Until now. This book is a masterwork.Gibson's great skill is his way of breezily dropping in the odd profound thought while taking the action along at such a pace that you only notice when you put the book down.It is also beautifully written. At times, I imagine Gibson lovingly polishing a sentence until it socks you between the eyes.This novel is set in the same universe as 'The Peripheral', with the formidable Ainsley Lowbeer dealing with a new alternate 'stub' timeline, with the action there set in 2017. Much of the main action happens there, with the alternate timeline providing a chance for some musings on how things might have been.

Was a bit concerned at some of the negative reviews, but I loved this as much as I've loved all of Gibson's previous works. His approach seems even more relevant in these challenging times. Sadly. I kind of wish he'd got all his predictions wrong and I bet he does too! He manages to salvage some optimism in his vision for the possible future.Ideally you need to read Peripheral first to get a full sense of the characters, their history, and the whole way the time travel idea works.

William Gibson seems to have two kinds of novels. One is an imaginative and exciting puzzle box where the pieces all come together to a satisfying denouement. The other is like his latest “Agency” where the main character spends their time travelling the ring roads of a major city and everything that happens could have been wrapped up in a hundred pages. Gibson admits to having missed three deadlines from his publisher to deliver the finished book. Unfortunately it shows. Not his best.