We are all susceptible to the pull of viral ideas. Like mass hysteria. Or a tune that gets into your head that you keep humming all day until you spread it to someone else. Jokes. Urban legends. Crackpot religions. Marxism. No matter how smart we get, there is always this deep irrational part that makes us potential hosts for self-replicating information.

Well that’s a bit of straight up dystopian cyberpunk, straight out of the 90s. It’s fascinating to see the mix of hope and fear when it comes to technology–virtual realitiies as both a way to dream and a means of control; a patchwork of corporate strongholds, each sovereign in their own right; a nuclear sidecar; a floating city circling the Pacific Ocean. It’s a lot…

This is America. People do whatever the fuck they feel like doing, you got a problem with that? Because they have a right to. And because they have guns and no one can fucking stop them.

And then add on to that a mix of memes (in the ‘viral/self-propagating idea’ rather than quickly spreading joke images) and linguistics. The Tower of Babel and ancient Sumerian. ‘Programming’ the human mind. It’s a fascinating idea, even if the fine details feel a bit off at times.

And then characterwise. Oof. Hiro is a nerd power fantasy. He’s the best at sword fighting and a world class hacker and always wins.

Until a man is twenty-five, he still thinks, every so often, that under the right circumstances he could be the baddest motherfucker in the world.

Also his name (or at least the name he goes by) is Hiro Protagonist. A bit on the nose?

I did really enjoy Y.T. though. 15 year old skater courier chick, street surfing and hitching rides on passing cars (etc). She’s a fun and high energy–and it’s a bit weird that’s she’s only 15.

It was, of course, nothing more than sexism, the especially virulent type espoused by male techies who sincerely believe that they are too smart to be sexists.

Overall, a neat story and a decent example of cyberpunk moving into the 90s–which admittedly I haven’t read much of. It’s been on my to-read list forever and I’m glad to have finally read it!