An over-the-top thrill ride sequel to Neuromancer and Count Zero.

Product Description
William Gibson, author of the extraordinary multiaward-winning novel Neuromancer, has written his most brilliant and thrilling work to date . . .The Mona Lisa Overdrive.Enter Gibson's unique world--lyric and mechanical, erotic and violent, sobering and exciting--where multinational corporations and high tech outlaws vie for power, traveling into the computer-generated universe known as cyberspace.Into this world comes Mona, a young girl with a murky past and an uncertain future whose life is on a collision course with internationally famous Sense/Net star Angie Mitchell.Since childhood, Angie has been able to tap into cyberspace without a computer.Now, from inside cyberspace, a kidnapping plot is masterminded by a phantom entity who has plans for Mona, Angie, and all humanity, plans that cannot be controlled . . . or even known.And behind the intrigue lurks the shadowy Yazuka, the powerful Japanese underworld, whose leaders ruthlessly manipulate people and events to suit their own purposes . . . or so they think.

MLO mainly follows the same pattern as COUNT ZERO. Several different characters are notable: Bobby Newmark, aka Count Zero, who is jacked into cyberspace. Kumiko, daughter of a Yakuza, supposedly protected in London. Sally Shears, aka Molly, who may attempt to kill or kidnap Angie Mitchell, a star of Internet simulation programs, and various other bit players. Of course there is Mona, an illegitimate human, since she exists without an ID number in the digital age. Mona is almost a street person, a nonentity, but she looks much like Angie Mitchell. Sinister persons have plans for Mona and Angie: they plot (apparently) to kidnap one and kill the other. Cyberspace cowboys, Yakuza, Londoner thugs, and weird freakish types populate the plot, with The Finn from COUNT ZERO playing a minor role in this novel as well. Gibson, as always, manages to make the various plots converge at the end.

Gibson's world is futuristic, both fantastic and somewhat scientifically plausible, dystopic and frightening. London is trapped in a time warp. Japan is shiny and ultra-modern. Cleveland is a dump. The Sprawl is forbidding, amazing, huge, and imposing. Cyberspace is where everyone wants to be. In MONA LISA OVERDRIVE, he mainly succeeds at delivering his vision and an entertaining plot. Kudos to Gibson for creating this amazing fictional universe; this is his forte. I found the novel's ending somewhat confusing and unsatisfying. Don't let me dissuade you! MONA LISA OVERDRIVE is a fine novel and a successful conclusion to The Sprawl Trilogy; however, if you're new to Gibson, start with BURNING CHROME (short stories) or NEUROMANCER.

ken32


SF NOIR...POETIC DREAMSCAPES OF A DISTOPIC FUTURE...(Part 3)   May 22, 2007
 11 out of 11 found this review helpful

I have read this masterpiece (together with the other two of the Sprawl series: NEUROMANCER and COUNT ZERO) during my university years, about a decade ago. Since then I have re-read it countless times.

Many a times the third book of a trilogy is published only to fulfill contractual obligations: this is definitely NOT the case here. Every one of those three is a standalone masterpiece.
Sure, the Sprawl trilogy defined cyberspace, wireheads, zaibatsu-controlled society and futuristic discontent. But this is not the reason why one enjoys these novels so much. It is the beautiful poetic language. The syncopated phrases. The direct effect of verbalized brand names. The noir feeling, rare at the time in a SF novel.

Wlliam Gibson had already reaped the fame and fortune from his first two novels. In this one you will find his images more bold, his phrases more relaxed and his writing more tight. Absolutely Beautiful!

Even reading only some pages brings up powerful imagery, unforgettable prose...

Start with NEUROMANCER. Then COUNT ZERO. And finally this one.
A Masterpiece Trilogy!!! Own them all!!!




This book rocks. True Gibson artwork.   November 5, 1998
 8 out of 8 found this review helpful

I could seriously not put this book down. I read Neuromancer, which I thought was an awesome book, and I read Count Zero, which was good but sort of boring. Mona Lisa Overdrive however was a true masterpiece true to Gibson. The environment, so dark and un-organic paints a dark picture in your mind that is so real and tangible in a way. Cyberspace and the computer-driven networked world also played so much of a part in this simply amazing imaginary world. When it matches with the characters so nicely you can't discount the book because it's so enthralling. I loved this book and I know a lot of others that did too (although most of them tell me it's a cult following to like Gibson's work).


Neuromancer Underdrive   October 27, 1998
 8 out of 8 found this review helpful

Gibson has both developed and regressed in this piece, which appears far from the noirish heights of Neuromancer, and yet somehow more mature. Mona Lisa Overdrive is a complex book, which tracks the overlapping stories of five characters, using neat chapter-size sections for each. He develops each character with startling skill, no mean feat for the man who filled Neuromancer's 300 pages with a host of electrifying descriptions, while failing to expand his main character's background beyond several brief paragraphs. The storyline, as per usual, is inane. The book is a cyberspace-Mafia thriller with Gibson's typical conspiratorial edge, and an ending that was meant to be profound - particularly to followers of the trilogy - but misses the spot. But it isn't the storyline which drives a Gibson novel, as any hardened fan will know. Gibson's true talent is growing his nebulous future world into new dimensions - this time into Japanese organized crime and the American 'urban refugee' scenario - and applying to it his extraordinary style; prose that has its roots in 30s detective fiction, yet, in my opinion, far exceeds the questionable efforts of Raymond Chandler and company. And this is where Gibson has failed this time around, inasmuch as he is capable of failing in the stylistic arena. Though in many ways it is a remarkable evolution from his uni-character, monologous works of the past, Overdrive is texturally thin. Unfortunately, Gibson shines mainly in his style, and so while he has stepped forward with this book, he has left many of his readers behind.


What a way to pull it all together!   January 22, 2000
 7 out of 7 found this review helpful

The third in the Sprawl trilogy, I'd really recommend reading this but preferably if you've read Neuromancer and Count Zero first. It's an awesome book, but without the background knowledge from the two previous books it could be a struggle. The imagery Gibson concocts for us is exquisite, from the neon and chrome plated Sprawl, to the urban junkyard of the Factory, the dilapidated future London stuck in a time warp and of course the wonders of Gibson's Cyberspace, made even more fantastic here by some clever plot twists. It's all so real you're right there with his characters yet he doesn't bore you with over description - that's quite an achievement. His characters are complex and breathe life and aren't just mono dimensional cardboard cutouts - they each have their strengths and frailties. And by the end of the book it all makes sense .... almost .... but leaving you to ponder some aspects of the story. Which is just as it should be :) Well recommended.