Agency
Sequel to The Peripheral, now a major new TV series with Amazon Prime
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4.3 • 50 Ratings
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- £4.99
Publisher Description
THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING NOVEL FROM WILLIAM GIBSON, THE INTERNATIONALLY BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF NEUROMANCER
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San Francisco, 2017. Clinton's in the White House, Brexit never happened - and Verity Jane's got herself a new job.
They call Verity 'the app-whisperer,' and she's just been hired to evaluate a pair-of-glasses-cum-digital-assistant called Eunice...
Only Eunice has other ideas.
Pretty soon, Verity realises that Eunice is smarter than anyone she's ever met. Which is just as well since suddenly some very bad people are after Verity.
Meanwhile, in a post-apocalyptic London a century from now, PR fixer Wilf Netherton is tasked with interfering in the alternative past in which Verity and Eunice exist. It appears something nasty is about to happen there - and fixing it will require not only Eunice's unique human-AI skillset but also a little help from the future.
A future that Verity fears may never be . . .
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'Dazzling, astoundingly inventive' The Times
'Wild, richly satisfying' Guardian
'Terrific' Spectator
'Rattles along with great pace and suspense' Sunday Times
'One of our greatest science-fiction writers' New York Times
'A sensual, remarkably visual ride' Guardian
'Among our most fascinating novelists' Daily Telegraph
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Cyberpunk pioneer Gibson disappoints with this inventive but jumbled prequel to The Periphery. In 2017, gifted "app whisperer" Verity Jane is hired to beta test a pair of eye-glasses that double as an artificial intelligence assistant named Eunice. As Eunice's personality and capabilities grow, Verity decides to hide the AI's rapid development from her mysterious new employers. She can't keep the secret for long, however, as agents from a century into the future descend to make sure that Eunice a misplaced technology from their time doesn't start a nuclear war. Though the writing is packed with intriguing concepts and characters, the scrambled timelines and shifting narrative perspective make an already complicated plot even harder to follow. The characters from the future fall flat, especially in comparison to the dynamic, fully-realized personalities of Verity and Eunice. Cyberpunk fans looking to dive into the "what-if's" of an alternate timeline will be as enraptured as ever by Gibson's imagination, but they'll be left with more questions than answers.
Customer Reviews
Gibson at his best his world-building magic.
More digestible than book one, but just as good. Gibson stretches us a bit with the sheer number of characters to recollect - but his adventure ride is as good as ever - and, as so many of his books hint - good news can be found in the darkest of places.
The new TV show may well bring more readership - and, for those who have not read his previous sprawl and bigend/blue ant trilogies, there are universes awaiting!