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by William Gibson
ISBN: 0441013678
Binding/Media: Paperback - 320 pages
Condition: Used: Like New
Comments: Sold with pride. Gently read copy in like new condition.
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Customer Reviews
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Will not buy a kindle book that disables text-to-speech
Rating  (1)
Date: 2010-04-29
0 out of 5 customers found this reveiw helpful
I wanted to buy it, and would have on the Kindle format; however, at the point where I have time to sit down and read the book, rather than transition between reading and listening on the go - I will buy the print version as I refuse to continue to buy books that have been crippled by Amazon and the Publishers. The original Kindle(s) that I purchased provided no insight that Amazon would later cripple the capabilities that were provided around the text-to-speech functionality. While I can't un-buy my Kindle(s) - I can certainly actively refuse and promote the refusal of buying books that have been crippled contrary to the original intent, advertisement and purpose of my kindle purchase.
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Pretty awesome story
Rating  (4)
Date: 2010-02-21
Kudos to Gibson for inspiring computer sci majors to lift his material. Did Gibson get $$$ for the Matrix films? I don't know, but Gibson kept me on the edge the whole way through this book. It's believable, mysterious, and very interesting. Lots of action here too.
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almost time for the ball to drop
Rating  (5)
Date: 2009-12-13
0 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
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the end is here.
Jamaican warriors, that's what Gibson's trilogy was about. & virtual reality. & viral art projects released by cyberpunks too pure for money.
A true blue patriot: william gib son.
esoteric memory games.
a bit intimidated by all the indentifications triggered upon the hacker populous. but they'll have fun reading
code.
two clicks: name t
hen
A. dress
one of the best books I've ever read, all I can do is attempt
a
tribute.
left
stag
growling.
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Gibson's Best
Rating (5)
Date: 2009-10-24
Let me be clear. I read Gibson for atmosphere, not plot. On that basis, this is his best book by far. He writes so well that you can almost feel and touch his near-future world. If you like reading about ninjas raised in vats with thumbs that pop off to reveal micro filament which can cut through you like a knife, dead space stations with robots that make small boxes filled with detritus that are high art on earth, images of rain-soaked Paris, and digital avatars dressed in Victorian garb whom you meet in lonely parks, then Gibson is for you.
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The Father of Cyberpunk...
Rating (4)
Date: 2009-08-25
It is interesting reading from the authors that sparked a new generation and quite possibly influenced a burgeoning technology. William Gibson is certainly one of those unique authors who have certainly earned their place in their genres. Count Zero is a continuation of a place, both online and in the physical place called The Sprawl. There is but one character found in both, The Finn, who played but a minor role, so the trilogy is a series only loosely.
The narrative style is a little flighty. Gibson focuses on three characters, with each represented by successive chapters: three chapters, three narratives, then loop again and again. It works in some ways because the reader isn't drowned in too many characters and can focus on the storyline, but at other times you are left wanting for of a specific scene or character, only to know that you now must wait. In the end this narrative style is only a minor nuisance that doesn't detract too much from the story.
I wish the book were longer, or that the Sprawl was described more, or that the "religious" deities were explained a little more, but who knows, maybe this will all come in the final book in the trilogy. Nonetheless Count Zero is a definite recommend.
4 stars.
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by William Gibson
ISBN: 0441013678
Binding/Media: Paperback - 320 pages
Condition: Used: Like New
Comments: Sold with pride. This is a previously unread copy pulled from the store shelves.
More Product Infomation
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Customer Reviews
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Will not buy a kindle book that disables text-to-speech
Rating (1)
Date: 2010-04-29
0 out of 5 customers found this reveiw helpful
I wanted to buy it, and would have on the Kindle format; however, at the point where I have time to sit down and read the book, rather than transition between reading and listening on the go - I will buy the print version as I refuse to continue to buy books that have been crippled by Amazon and the Publishers. The original Kindle(s) that I purchased provided no insight that Amazon would later cripple the capabilities that were provided around the text-to-speech functionality. While I can't un-buy my Kindle(s) - I can certainly actively refuse and promote the refusal of buying books that have been crippled contrary to the original intent, advertisement and purpose of my kindle purchase.
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Pretty awesome story
Rating (4)
Date: 2010-02-21
Kudos to Gibson for inspiring computer sci majors to lift his material. Did Gibson get $$$ for the Matrix films? I don't know, but Gibson kept me on the edge the whole way through this book. It's believable, mysterious, and very interesting. Lots of action here too.
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almost time for the ball to drop
Rating (5)
Date: 2009-12-13
0 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
000000000
00000
000000000000000000
01000000000
000000000000
000000
00
000
the end is here.
Jamaican warriors, that's what Gibson's trilogy was about. & virtual reality. & viral art projects released by cyberpunks too pure for money.
A true blue patriot: william gib son.
esoteric memory games.
a bit intimidated by all the indentifications triggered upon the hacker populous. but they'll have fun reading
code.
two clicks: name t
hen
A. dress
one of the best books I've ever read, all I can do is attempt
a
tribute.
left
stag
growling.
|
|
Gibson's Best
Rating (5)
Date: 2009-10-24
Let me be clear. I read Gibson for atmosphere, not plot. On that basis, this is his best book by far. He writes so well that you can almost feel and touch his near-future world. If you like reading about ninjas raised in vats with thumbs that pop off to reveal micro filament which can cut through you like a knife, dead space stations with robots that make small boxes filled with detritus that are high art on earth, images of rain-soaked Paris, and digital avatars dressed in Victorian garb whom you meet in lonely parks, then Gibson is for you.
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The Father of Cyberpunk...
Rating (4)
Date: 2009-08-25
It is interesting reading from the authors that sparked a new generation and quite possibly influenced a burgeoning technology. William Gibson is certainly one of those unique authors who have certainly earned their place in their genres. Count Zero is a continuation of a place, both online and in the physical place called The Sprawl. There is but one character found in both, The Finn, who played but a minor role, so the trilogy is a series only loosely.
The narrative style is a little flighty. Gibson focuses on three characters, with each represented by successive chapters: three chapters, three narratives, then loop again and again. It works in some ways because the reader isn't drowned in too many characters and can focus on the storyline, but at other times you are left wanting for of a specific scene or character, only to know that you now must wait. In the end this narrative style is only a minor nuisance that doesn't detract too much from the story.
I wish the book were longer, or that the Sprawl was described more, or that the "religious" deities were explained a little more, but who knows, maybe this will all come in the final book in the trilogy. Nonetheless Count Zero is a definite recommend.
4 stars.
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by Ben Counter
ISBN: 1844160017
Binding/Media: Paperback - 282 pages
Condition: Used: Good
Comments: Sold with pride and shipped with confirmation for US addresses. No writing, no highlighting. This is a used copy with reading/ shelf wear.
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Customer Reviews
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Daemon World
Rating  (2)
Date: 2010-07-09
Ben Counter's Daemon World has an ambitious goal, to provide you a story based on a Chaos world. To allow you to experience and see Chaos first hand through the eyes of its followers. The story is set on a special Chaos world in the heart of the Eyes of Terror. Apparently it has some special significance to Chaos, a prized jewel that Chaos fights itself for possession. The story itself is told from a variety of viewpoints. Ben Counter has done an excellent job provide a very diverse set of viewpoints. You are presented with a warrior on a quest for revenge, a hedonistic depot, mysterious wanderer and a small contingent of Word Bearer Chaos Space Marines. The silent third perspective is a quasi narrator speaking of the legend of Torvendis and its greatest myth, the battle between Arguleon Veq and The Last.
Ben's narrative structure is impeccable. The books has a steady pace, there are no slow points to be found. The characters are believable and enjoyable to read about. Naturally, there is more occurring than originally presented and by the end of the book, you witness a galaxy shaking event that alters the course of history. Daemon World is a great read but, I think it also fails at its primary goal, to show you Chaos.
The primary problem I have with this book is that the characters and the setting are so very rationale. They all operate with a rationale code of honor. If you had set this story on a feral world, swapped out some story details it would still work. There is nothing innately "Chaotic" about the characters or story. If anything the story feels like a dark tragedy, almost Shakespearean. All of the characters are striving towards a particular goal; whether it be revenge, power, even honor. They all exhibit some flaw that becomes their downfall. There is nothing unique or different than novels set in a non-Chaos setting.
Even the world of Torvendis seems less a Chaos world than it should. Yes, it does change on a daily basis, the trees move around, the planet has some questionable laws of physics, The City is suitable odd but nothing insane. In fact, I would say Torvendis is fairly tame compared to the description of other Chaos worlds. The greatest conceit in the description of Torvendis is that there have been so many wars that the very crust of the planet is made of the bones of the fallen, fused into stone. The ruler of the planet mines these bones so as to leech out their memory of their agonizing final moments and serve up these memories in worship of Slannesh. In the end, Torvendis doesn't seem that surreal or dangerous. It doesn't even seem up to par with an average Death World since there are tribes of people living on all corners of the planet. Jungle tribes in the jungle, seafarers on the sea, mountain people in the mountain, etc. On a Death World at least people are crammed into tiny outposts of humanity under seige. Torvendis appears to be a fairly populous planet and needs to be to feed the insatiable desires of Slannesh.
Honestly though, how do you describe Chaos. Chaos is inherently irrational. A coherent rational story is inimical to the irrationality of Chaos. In providing us an excellent and well structured story, Ben Counter stamped out Chaos. Perhaps writing a book showing the true nature of Chaos is impossible. Perhaps that is why the historians of Torvendis all go insane. Regardless, I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to others. But, I do not think it achieved its goal and honestly, a book truly depicting the experience of Chaos would be gibberish.
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Must Have
Rating (5)
Date: 2009-08-25
The author has masterfully created life on a Chaos world. The emersion of the reader into this reality is total. I just hate that my favorite character gets killed.
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Enjoyable Read that misses it's goal.
Rating  (3)
Date: 2009-07-02
2 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
Ben Counter's Daemon World has an ambitious goal, to provide you a story based on a Chaos world. To allow you to experience and see Chaos first hand through the eyes of its followers. The story is set on a special Chaos world in the heart of the Eyes of Terror. Apparently it has some special significance to Chaos, a prized jewel that Chaos fights itself for possession. The story itself is told from a variety of viewpoints. Ben Counter has done an excellent job provide a very diverse set of viewpoints. You are presented with a warrior on a quest for revenge, a hedonistic depot, mysterious wanderer and a small contingent of Word Bearer Chaos Space Marines. The silent third perspective is a quasi narrator speaking of the legend of Torvendis and its greatest myth, the battle between Arguleon Veq and The Last.
Ben's narrative structure is impeccable. The books has a steady pace, there are no slow points to be found. The characters are believable and enjoyable to read about. Naturally, there is more occurring than originally presented and by the end of the book, you witness a galaxy shaking event that alters the course of history. Daemon World is a great read but, I think it also fails at its primary goal, to show you Chaos.
The primary problem I have with this book is that the characters and the setting are so very rationale. They all operate with a rationale code of honor. If you had set this story on a feral world, swapped out some story details it would still work. There is nothing innately "Chaotic" about the characters or story. If anything the story feels like a dark tragedy, almost Shakespearean. All of the characters are striving towards a particular goal; whether it be revenge, power, even honor. They all exhibit some flaw that becomes their downfall. There is nothing unique or different than novels set in a non-Chaos setting.
Even the world of Torvendis seems less a Chaos world than it should. Yes, it does change on a daily basis, the trees move around, the planet has some questionable laws of physics, The City is suitable odd but nothing insane. In fact, I would say Torvendis is fairly tame compared to the description of other Chaos worlds. The greatest conceit in the description of Torvendis is that there have been so many wars that the very crust of the planet is made of the bones of the fallen, fused into stone. The ruler of the planet mines these bones so as to leech out their memory of their agonizing final moments and serve up these memories in worship of Slannesh. In the end, Torvendis doesn't seem that surreal or dangerous. It doesn't even seem up to par with an average Death World since there are tribes of people living on all corners of the planet. Jungle tribes in the jungle, seafarers on the sea, mountain people in the mountain, etc. On a Death World at least people are crammed into tiny outposts of humanity under seige. Torvendis appears to be a fairly populous planet and needs to be to feed the insatiable desires of Slannesh.
Honestly though, how do you describe Chaos. Chaos is inherently irrational. A coherent rational story is inimical to the irrationality of Chaos. In providing us an excellent and well structured story, Ben Counter stamped out Chaos. Perhaps writing a book showing the true nature of Chaos is impossible. Perhaps that is why the historians of Torvendis all go insane. Regardless, I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to others. But, I do not think it achieved its goal and honestly, a book truly depicting the experience of Chaos would be gibberish.
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Dark and Chaotic... but that is a good thing !
Rating (4)
Date: 2009-06-05
Counter weaves a tail that grabs you and keeps you turning pages. The ride is well worth the price of admission!
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Very Unique Perpective, Very Good Book
Rating (5)
Date: 2009-05-17
I dont know why Black Library ever took this out of production except to jack the price up a bit when they re-released it. Price aside it is a really fast paced and well executed book
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by Lynn Abbey
ISBN: 0312874901
Binding/Media: Hardcover - 352 pages
Condition: Used: Good
Comments: Sold with pride and shipped with confirmation for US addresses. This book is in a like new condition with light reading wear, but has an inscription/ writing on the first page. No further imperfections.
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Customer Reviews
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Sanctuary filler stories soldier on the Theives' World tradition
Rating (3)
Date: 2009-01-16
Overall:
The anthology is a solid effort by the various authors and the editor. However, the magic of Sanctuary is not quite there from the original series. Steven Burst's story, 'The Man from Shemhaza' is quite good.
If you are not a hardcore fan of the Thieves' World series, the stories will not make any sense to you. If you are interested in finding out more about Sanctuary, please pick up the 'Sanctuary' and read it -- you will understand why Thieves' World has touch so many fantasy readers.
Details:
Plot: The backstory behind Sanctuary continues to move forward. Magic is slowly coming back to Sanctuary and many powerful kingdoms are starting to show interest in Sanctuary again. The plot advances are not dramatic but clear thought has been given to it.
Prose: The writing style varies quite a bit by each author. The authors do try to avoid using the main characters of the other authors which is counter to the original Thieves' World concept. In the original series, it was always very interesting to see the different takes by each author on a main character.
Action: The action is quite tame for the most part in the stories. You do not have much in the way of high fantasy in the stories. The stories are more about low ranking individuals with limited spheres of influence which is in keeping with the spirit of the original Thieves' World series.
Summary:
If you like Thieves' World, you should give this a read if you can pick it up cheap as a used book.
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very pleased
Rating (5)
Date: 2008-07-27
0 out of 2 customers found this reveiw helpful
My order was received before the estimated arrival time and I saved money because there were no shipping fees! Love Amazon for that!
Thanks!
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Not Free SF Reader
Rating (3)
Date: 2008-02-17
1 out of 3 customers found this reveiw helpful
Around about what you would expect, from one of these anthologies. Although it would seem to be a bit smaller scale than some of the early volumes, and less dark, as far as Sanctuary and various characters go. Story average 3.23, and basically this is a tweener, in the middle of 3 and 3.5, but not good enough in this case to round up to a 4.
Offutt and Grubb the picks of this bunch, I think.
Enemies Of Fortune : Introduction - Lynn Abbey
Enemies Of Fortune : Widowmaker - C. J. Cherryh and Jane Fancher
Enemies Of Fortune : Deadly Ritual - Mickey Zucker Reichert
Enemies Of Fortune : Pr1cks and Afflictions - Dennis L. McKiernan
Enemies Of Fortune : Consequences - Jody Lynn Nye
Enemies Of Fortune : Good Neighbors - Lynn Abbey
Enemies Of Fortune : Gathering Strength - Selina Rosen
Enemies Of Fortune : Dark of the Moon - Andrew Offutt
Enemies Of Fortune : Protection - Robin Wayne Bailey
Enemies Of Fortune : Legacies - Jane Fancher and C. J. Cherryh
Enemies Of Fortune : Malediction - Jeff Grubb
Enemies Of Fortune : The Ghost in the Phoenix - Diana L. Paxson and Ian Grey
Enemies Of Fortune : The Ballad of Shemhaza - Steven Brust
Never good when your strangler ex-wife comes back to town.
3.5 out of 5
Giving up piracy is an option, you know.
3.5 out of 5
Stunted mama's boy.
3 out of 5
Hornets, snakes, whichever.
3 out of 5
Healer choices.
3.5 out of 5
Froggin' drugs.
3 out of 5
Hope she doesn't frog me to death.
3.5 out of 5
Shadowspawn's apprentice's new lover and jewellery are more than they seem.
4 out of 5
Racket's moggie rebound.
3.5 out of 5
Chameleon amnesia.
2.5 out of 5
The Vulgar Unicorn leads to Hell, thanks to a small-codded frog-rooter.
4 out of 5
Spirit separation accident.
2.5 out of 5
Musician not so nice.
3.5 out of 5
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A More Mature Vision
Rating (5)
Date: 2006-05-22
5 out of 5 customers found this reveiw helpful
Many moons ago a fantasy anthology written by many top authors was conceived and Thieves World was born. The idea was that the City of Sanctuary would be the base with the various characters from the authors inhabiting this place. The idea was that the characters could be borrowed among the authors and you would get various perspectives of each character from different points of view. What the anthology turned into was a wonderful rollicking mess and one of the most important antholgy series to ever have been written for the fantasy world. The final book from the original series was published in 1989.
13 years later and Sanctuary rises again under Lynn Abbey's editorial control. This time it is a more mature version of theives world. The stories are every bit as good as the original, but a bit more polished this time around. Abbey must have learned hard lessons from the first anthology. There is a better focus and the story line is more organized. While the first anthology is going to be hard to match, the second anthology is starting off right.
The second book, "Enemies of Fortune" is very very good. There isn't a bad story or filler here. The book has both light and very dark stories. You feel bad for the various characters and yet laugh at them too. You find both love and gallantry among the denizons as well as honesty among thieves. The stories warn of the dangers of drug use "Good Neighbors" as well as not kidnapping the wrong woman "Protection". My personal favorites are "Ghost in the Pheonix" a light hearted story about possesion and "The Man from Shemhaza" which is anything but lighthearted.
"Enemies of Fortune" shows there are growng clouds for the future, which makes me want to read the next book before it is published. For those of you who have not read the original series, buy them if you can or at least read "Sanctuary", which will provide you a working knowledge betweent the old series and the new version. Highly Recommended.
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A Great Deal of Fun!
Rating (5)
Date: 2004-12-10
4 out of 5 customers found this reveiw helpful
I just picked up this book and have enjoyed it greatly. Thieves' World and the city of Sanctuary are such rich settings, and these authors explore that setting to great effect. I've only read about half the volume thus far, but highly recommend it based on what I have read. You'll enjoy this especially if you enjoy the whole 'shared world' concept (like I do). The stories are solid and the characters well-written. I strongly recommend the stories by Jody Lynn Nye, Robin Wayne Bailey, the 2 by CJ Cherryh & Jane Fancher, and Selina Rosen. And by all means, if you enjoy these stories, check out these authors' other works. Each one has a unique and entertaining style.
Congratulations and a hearty 'thank you' to Lynn Abbey for reviving the wonderful and engaging Thieves' World!
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