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26th out of 771 books
—
677 voters
Hardwired (Hardwired #1)
Hardwired features high-tech thrills and unforgettable heroes in the great tradition of William Gibson's Neuromancer. According to Locus, Hardwired is Walter Jon Williams's "best book to date".
Ex-fighter pilot Cowboy, "hardwired" via skull sockets directly to his lethal electronic hardware, teams up with Sarah, an equally cyborized gun-for-hire, to make a last stab at inde...more
Ex-fighter pilot Cowboy, "hardwired" via skull sockets directly to his lethal electronic hardware, teams up with Sarah, an equally cyborized gun-for-hire, to make a last stab at inde...more
Paperback, 300 pages
Published
October 1st 2006
by Night Shade Books
(first published 1986)
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Struggling to slap a rating on this novel really crystallized for me the problem with the current star rating system. It's not a bad book. It was moderately entertaining and had some excellent moments of action, story and character interaction.
It doesn't deserve the stigma that is associated with the 2 star rating.
However, I also didn't "like it" enough to bestow the 3rd star and thus proclaim to the world that all should read this. Tis a quandary.
Thus, I figured I could either round up to 3 st...more
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Kirja ei selvemmin voisi olla cyberpunkia. Maailma on ankea ja kylmä paikka. Ankeus on hyvin kuvattu ja sen pystyy hyvin aistimaan, kun kirjaa lukee. Ihmiskehoja muokataan liukuhihnalla, huumeiden käyttö on arkipäivää ja päivän tappoluvuista lyödään vetoa. Tarinan pohjana on se, että edellisen sodan jäljiltä yhteiskunta on jakautunut kahtia. Sodan voittanut osapuoli asuu taivaassa kiertoradalla ja tämä eliitti hallitsee ja manipuloi markkinoita. Sodan hävinnyt osapuoli asuu rappeutuneen Maan kam...more
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This classic piece of cyberpunk's history is all style over substance.
That sounds like criticism, but its not. Its style _over_ substance, not style instead of substance. There's a plot here, and its interesting enough, but its not the point. The point is the flash of neon on chrome and the sound of alcohol-fueled turbines drowning out the chatter of miniguns. Its raw and elegant. I liked the story, but if you're still reading to find out what happens next instead of _how_ it happens, then like...more
That sounds like criticism, but its not. Its style _over_ substance, not style instead of substance. There's a plot here, and its interesting enough, but its not the point. The point is the flash of neon on chrome and the sound of alcohol-fueled turbines drowning out the chatter of miniguns. Its raw and elegant. I liked the story, but if you're still reading to find out what happens next instead of _how_ it happens, then like...more
71 out of 100 for 2010
Honest and for true, this is the best novel to come out of the Cyberpunk movement; every time I read it I pick up on more layers-the way Williams uses myth, the ethical dilemmas the characters face, the postmodernity of the way much of the novel "lives" in the cultural referents of film and other Southwestern novels . . . really an amazing novel.
The novel has two protagonists, Cowboy, a former fighter pilot, and Sarah, a street smart "hired gun" who's trying to save her bro...more
Honest and for true, this is the best novel to come out of the Cyberpunk movement; every time I read it I pick up on more layers-the way Williams uses myth, the ethical dilemmas the characters face, the postmodernity of the way much of the novel "lives" in the cultural referents of film and other Southwestern novels . . . really an amazing novel.
The novel has two protagonists, Cowboy, a former fighter pilot, and Sarah, a street smart "hired gun" who's trying to save her bro...more
Another excellent book by Walter Jon Williams!
Like "Angel Station," I'd read this many, many years ago (probably the summer before I started college), and I'd managed to forget almost everything about the plot, characters...everything except the title and a couple of vague impressions, so this was like a new book to me!
The "future" as presented in this story, which was written in the latter half of the Reagan administration, may seem at the same time as dated as the Soviet Union -- and as fresh...more
Like "Angel Station," I'd read this many, many years ago (probably the summer before I started college), and I'd managed to forget almost everything about the plot, characters...everything except the title and a couple of vague impressions, so this was like a new book to me!
The "future" as presented in this story, which was written in the latter half of the Reagan administration, may seem at the same time as dated as the Soviet Union -- and as fresh...more
Dec 19, 2012
Mouldy Squid
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
fans of science fiction, old-school cyberpunk, military sf
Shelves:
science-fiction
I am not sure how I managed to miss this gem. Hardwired is hard-core, old school cyberpunk which means lots of action, some introspection and all kinds of inventive technologies. While parts of the novel feel dated (and they are) the Williams manages to get the reader to invest in both of his protagonists; the wily and lethal Sarah and the just as wily and lethal Cowboy. Full of victories and setbacks, the action never flags and the heroes suffer betrayals and duplicities from all sides, includi...more
One of the best cyberpunk classics. For fans of the genre, there is very little new here -- it hits upon all of the tropes -- but the author is a great writer who manages to make his prose poetic without being obscure (as Gibson often is). The author's understanding of technology is thorough enough to paint a post-apocalyptic world with a fair amount of realistic detail, and without resorting to excessive techno-babble.
The real strength of the novel is the characters. Cowboy and Sarah are famil...more
The real strength of the novel is the characters. Cowboy and Sarah are famil...more
It was hard to like this book. Desie trying, I could never really sympathise with the protagonists. Also, I found the scenario posited, of the companies in orbit bombarding the USA into submission so that the new world order is one where these orbital corporations dominate the world economy while the USA is essentially a collection of balkanised regions, to be implausible.
Also the ability of a bunch of individuals to apparently put together from scratch, high performance fighters, was hard to s...more
Also the ability of a bunch of individuals to apparently put together from scratch, high performance fighters, was hard to s...more
I really liked This Is Not A Game and its sequel Deep State, but hadn't read anything else by Walter Jon Williams. Hardwired was the oldest book the library had and it was very different. Stylistically it was cyberpunk, not a genre I particularly go for. Basically an after the day, corporate domination of the world from orbital space setting up a Damnation Alley blockade run. Lots of drugs, lots of violence, bunches of ideas though - a semi-okay read - not really what I was looking for. Call it...more
Câblé nous raconte, dans un futur éloigné d’une petite centaine d’années, les aventures de Cowboy, pilote d’hovercraft par interface neurale, et de Sarah, combattante des rues. Difficile d’en dire plus sans déflorer l’intrigue, alors autant ne pas essayer.
Câblé est pour moi l’un des plus typiques, et, je dirais même, des plus purs, romans de cyberpunk que j’aie pu lire. Loin du Samouraï Virtuel de Stephenson, qui évolue dans une réalité elle aussi virtuelle, et des différentes aventures de Gibs...more
Câblé est pour moi l’un des plus typiques, et, je dirais même, des plus purs, romans de cyberpunk que j’aie pu lire. Loin du Samouraï Virtuel de Stephenson, qui évolue dans une réalité elle aussi virtuelle, et des différentes aventures de Gibs...more
More than anything else, Hardwired has shown me how bad the author wants to be William Gibson. To Walter Jon William's credit, who doesn't?
Hardwired takes place sometime in the more distant than not future. The Earth is not doing well. The oceans have rise, pollution is rampant, and the nations that are left standing have balkanized. From low earth orbit, the Orbitals, a group of spaceborne corporations, are calling the shots. Governments answer to them as they have the ulitmate in air superiori...more
Hardwired takes place sometime in the more distant than not future. The Earth is not doing well. The oceans have rise, pollution is rampant, and the nations that are left standing have balkanized. From low earth orbit, the Orbitals, a group of spaceborne corporations, are calling the shots. Governments answer to them as they have the ulitmate in air superiori...more
2 likes · like · see review
You know the bit in Species where Natasha Henstridge sticks her tongue down Anthony Guidera's throat and out through the back of his head? It won the 1996 MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss, admittedly against a fairly weak field - Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls was a nominee. But all the same.
Anyway, what I wanted to say was: if you liked that scene, then you'll probably like Hardwired too. Just my little tip for the day.
Anyway, what I wanted to say was: if you liked that scene, then you'll probably like Hardwired too. Just my little tip for the day.
3 likes · like · see review
It's interesting to read dystopian novels from the 80s to see which parts of the future are no longer going concerns 20 years on, and which still are. Oil depletion and global warming still are, but nobody looks for a phone booth anymore. This was a fun read, although one does get tired of books that subscribe to the "only one girl" rule of characterization.
Cyberpunk. Weird... I have bought this book at least 3 times, the last two were stolen years apart. I found it at this great used bookstore and just reread it!! Even better, more relevant now. Cowboy and Sarah take you on a wild ride thru this incredible future with sex trade and drugs out in the open and technology that may very well be on the way!
I bought this novel when it first came out in 1986--the apex of the cyberpunk movement. I wanted to see what this sub-genre was all about & I found it to be as exciting as the key-tar was to New Wave Music. One reviewer summed it up as complete "style over substance" & I think this hits the nail on the head.
The characters were one dimensional & I was incredibly bored with the book. So bored in fact it just solidified my whole hatred for the cyberpunk movement--the "too cool for sci-f...more
The characters were one dimensional & I was incredibly bored with the book. So bored in fact it just solidified my whole hatred for the cyberpunk movement--the "too cool for sci-f...more
A very action-packed story that seems like it was written to be a movie. I probably would have liked this better if I hadn't read Gibson's Neuromancer first. This was good, but not up to that level, and I stumbled across some logic holes in the plot.
Good story, great analogies and metaphors. Fits well into the posthuman period that some literati feel is following post-modernism. Lots of modifications in, and added to, human bodies and mental capabilities. Very disquieting, but well written.
I have had this book on my shelf for ten years. I don't know why I waited to read this book.
I enjoy cyberpunk novels. This has all the ingredients of a cyberpunk novel. Evil Corporations, Implants, Cybernetics, Drugs and the Anti-Hero.
Williams has captured the internal struggle between the common man and "the man", aka the people with the power.
I found it hard to put the book down. The story starts off slow but then slams into to you with full force. The plot isn't so intricate that you get l...more
I enjoy cyberpunk novels. This has all the ingredients of a cyberpunk novel. Evil Corporations, Implants, Cybernetics, Drugs and the Anti-Hero.
Williams has captured the internal struggle between the common man and "the man", aka the people with the power.
I found it hard to put the book down. The story starts off slow but then slams into to you with full force. The plot isn't so intricate that you get l...more
Ignore the kind of dated cover. This is a great read, and an excellent introduction to cyberpunk. The only thing is the number of times the editor allowed "bob wire" to slip through uncorrected. Drove me bananas.
Having read only a few other cyberpunk novels before, I was happy to read another and broaden my horizons a little bit. While sometimes the book seems a little to prose happy I thought Williams did a great job with the characters and story line.
My favorite cyberpunk book (I enjoyed it much more than Neuromancer). Even though some of the technology is a bit dated (lack of cell phones) I still find the story holds up well.
I read this way back in high school and I remember it being less cyberpunk and more adventure tale with some cyberpunk elements to it. Still, it was fun and I don't regret picking it up. Again, good for when you have nothing better to read.
This is a cyberpunk story with a bit of a post-apocalypse feel to it. I liked the idea of the elite upper class retreating to space stations to rule over the earth.
Back when cyberpunk first arrived on the literary scene, I ravenously read any book I could find of this exciting new genre. "Hardwired" was among the most enjoyable of the cyberpunk books I have read.
Cyberpunk sometimes has a short shelf life. Technological advancements can render cyberpunk outdated. Hopefully, "Hardwired" will hold its own upon re-reading. I have not read "Solip:System" the novelette that links "Hardwired" to its full length sequel (set 100 years after), "Voice of the Whirlwi...more
Cyberpunk sometimes has a short shelf life. Technological advancements can render cyberpunk outdated. Hopefully, "Hardwired" will hold its own upon re-reading. I have not read "Solip:System" the novelette that links "Hardwired" to its full length sequel (set 100 years after), "Voice of the Whirlwi...more
A classic of early cyberpunk that I've long neglected. I've got this one and the sequel, Voice of the Whirlwind. Early cyberpunk was so much better...
Cold like a Neuromancer Fish.
Not in enough control of the wild material.
But the ride was pretty cool(in a good way too)
3 slambams outta 5
Not in enough control of the wild material.
But the ride was pretty cool(in a good way too)
3 slambams outta 5
Really loved Williams take on Cyberpunk. Both slicker and grittier than Gibson, Stephenson, or The Matrix.
I found this action fiction hard to put down. I really must read some more of this fellow's books.
I always end up coming back to this book when I fall into a Gibson mood.
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Walter Jon Williams has published twenty novels and short fiction collections. Most are science fiction or fantasy -Hardwired, Voice of the Whirlwind, Aristoi, Metropolitan, City on Fire to name just a few - a few are historical adventures, and the most recent, The Rift, is a disaster novel in which "I just basically pound a part of the planet down to bedrock." And that's just the opening chapters...more
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