Status
Available
Call number
Series
Publication
Tor (1987), Paperback
Description
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 independence from the rapacious Orbitals.
User reviews
LibraryThing member TCWriter
Note: I just re-read this, and decided to give it an extra star. It's slick and fast and I still like the characters. Big fun from one of the seminal cyberpunk novels
Though it involves a somewhat dark vision of earth's future, Hardwired is a fun, fast-moving cyberpunk thriller featuring flawed
Considered one of the novels that jump-started the cyberpunk movement (and released not long after William Gibson's Neuromancer helped cyberpunk achieve mainstream status), Hardwired is a different kind of cyberpunk novel -- one that details the attempts of a few individuals to remain free.
In some instances, it borders on space opera, but Williams' prose is lively and rich, and the book incorporates elements of post apocalypse urban cyberpunk alongside military SF and even some western elements.
So much cyberpunk is uniformly depressing (darkness, rain, etc), but Williams manages to evoke the spare, unforgiving landscape of the American Southwest, which ultimately releases the reader from a bout with what I call cyberdepression.
I first read it in the late 80s after hearing it was an homage to Zelazny's Damnation Alley, and I've read this novel several times since (when the covers fell off my original copy I bought another, and bought the ebook as soon as Williams released it).
Filled with deeply flawed heroes, deeply creepy bad guys and a lot of people struggling to be human (and failing) in often inhuman circumstances, Hardwired is pure fun -- a high-powered, high-octane adventure.
Though it involves a somewhat dark vision of earth's future, Hardwired is a fun, fast-moving cyberpunk thriller featuring flawed
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heroes.Considered one of the novels that jump-started the cyberpunk movement (and released not long after William Gibson's Neuromancer helped cyberpunk achieve mainstream status), Hardwired is a different kind of cyberpunk novel -- one that details the attempts of a few individuals to remain free.
In some instances, it borders on space opera, but Williams' prose is lively and rich, and the book incorporates elements of post apocalypse urban cyberpunk alongside military SF and even some western elements.
So much cyberpunk is uniformly depressing (darkness, rain, etc), but Williams manages to evoke the spare, unforgiving landscape of the American Southwest, which ultimately releases the reader from a bout with what I call cyberdepression.
I first read it in the late 80s after hearing it was an homage to Zelazny's Damnation Alley, and I've read this novel several times since (when the covers fell off my original copy I bought another, and bought the ebook as soon as Williams released it).
Filled with deeply flawed heroes, deeply creepy bad guys and a lot of people struggling to be human (and failing) in often inhuman circumstances, Hardwired is pure fun -- a high-powered, high-octane adventure.
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LibraryThing member scottcholstad
Not a bad book. In fact, fairly decent -- for its time. The problem is -- and this is NOT the author's fault -- it's basically cyberpunk, and back when this was written, William Gibson was the standard and the genre wasn't glutted like it is now, but unfortunately, if you read it for the first time
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now, you encounter many now-formulaic and predictable cyberpunk plot devices and descriptions, which again is not the author's fault, as it was fairly original for its time. It's just that I felt like I've been there, done that a hundred times while reading this, and that's my fault, because I've OD'd on cyberpunk and for the most point, am now avoiding the genre since not many novels seem able to break the formula. So, this is probably a four star book for its time, but sadly, I'm giving it only three due to the fact that I didn't enjoy it as much as I would have in the 1980s. Again, this shouldn't reflect on the author, who appears to be a decent writer. It's just that it's a tired genre, and this fits into the formula quite well, even as a predecessor. Nonetheless, if you're into cyberpunk, recommended. Show Less
LibraryThing member wyvernfriend
I read this in the dim and distant past and remember it being a good read. I'm pretty sure I borrowed this off a friend while in College.
LibraryThing member ScoLgo
Skiffy cyberpunk goodness from 1986. One of the earlier works in the genre and it's a good one. How this story has not yet been turned into a movie is puzzling. The characters, narrative, action, and dialogue are all very cinematic. I will definitely be reading the sequel, Voice of the Whirlwind in
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the near-future. Show Less
LibraryThing member aadyer
Arguably a seminal work in cyberpunk fiction after the work of William Gibson and Bruce Sterling. This is a speculative, almost dystopian world with orbital corporations, controlling the Earth from a distance. Featured within our weapons of mass destruction, conspiracies, smugglers, and people just
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trying to get by. there’s quite a lot of violence involved and some of the cybernetics seems somewhat primitive even by today’s standards. It’s amazing to think that water John Williams wrote this in the 1980s. It was worth a re-read Show Less
LibraryThing member Zare
It took me a while to pick this one up. I was slightly put off because of the comparison with Gibson's Neuromancer, book that I love but one that at times is so impenetrable due to lingo and weird psychedelic visuals 9I enjoy sometimes to let myself to the story flow but hey, most of the time I
I am glad I picked this one up because in form this book is nothing like Gibson's work and for me that is good thing. If you want me to compare it to some of the other authors in the field I think that Richard K Morgan is the first author that comes to mind. I am sure that Cowboy and Sarah would be quite an Envoy team.
First lets see what this book has in common with Gibsons Neuromancer when we look at two main elements that Gibson is known for:
- hardly pronounceable made up words and terms - no
- frantic, almost Jodorowski-like psychedelic scenes that make you scratch your head and force you to re-read chapters to figure out what happened- no
Walter Jon Williams prose is much more clearer and on the spot and because of it it is much more enjoyable to me.
While Gibson's books sometime read like a fast forward movie with occasional glitch so that viewer can figure out what a heck is going on (imagine Unreal tournament match at high speed), Williams paints the picture much clearer, more real. It is still fast action movie but one I can follow and actually see with my inner eye. While with Molly and Henry I only managed to follow the story without figuring out what is that actually drives them, Cowboy and Sarah are much more fleshed out characters, I can follow their flow of thought and their motivations.
Book is straight forward action fest - from the first Cowboy's smuggle run to Sarah and her wet-work, various mercenaries, spies and hit-men to grand finale, all out conflict (air battles are pure joy to read) and something very, very satisfying at the end :) In my opinion book is cross between Neuromancer (when it comes to descriptions of neural interfaces and the "flow" hardwired people activate when things get funny), Tom Clancy's No Remorse, A.J.Quinnell's Tom Creasy (Cowboy is one hell of a merc, when he is on a quest you do not want to be in his way) and Burnell's Rythm Section (Sarah's love-hate feelings towards the Orbitals, making the difficult decisions and always ending as played out party but picking up and pushing on).
Book has it all: corporations, mercs, high-end technology, AI, rich in heaven, poor in dirt. You name it it's there.
Unfortunately as most dystopian books this one was also prophetic in the portrayal of the society, way drugs and industrial corporations (pharmaceuticals especially - I like mention of Pfizer in the book - it seems this industry giant was as controversial in 1980's as it is now - as a matter of fact it seems that entire society in 1980s was more wary of big industry (Big Pharma, Toshiba, Hughes etc) unlike today, unfortunately) control the world below, keep people in fantasy world of freedom while they control all the channels and means of distributing the goods (legal and illegal).
This disconnect between two societies is shown through the manager of one of the Orbitals (corporations) - Roon. I cannot but shiver every time I read parts with this guy in. Reason? I cannot but see parallels between all the elite in our world (of any political persuasion) that feels this need to enlighten the majority of populace (read rest of us) while themselves live in completely other universe from that very populace (remember that Marie Anotionette's famous "Let them eat cake [instead of bread]" - well they all suffer from the same syndrome).
Again while the world in this book is interesting and full of intrigue it is world we must not thrive for, because that world means humanity went upside down completely. Seriously!
Highly recommended book to anyone who wants to read about dystopian future and at the same time read about greater than life characters engaged in lots and lots of action :)
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like knowing where I am). I am glad I picked this one up because in form this book is nothing like Gibson's work and for me that is good thing. If you want me to compare it to some of the other authors in the field I think that Richard K Morgan is the first author that comes to mind. I am sure that Cowboy and Sarah would be quite an Envoy team.
First lets see what this book has in common with Gibsons Neuromancer when we look at two main elements that Gibson is known for:
- hardly pronounceable made up words and terms - no
- frantic, almost Jodorowski-like psychedelic scenes that make you scratch your head and force you to re-read chapters to figure out what happened- no
Walter Jon Williams prose is much more clearer and on the spot and because of it it is much more enjoyable to me.
While Gibson's books sometime read like a fast forward movie with occasional glitch so that viewer can figure out what a heck is going on (imagine Unreal tournament match at high speed), Williams paints the picture much clearer, more real. It is still fast action movie but one I can follow and actually see with my inner eye. While with Molly and Henry I only managed to follow the story without figuring out what is that actually drives them, Cowboy and Sarah are much more fleshed out characters, I can follow their flow of thought and their motivations.
Book is straight forward action fest - from the first Cowboy's smuggle run to Sarah and her wet-work, various mercenaries, spies and hit-men to grand finale, all out conflict (air battles are pure joy to read) and something very, very satisfying at the end :) In my opinion book is cross between Neuromancer (when it comes to descriptions of neural interfaces and the "flow" hardwired people activate when things get funny), Tom Clancy's No Remorse, A.J.Quinnell's Tom Creasy (Cowboy is one hell of a merc, when he is on a quest you do not want to be in his way) and Burnell's Rythm Section (Sarah's love-hate feelings towards the Orbitals, making the difficult decisions and always ending as played out party but picking up and pushing on).
Book has it all: corporations, mercs, high-end technology, AI, rich in heaven, poor in dirt. You name it it's there.
Unfortunately as most dystopian books this one was also prophetic in the portrayal of the society, way drugs and industrial corporations (pharmaceuticals especially - I like mention of Pfizer in the book - it seems this industry giant was as controversial in 1980's as it is now - as a matter of fact it seems that entire society in 1980s was more wary of big industry (Big Pharma, Toshiba, Hughes etc) unlike today, unfortunately) control the world below, keep people in fantasy world of freedom while they control all the channels and means of distributing the goods (legal and illegal).
This disconnect between two societies is shown through the manager of one of the Orbitals (corporations) - Roon. I cannot but shiver every time I read parts with this guy in. Reason? I cannot but see parallels between all the elite in our world (of any political persuasion) that feels this need to enlighten the majority of populace (read rest of us) while themselves live in completely other universe from that very populace (remember that Marie Anotionette's famous "Let them eat cake [instead of bread]" - well they all suffer from the same syndrome).
Again while the world in this book is interesting and full of intrigue it is world we must not thrive for, because that world means humanity went upside down completely. Seriously!
Highly recommended book to anyone who wants to read about dystopian future and at the same time read about greater than life characters engaged in lots and lots of action :)
Show Less
Awards
Kurd Laßwitz Preis (Nominat — 1989)
Original publication date
1986
Physical description
6.7 inches
ISBN
0812557964 / 9780812557961