- Paperback: 448 pages
- Publisher: Grafton (24 Oct 1991)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0586211470
- ISBN-13: 978-0586211472
- Product Dimensions: 17.2 x 11 x 3.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 694,174 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
In Synners, the line between technology and humanity is hopelessly slim. A constant stream of new technology spawns crime before it hits the streets; the human mind and the external landscape have fused to the point where any encounter with "reality" is incidental.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From the Back Cover
In Synners, the line between humanity and technology is hopelessly slim. The human mind and the external landscape have fused to the point where any encounter with 'reality' is incidental. Now you can change yourself to suit the machines - and all it will cost you is your freedom, and your humanity.
'Ambitious, brilliantly executed . . . Cadigan is a major talent' William Gibson
'Cadigan's multifaceted talent includes a strong gift for definitive hardcore cyberpunk' Bruce Sterling
Pat Cadigan (1953-)
Pat Cadigan was born in Schenectady, New York and grew up in Massachusetts. Her short fiction has been nominated for the Hugo and Nebula Awards and she has twice won the Arthur C. Clarke Award. She has lived in London since 1996.
978 0 575 11954 3
£8.99
--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Synners - human synthesisers. Haven't you always wanted to be able to 'paint' music videos, straight from your mind? BE the music, BE the image. Just plug into your musician/band of choice, plug yourself into an output and wheeee! Of course, when you can jack straight into someone's brain and pervert their sense of reality or steal the odd thought, things CAN get a bit rocky.
Synners is not an easy ride, but if you enjoy working hard at a book you'll LOVE it. From the first word you're dropped without warning into a possible future, just around the corner from here and now.
There's a great idiosyncratic cast, murder, machiavellian mystery, pathos, sex-drugs-&-rock n'roll, virtual reality, Artificial Intelligence, cybernetics… you name it. A fascinating plot woven by unusual, three-dimensional characters. Cadigan spins you up, down and sideways, but always with supreme control and elegance. A great wordsmith and a great story.
Synners is not an easy ride, but if you enjoy working hard at a book you'll LOVE it. From the first word you're dropped without warning into a possible future, just around the corner from here and now.
There's a great idiosyncratic cast, murder, machiavellian mystery, pathos, sex-drugs-&-rock n'roll, virtual reality, Artificial Intelligence, cybernetics… you name it. A fascinating plot woven by unusual, three-dimensional characters. Cadigan spins you up, down and sideways, but always with supreme control and elegance. A great wordsmith and a great story.
And if you think that's hard, try Mindplayers and Fools, too!
Format:Paperback
Pat Cadigan's "Synners" - excellent, highly complex, cyberpunk sci-fi by an author I now very much want to read more of. Perspective switches between different characters in different narratives and I'm sure I missed a lot by only reading this in bits interspersed with a lot of other things. Synners are those who take imagery from the brains of others and turn them into a consumable form through a new form of surgical cuber modules. The idea is similar to that I first saw in one of William Gibson's "Kings of Sleep", one of the short stories in the Burning chrome collection, or the performers with cybered creative skills in Joan D. Vinge's "Cat's Paw", but "Synners" takes the idea further, developing it into a complex plot with a sideline of studies in Self and Consciousness.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
17 reviews
14 of 16 people found the following review helpful
You've Gotta Read This Book!!
30 Nov 2001
Format:Paperback
Pat Cadigan's Synners is an interwoven chronicle of three main characters: Gabe, Sam, and Gina. Gabe is an advertising agent for Diversifications, Inc. and Sam, his daughter, is a hacker. Gina is a synner (creator of the near-future rock videos) whose company was bought out by Diversifications, Inc. Drugs that help with depression have been reinforced by implants provided at "feel-good clinics". Diversifications, Inc. has discovered a plan for a new implant that provides prerecorded dreams that can be accessed for entertainment. Gina's coworker, Visual Mark, has been selected as the experimental subject because of his exceptional visual imagination.
Synners uses familiar Cyberpunk concepts such as global computer networks, direct computer linkups to the brain, enhanced recreational drugs, young hackers and a modified form of rock music. This story revolves around the introduction of new technology, such as implants to treat depression and brain sockets to enhance entertainment. It also revolves around what happens when new technology begins to do the unexpected.
Synners is presented at a perfect pace and is told in a multi-threaded style, where the characters intertwine with each other. The character development and plot are written with elaborate detail, but the theme is very simple. This book is very entertaining, even though concentration and close attention are needed in order to understand what is happening. I enjoyed this book very much and highly recommend reading it.
16 of 20 people found the following review helpful
Maybe it was just me...
27 Sep 2002
Format:Paperback
Well, it looks like I am a minority here. Yes, that's right, I really didn't enjoy this book. To be honest with you, I only got to the page 200. I consider myself a sci-fi fan. I've read (and loved) all Stephenson's books, Philip K. Dick, Nylund, Bruce Sterling, and many others. There are very few authors that I don't like, and thinking about it, that was my mistake. A lot of people compare Cadigan with Gibson, and Neuromancer was one book that I really couldn't get through.
The problem with Synners in my opinion is that it tries to do too much at the same time. Timeline is confusing, the characters are introduced a dozen at a time, and after 200 pages there was a lot of descriptions about not so important situations and very little was told about the plot and how the different threads related to each other. Characters are very poorly developed. Visual Mark, who is supposed to be important, has no clear identity, and other characters that could be interesting, like the boy who could read and learnt Chinese, are just forgotten.
There are a few cool ideas in this book. The brain sockets and the whole idea about hi-tech music industry are interesting concepts, but they are just not enough when compared to the silly ideas like the nonsense hit and run, the exaggerated drug apologies and things like that man with the `graphic changing' cape, etc.
Bottom line, I wouldn't recommend this book.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Even if you don't like cyber-punk, you'll like this.
26 Jun 1998
Format:Paperback
I'm not a huge sci-fi fan, but I like good stories. This is a fine story. I admire Cadigan's ability to have several stories going at once, a ton of characters interacting, and still keep it interesting and fun. I recommend her other novels Mindplayers and Fools. They aren't as funny, but the plots are intrigueing and complex. Cadigan is a very original writer, and I love reading her work.
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