Hardwired

by Walter Jon Williams

Book Overview

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".

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0812557964
• ISBN13: 9780812557961
• Release Date: January 1987
• Publisher: Tor Books
• Length: 345 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A cyberpunk classic

I'm amazed there's no reviews of this. Back in the day, it was considered a cyberpunk classic. Probably not quite as great as neuromancer but a good follow up read if you want something "different but similiar" (the classic SF fan's request for reading materials after a new favorite). Interstate commerce with anti-aircraft missiles, drugs, gangsters, cybernetics. near orbit stations, heroes with implants, all a man or woman could wish for in a cyberpunk future with just a hint, a wee hint, of a Western. Inspired a supplement for the Cyberpunk RPG. All in all, I enjoyed it greatly.

Left handed cyberpunk.......

This is one of the pioneering books in the cyberpunk genre, but is less well known than most. This is not because it is a bad book, or dull, far from it; but rather is because there are a couple of differences that distinguish it from the cyberpunk pack. Contrary to most Science Fiction writing, cyberpunk tried to show and explicate its fictional world through the eyes of comparatively low-ranking people on the margins of their society, perhaps thrown into a situation where their actions are important to it (although not necessarily) but virtually always with the characters' mental environment shaped by, and immersed in, the larger social and physical/technical environment, and with their actions constrained by outsider and lowly status. This was a gesture towards realism, as most all people are greatly constrained by their circumstances and are much more caught up in the present than are typical characters in Science Fiction. The limited power and vantage points available to cyberpunk characters are complemented by the characteristic cyberpunk immersion into the techno-cultural environment of the story. Just as most people have more contact with DVDs, bottled water, and PCs than with nuclear reactors, so cyberpunk immerses the reader in the common environment present in the story. By contrast, Hardwired, while utilizing the iconic technologies, imperfect world, corporate domination, assassins and smugglers of cyberpunk, is a far more traditional Science Fiction story in that the characters are that extra (unrealistically) bit mobile, are rather more powerful and connected to the center of events than is typical, and are concerned with the core issues of their world, rather than with a tiny fraction of it. In this way, Hardwired is not quite cyberpunk, and the criticism that this is "not real cyberpunk" is understandable. In a similar vein, the language, while comparatively poetic in true cyberpunk fashion, fails to completely immerse, indeed flood the reader with the world of the story (as opposed to the events of the story). All this being said however, Hardwired is not only an entertaining and adventurous story, and a relatively "hard" one (as in "hard", meaning scientifically viable science fiction), but it also very usefully explores the stereotypical themes and characters of cyberpunk. The smugglers and assassins that populate the genre are less two dimensional, and the reader will get a much stronger feel for what such a profession or what corporate domination might MEAN. An additional bit of cyberpunk credit is due in that cyberpunk is very much about the intersection of culture and technology, and Williams has a keen sense of how future technology and trends might interact with world, particularly US culture. For these reasons, while this book differs from most cyberpunk (hence my description, "left handed cyberpunk"), I think that it is indispensable to understanding it, and this book should be considered a crucial par

Easily the best cyberpunk

Hardwired is about a panzerboy called Cowboy and a dirtgirl/assassin named Sarah and their unlikely alliance. The megacorporations that rule the earth from orbital platforms don't care too much about what goes on as long as they continue to gain in power and wealth. Sometimes the people being stepped on don't like it, but what can they do? They may not be as helpless as the people in charge think.The setting reminds me of Blade Runner, but maybe a bit grungier. The characters are well crafted and convincing. The plot is gripping, and the writing flows off the pages.This books is from 1986, so it is not the same stale cyberpunk junk that you may be used to. Check it out!

One of the most important works of the last 20 years.

Three works define cyberpunk as a genre -- William Gibson's "Neuromancer," Bruce Sterling's "The Artificial Kid" and Walter Jon Williams' "Hardwired." Of the three, "Hardwired" is certainly the most fun to read.Williams' writing has always jumped off the page, but none of his other books move quite as fast or quite as gracefully (with, perhaps, the exception of the three Drake Maijistral books) as "Hardwired." A chugging, gut-wrenching, pulse-pounding juggernaut of a book -- if you haven't read "Hardwired," you haven't even started understanding modern sci-fi.This is cyberpunk at its best.

Classic Cyberpunk

One of the best Cyberpunk stories I have ever read. There is no black and white in this story, all the main characters have both flaws and admirable traits. This wonderfull characterisation together with the outstanding action sequences make Hardwired a must read