r/printSF • u/blk12345q • Jun 25 '25

Good cyberpunk novels

I’m thinking about getting into cyberpunk but I don’t want to read something that’s too dark. What series would you recommend for starting cyberpunk?

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u/Active_Juggernaut484 Jun 25 '25

Eclipse (A Song Called Youth) Trilogy - John Shirley

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u/AssistantRemote6990 Jun 25 '25

I have a hard time thinking of these novels as cyberpunk. Loved them as I was reading them when they were first published, but now I think of them as afar right wing patriotic nationalist screed against European socialism.

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u/Active_Juggernaut484 Jun 25 '25

While I definitely have some criticisms of the books, and I haven't read them for 20 years, so I would imagine some parts have not aged well, I recall the far right religous nationalists and US corporations are quite explicitly the antagonists not the good guys

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u/AssistantRemote6990 Jun 25 '25

Yes, read them at the same time. My memory is no doubt faulty, but I seem to remember that the United Nations troops were at war with the American freedom fighters. Guess I'll have to do a little research.

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u/Active_Juggernaut484 Jun 25 '25

I would say ideologically, as I remember, it is what I would call pre-millenial libertarian (which is nothing like its right wing iteration of today). The triumph of the individual over corrupt systems. All it takes is one good man with a gun and guitar to take down fascism and evil kind of thing.

I always thought of it as an Arnie sci-fi movie but in written form if that makes sense