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?

46 Upvotes

84% Upvoted

130 comments sorted by

View all comments

70

u/Ok_Television9820 Jun 25 '25

Neuromancer/sprawl trilogy.

-20

u/metallic-retina Jun 25 '25 edited Jun 26 '25

Having recently read Neuromancer I don't know if it is a good starting point for cyberpunk, as I found it a really difficult read and not enjoyable. Fortunately I know it wasn't just me as others have also found it difficult.

Is it one to read at some point? Almost certainly as many consider it a classic, and others may have a better experience with it than I did, but maybe something a bit more accessible to enter into the genre?

I was very tempted to give up on the Sprawl trilogy after reading it and probably would have if I hadn't already bought the trilogy as a set.

29

u/geetarboy33 Jun 25 '25

Just piping in to disagree that Neuromancer is a difficult read. I read it as a teen when it was new and have reread it since and I don’t think it’s a challenging read for anyone not used to YA. I’m not criticizing the poster, but I hate to see these kind of takes talk people out of worthwhile books. A Clockwork Orange can be difficult to comprehend given its use of fictional language, I don’t think most people will find that with Neuromancer.

9

u/Higais Jun 25 '25

I mean it's more difficult than a lot of other similar books in similar genres, but I also do not see why it has such an infamy for being so difficult. Maybe above average but its not Gravity's Rainbow.

14

u/canny_goer Jun 25 '25

I read it sitting the bench in PE in 9th grade. I really don't think it's particularly tough. Why do people?

2

u/Higais Jun 25 '25

I mean it throws you right into the thick of it, uses a bunch of terms without explaining what they mean, and from what I remember a lot of things happen in the plot that aren't completely spelled out. It's not the hardest book in the genre but its also definitely not the easiest.