Top 10 Best Cyberounk Books and Novels of all Time

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To quote a magazine from my childhood: "Science fiction knows two eras: Before and after Neuromancer"

....Besides William Gibsons works I honestly got nothing.Cyberpunk seems really rare subject, or I am quick to label something as non-cyberpunk scifi I guess.

I assume Altered carbon by Richard K. Morgan is readable as the netflix series is quite ok. But I haven't actually read it.
 
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The whole Sprawl Trilogy from Gibson is really good.

For short stories there's Mirrorshades: The Cyberpunk Anthology collected by Bruce Sterling.

Hardwired by Walter Jon Williams was mentioned already, but I recommend 30th anniversary edition. Foreword is really worth reading. I like how author very casually explains certain things influencing his writing and it's kinda insightful regarding other works from that era too. I mean, Gibson wrote Neuromancer with typewriter.

It doesn't say it, IIRC but publisher really wanted sequel, so book leaves option for that and then he went and wrote sort of sequel that has really nothing to do with Hardwired. :p

Altered Carbon in novel form is IMO way better than TV-series, that starts strongly sure, but in the end, isn't as timeless as novel.

Pattern Recognition by Gibson is IMO pretty good take on topic without chrome aspect.
 

xlawx

Forum regular
Cyberpunk seems really rare subject, or I am quick to label something as non-cyberpunk scifi I guess.
Good question, it's kinda hard to label. I didnt heard that "Deus Ex" being Cyberpunk till a few months ago, although it fills the core of Cyberpunk. It was labelled as "Dystopian future". Now, it recognized as Cyberpunk-theme.
And there is "Babylon A.D." another Cyberpunk, but nobody mentions it. Just "Dystopian dark future" - label.

It's about "Transhumanism", which changed the world. It's a philosophical direction of thought, how far will affect the humankind and society.
 
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I have enjoyed the following trilogy back in the early 90's:
  1. Shadowrun Legends: Never Deal with a Dragon: Secrets of Power, Volume 1
  2. Shadowrun Legends: Choose Your Enemies Carefully: Secrets of Power, Volume. 2
  3. Shadowrun Legends: Find Your Own Truth: Secrets of Power, Volume 3
Although a lot of movies are identified as cyberpunk, I find Johnny Mnemonic represents the cyberpunk culture I love the best. (First place I sa the monowire in action )

Always loved the old and the newer Shadowrun games also, with the exception of the FPS one released on Xbox.

Shadowrun_(1994)_Coverart.png
 
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Virual Light by William Gibson is a good take to "normal" life of a cyberpunk citizen, where one fumble leads to a whole lot of shit. It also is a good example of how far the author could see to future, as it sports AR-glasses, something that we now could make a thing. And it was published in 1993.

Gibson's works are the "go to" books if one wants to see something alike to 2020-2077 cyberpunks.

Another vote from me too goes to Hardwired. It really nails it in showing us the rusty, dusty, wired and adrenaline pumped side of cyberpunk.

Altered Carbon was mentioned here too, which is not surprising given the Netflix serie's popularity. While the series (the first season) was good, the book of course is better. One should expect much more highflying scifi than in most other cyberpunk books though, as it goes waay further into future.

For anyone interested, there is a pretty decent writing that, among other interesting thoughts, mentions all the big players whom helped to shape the cyberpunk to what it is now. Each book from the authors mentioned are worth checking out:

 
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Well Gibson's first 2 trilogies are really good as was Hardwired, but some other books to mention:

Bruce Sterling: Islands in the Net, Heavy Weather and Holy Fire​
Pat Cadigan: Mindplayers (which may feel very familiar after playing CP77...) and the 2 Dore Konstantin books. I also loved Fools and Synners.​
Neil Stephenson: Zodiac and The Diamond Age​

If you include graphic novels/comics in your list:

Tony Takezaki: AD Police (it's kind of "MaxTac the manga").​
Masamune Shirow: Ghost in the Shell and Appleseed.​
Katsuhiro Otomo: Akira (the manga is much more cyberpunk than the movie)​
 
great posts by everyone. the Sprawl trilogy and Gibson's work in general had great influence on my reading taste.

Oh, for czech speaking CP fans, i have to recommend "Stroncium" by Jiri Kulhanek. Great stuff, but doubt it'll ever be translated to english unfortunately.
 
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