Idoru

Why it is worth your time

Idoru is William Gibson's 1996 novel, the second in his Bridge trilogy after Virtual Light. It is set in a near-future Tokyo rebuilt by nanotechnology after an earthquake. Colin Laney, a researcher who can read patterns in data, is hired to find out why Rez, the singer of the band Lo/Rez, intends to marry Rei Toei, a synthetic pop star who exists only as software. A 14-year-old fan from Seattle flies in to ask the same question. Gibson wrote Neuromancer in 1984 and coined the word cyberspace. Jason posted in February 2020 that he loves the book. Science fiction is his sideline, and this one anticipates virtual celebrities and online fandom by 2 decades. It suits readers who want Gibson in a lighter register than Neuromancer. The caveat is that it was published in 1996, and Publishers Weekly found the pacing slower than Virtual Light, the earlier book in the same loose trilogy.