Eunice is an extremely believable, idiosyncratic and highly polished character. the intricate noir-thriller plotting affords constant entertainment and suspense. While the novelty of Gibson’s core conceit is no longer as startling, he still manages to squeeze fresh juice from the novum. as engaging, thought-provoking and delightful as its predecessor. To finish Agency is to be initially happy, satisfied by the utopian ending - and then increasingly disturbed, as one continues to think about what this happy conclusion entails. The genius of Agency, particularly in its injection of affect in relation to Eunice, is to show just how much people - especially at this moment in history - desire such practical direction for their lives. We should not be deceived by the novel’s thriller form and science fiction trappings into thinking Agency is not serious, idea-driven literature. we can see why Gibson remains an essential novelist. Verity Jane’s emptiness makes space for the novel to be full of other things: the above mentioned fast-paced action, but also a much more extensive development of characters familiar from the first novel, especially a public relations specialist named Wilf Netherton. Verity Jane, on the other hand, seems a kind of cipher for the action of the second novel: she basically goes along with everything, and is a fairly empty character as a result. The first novel, titled The Peripheral, was a New York Times best seller notable for its heady mixture of drone manipulation, time travel, apocalypse, and alternate history, all these devices being combined in a narrative prose precise in its physical and technological descriptions.

The agency by william gibson