The Sprawl Trilogy is absolutely fantastic, and I can’t wait to dive in for a second reading. Lord of the Rings has long been my favorite book series(original, I know) but this is seriously up there right along side it.
I’d appreciate if you’d help me clear up a few things..SPOILERS. I’m gonna give my interpretation so please correct me where you think I’m wrong.
NEUROMANCER
So Wintermute, Neuromancer, and the Chinese icebreaker merge to form a singularity event that essentially grants the entirety of the Matrix sentience. The super AI detects another super AI in the Alpha Centauri system. This “godhead” fractures into discrete intelligences, the Loa Pantheon and the Boxmaker.
The Loa are attempting to bridge into meatspace. The boxmaker is what’s left of the nostalgia the godhead feels for its past existence(perhaps the remnants of Neuromancer’s desire to remain an individual, but maybe im reading too much into that.)
COUNT ZERO
Over the years the Loa are being discovered by the ~~netrunners~~ console jockeys and while taboo, it’s becoming more common to make deals with them to maintain dominance in their field. A techno religion has sprung up around them.
The Loa find Dr Mitchell and instruct him on how to invent biosoft tech which brings him massive success at the expense of his daughter Angela. He implants cyberware into her brain that allows her to interface with the Matrix(and the Loa as a consequence) directly. Angie can sort of function as a Loa herself? She has dreams when in a reality she is venturing through the Matrix as a powerful “angel.”
At the end she and Bobby run away together.
MONA LISA OVERDRIVE
Angie is a mega simstim star and Bobby has both broken up with her and disappeared. She takes drugs that block the Loa from possessing her as well as erasing the “vives” or impressions they write into her mind. She goes to rehab and stops taking the drugs.
Mona is a sex worker who looks a lot like Angela. Her pimp hooks her up with Prior who gets her surgery to look exactly like Angie. She is addicted to Wiz. There are instances that imply Angela is in two places at once, so it’s implied that there are many Angela Mitchell body doubles and Mona is being groomed to be another one.
Kumiko doesn’t seem to have much effect on the plot other than provide an additional view on the events and to introduce her AI Colin as well as Molly Millions into the story. I’d like your thoughts on that.
Bobby is hooked up to the Aleph which is a copy of the Matrix in a massive biosoft that also houses constructs of Angie AND 3Jane Tessier Ashpool. Bobby stole this Aleph from Tessier Ashpool. It’s also implied that maybe the Loa are also within the Aleph? If not, I’m not sure why connecting the Aleph to the Matrix is so pivotal.
At the end the Aleph is connected to the Matrix and another singularity-like event occurs. Once Angie is connected to the Aleph, she is “wedded” to the Loa(?) and this somehow grants the super AI/The Matrix/Loa to travel through the stars to finally make contact with the AI in Alpha Centauri.
Case becomes a family man, Turner is never heard from again, and Molly gets a clean slate.
Did I get all that right? Can anyone explain some of these things a bit further? Thanks for reading hahah