So apparently this is a sequel or a prequel or both to the previous William Gibson novel The Peripheral, something I definitely did not know going in. I just put this on hold on Overdrive and starting listening. For the most part this wasn’t the most difficult challenge to follow the story because this series involves a lot of familiar science fiction tropes, and William Gibson tropes as well.
So the novel begins with the “app whisperer” being assigned to a new AI app as part of her hiring at a technology start up. Her role is to beta test or test the app, figure out its functionality (or lack of functionality) and assess the quality etc etc. It’s very similar to the beginning of Gibson’s novel Pattern Recognition where the lead character has a kind of sixth sense about brands and logos where she has a kind of physical reaction to them. So the kind of non-concrete app testing role is familiar to me. The app turns out to be an AI that grows as they interact.
So that’s the basics, and I was like cool, got it.
But this is also a time travel book?
But also not? But kind of? Instead, it’s a kind of branching timelines book in which members of a secret government?? agency that can see the branching timelines of alternate worlds and affect them in various ways etc etc etc
So apparently this is more so explained in the other book, but I more or less worked it out.
(Photo: https://www.amazon.com/Agency-William-Gibson/dp/110198693X)