Runo Knows...All Tomorrow's Parties
And now we teeter into the conclusion of the trilogy. Unlike the other two books, this one can't stand on its own; you really need to have read both of the other ones to understand what's going on here.
It's the confluence of events, in a way. Colin Laney, in Tokyo, is living in a cardboard shack and sees the nodal point forming up on the Bridge in San Francisco. It's also related to Cody Harwood, the heir to the advertising fortune who first showed up in Virtual Light. He hires Berry Rydell to leave LA and head up there just to "be there", so Rydell hitches a ride with Buell Creedmore, an alcoholic, dancer-addicted country singer.
Meanwhile, a man with no name encounters a boy who doesn't speak, which leads the boy to ending up with Fontaine, who runs a small shop on the Bridge and provides Chevette with about her last link to her past when she shows up with roommate/documentary maker Tessa, on the run from an abusive ex-boyfriend.
Other characters from the past meet up - Rei Toei, the titular media icon of the previous book, and even Maryalice (who I think I mistakenly called Mary Jane in the previous Runo Knows) at one point, seeming more desperate and more pathetic than before. Just about the only major character who doesn't show up, it seems, is Chia, from Idoru, though she may be in the Walled City segments and I'm just obtuse enough to miss it.
It's hard to talk much about the book without giving away what's going on and what'll happen. On the other hand, the color of the bridge is shown even better than in Virtual Light, and the secondary characters really shine (such as Boomzilla). The writing takes on an urgency that combined with an attachment to the characters makes you that much more involved. There's one point for me that made me almost want to cheer (I admit, I'm a nerd).
As a conclusion, it's arguably the best of the trilogy (though not much ahead of Idoru in my opinion), and it provides a pretty solid conclusion to the ending. It doesn't spell out "here's what happens later", though there is a tantalizing fragment of that, but it doesn't leave you feeling cheated or necessarily wanting more.
It's the confluence of events, in a way. Colin Laney, in Tokyo, is living in a cardboard shack and sees the nodal point forming up on the Bridge in San Francisco. It's also related to Cody Harwood, the heir to the advertising fortune who first showed up in Virtual Light. He hires Berry Rydell to leave LA and head up there just to "be there", so Rydell hitches a ride with Buell Creedmore, an alcoholic, dancer-addicted country singer.
Meanwhile, a man with no name encounters a boy who doesn't speak, which leads the boy to ending up with Fontaine, who runs a small shop on the Bridge and provides Chevette with about her last link to her past when she shows up with roommate/documentary maker Tessa, on the run from an abusive ex-boyfriend.
Other characters from the past meet up - Rei Toei, the titular media icon of the previous book, and even Maryalice (who I think I mistakenly called Mary Jane in the previous Runo Knows) at one point, seeming more desperate and more pathetic than before. Just about the only major character who doesn't show up, it seems, is Chia, from Idoru, though she may be in the Walled City segments and I'm just obtuse enough to miss it.
It's hard to talk much about the book without giving away what's going on and what'll happen. On the other hand, the color of the bridge is shown even better than in Virtual Light, and the secondary characters really shine (such as Boomzilla). The writing takes on an urgency that combined with an attachment to the characters makes you that much more involved. There's one point for me that made me almost want to cheer (I admit, I'm a nerd).
As a conclusion, it's arguably the best of the trilogy (though not much ahead of Idoru in my opinion), and it provides a pretty solid conclusion to the ending. It doesn't spell out "here's what happens later", though there is a tantalizing fragment of that, but it doesn't leave you feeling cheated or necessarily wanting more.