Gibson dumps you in at the deep end and lets you figure out what's going on through the dialogue and actions of the characters. I quite like that the way he does it, although it makes the first couple of chapters slow going. The time travel thing is fascinating - they have this "server", no one knows where it came from, they sort of know how to use it to get into the past. The only thing is that once they get there, the timeline will now diverge from their own, making a different world. But I'm not entirely certain why they needed Burton (and so got Flynne instead) for security in the first place. And I'm also not certain why Lowbeer was so interested in the murder of a celebrity's sister. I read pretty fast, so I expect there was some bit of conversation that explained her importance and I just missed it. But no matter, on we go, into a world of a couple major powers, not exactly governments, but with the same motives of absolute power.
An interesting angle on time travel, technology, and environmental catastrophe from one of my favorite authors. This is a great story, and it was cool to hear Mr. Gibson to read selections from it, and sign my copy at Motorco in Durham :)
I've read and enjoyed very much all that this author has written - until this book. His past books do start out 'challenging', but once one gets into the 'rhythm' of his prose, a story emerges and intrigues. NO SO with this tome!! I felt like I had been given a re-write done by monkeys on typewriters. Absolutely a sense of dark mish mash and being duped by a trusted author. Gibson, you just lost all credibility and interest by me. If you aren't retired, you should have before wasting your time and effort. Perhaps you should have used the ZERO 'History' title on this brick.