Agency Audiobook By William Gibson cover art

Agency

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Agency

By: William Gibson
Narrated by: Lorelei King
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About this listen

An instant New York Times best seller

"One of the most visionary, original, and quietly influential writers currently working" (The Boston Globe) returns with a sharply imagined follow-up to the New York Times best-selling The Peripheral.

William Gibson has trained his eye on the future for decades, ever since coining the term "cyberspace" and then popularizing it in his classic speculative novel Neuromancer in the early 1980s. Cory Doctorow raved that The Peripheral is "spectacular, a piece of trenchant, far-future speculation that features all the eyeball kicks of Neuromancer." Now, Gibson is back with Agency - a science-fiction thriller heavily influenced by our most current events.

Verity Jane, gifted app whisperer, takes a job as the beta tester for a new product: a digital assistant, accessed through a pair of ordinary-looking glasses. "Eunice", the disarmingly human AI in the glasses, manifests a face, a fragmentary past, and a canny grasp of combat strategy. Realizing that her cryptic new employers don’t yet know how powerful and valuable Eunice is, Verity instinctively decides that it’s best they don’t.

Meanwhile, a century ahead in London, in a different time line entirely, Wilf Netherton works amid plutocrats and plunderers, survivors of the slow and steady apocalypse known as the jackpot. His boss, the enigmatic Ainsley Lowbeer, can look into alternate pasts and nudge their ultimate directions. Verity and Eunice are her current project. Wilf can see what Verity and Eunice can’t: their own version of the jackpot, just around the corner, and the roles they both may play in it.

©2018 William Gibson (P)2018 Penguin Audio
Fantasy Fiction Literary Fiction Political Science Fiction Technothrillers Thriller Espionage

Critic reviews

"Engaging, thought-provoking and delightful... [Gibson] can always be counted on to show us our contemporary milieu rendered magical by his unique insights, and a future rendered inhabitable by his wild yet disciplined imagination." (The Washington Post)

"Superb... Each sentence is a hand-turned marvel of compact characterization, world-building and sardonic wit, all used to illuminate his vivid milieus.... Gibson has an inexhaustible supply of tricks, new stories and new ways of telling them that make him the most consistent predictor of our present, contextualizer of our pasts and presager of our possible futures." (Los Angeles Times)

"An immersive thriller, fueled by an intelligent, empathetic imagination." (The Boston Globe)

Featured Article: Listen Before You Watch—The Biggest Page-to-Screen Adaptations in Fall/Winter 2022


It’s not just crunchy leaves and cozy vibes that autumn brings. This fall and winter, television and movie fans also have a lot to look forward to, with major page-to-screen adaptations slated from streaming and theatrical releases. So, as your next listen, consider tuning in to the original works that have inspired what are sure to be our new book-to-movie and book-to-television obsessions.

Editor's Pick

The future is now!
"Six years after William Gibson’s The Peripheral, the groundbreaking writer returns with a follow-up sci-fi thriller that continues the timeline hopping fun The Agency. It’s a must-listen for anyone who is a fan of Gibson’s thought-provoking prose. Award-winning narrator Lorelai King’s performance more than keeps up with the fast-paced storyline that bounces between an alternative 2017 and a future London in a different timeline. You first get to know Verity Jane, an app whisperer, as she tests out a new AI named Eunice and assesses the true power it holds. Then there’s Wilf Netherton and his boss Lowbeer, who play with the past in a way that will impact Verity and Eunice. There’s a bit of a runway before it all comes together but it’s a fun ride the whole way."—Abby W., Audible Editor

What listeners say about Agency

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Intriguing Concepts Compelling Premise Excellent Narration Gripping Story Frenetic Pace Absorbing Action
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the thinnest story Gibson has written in a while. Really good writing, but still not much happens.

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It’s alright

This story does not have the heart or the danger of the previous iteration. It reads like a quest log of a mildly entertaining video game. Go here to do that now go here to do that then go back to where you started and then the novel ended.

I guess my final thought was, ok, well I guess it’s over then.

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There are a couple minor detracting quirks, but...

...I'm still sorta in love with it. If you haven't read the Peripheral, read that first.

There's an emotional softness, here, that doesn't exist in Gibson's early novels. The latter of which were, as is "requisite" of cyberpunk, addictively and intriguingly gritty.

Don't get me wrong. Agency has grit. It has a great pace, and artful unfolding of narrative and character development. Yet it's paired with sentimental warmth you start to see in the Blue Ant series.

It's badass, it's fun, and you probably won't want it to end.

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Other critical reviews I've read aren't wrong. They have valid points. But, they're kinda hyperbolic, at the same time. What can you say? Gibson has set the bar high for himself, over the past few decades.
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But it's still Gibson It the best of ways.

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I kept waiting for the plot twist...

that never came. I was expecting some kind of new interesting twist, and kept looking for it until the very end.

it is a good story it is a good story if you enjoy it for what it is. but it's not an epic Gibson.

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Great Reading of a Great Story!

If the father of the matrix, as a concept, were to rewrite the dictionary, I would excitedly read it. His stories are always action packed and thought provoking. King's reading captured each part perfectly, with a lot of district voices. 10/10

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enjoyable romp lacking significance

I'd give this story an additional star for a first time author. One does expect an old master of science fiction to produce something of significance. This is not such.

King did a great job with the narration.

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A real return to form for Gibson

This book is good science fiction and spy thriller combined. I'd suggest reading the peripheral first but it isn't necessary

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Cadences didn't hide the cheaffeur me plot

Story was about a UX evaluator who was emotionally traumatized by exposure to the death of a human-esque AI and thereafter shuttled around by a number of not previously known employees of the AI's almost-sentient shards. Well executed. OK plot.

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Near future Sci-Fi as only Gibson can

Fine story of the just-out-of-reach technology colliding with the intricacies of corporate espionage. Very much a theme in all of Gibson’s books, but always a step ahead of our current status in each new novel. Narrated by King in a performance that is well intoned, and very much in matching voice with the main characters in a way that gives them body and agency.

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Gibson at the height of his powers.

If you like any of his work don’t hesitate. Don’t postpone the joy you’ll experience hearing a great narrator bringing to life a great story.

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