Books to read

[R]

Hey everyone! Can you suggest any good books that are similar to Cyberpunk 2077 universe in style/storywise. I've been really involved and excited about the universe recently and want to dive into more similar kind of stuff.

[Alex_x86]

Neuromancer, Count Zero, Mona Lisa Overdrive.

[ThyNecromancer]

Cyberpunk 2077 does have a few books out. Just amazon "cyberpunk 2077".. apparently there are 16 books

[Nubadak]

Not really cyber but a great serries of scifi reads. There is a new serries out in the Firefly universe with Mal and crew. The first one is called "Big Dam Hero" and its great.

[Rumpelcrutchskin]

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.
Hyperion Cantos series by Dan Simmons, more further in future with more advanced AI.
Culture series by Iain M Banks, even more further in future with basically godlike AI.

[charly4711]

Originally posted by Alex_x86:

Neuromancer, Count Zero, Mona Lisa Overdrive.

Yeah, go shopping for the total awesomeness that is William Gibson or Bruce Sterling.

[SuperFly]

Originally posted by charly4711:

Originally posted by Alex_x86:

Neuromancer, Count Zero, Mona Lisa Overdrive.

Yeah, go shopping for the total awesomeness that is William Gibson or Bruce Sterling.

William Gibson has now segued into 'contemporary' fiction since our modern dystopia is only a hair's-breath away from the ridiculous stupidity the cyberpunk genre has always tried to caution readers against.
He did deliver 3 proper 'cyberpunk' trilogies in the genre he pioneered, however:

-The aforementioned 'Sprawl Trilogy' (Neuromancer, Count Zero, Mona Lisa Overdrive)
-A trilogy of 'Sprawl' short stories that pre-curse those novels (Burning Chrome, Johnny Mnemonic, New Rose Hotel) -- all collected in the compendium entitled 'Burning Chrome'
-The 'Bridge Trilogy' of the 90s (Virtual Light, Idoru, All Tomorrow's Parties)
-There is also a prequel short story to this series -- called 'Skinner's Room' -- published in a magazine & not available in paperback

Author Bruce Sterling has a much harder sci-fi and/or fantasy bend to the majority of his work -- but his purist cyberpunk contributions can be found in the short story compendium Mirrorshades
Readers seeking an alternative author to that duo should check out Neil Stephenson, who is most well-known for 'Snow Crash'.

Some other noteworthy books or series in the direct orbit of CP2020/CP2077 would be:

-'Hardwired' by Walter John Williams
-The middle-eastern centric trilogy of Marid Audran, by George Allec Effinger ('When Gravity Fails', 'A Fire in the Sun', 'The Exile Kiss')
-The two pulp fictions published for the 'Cyberpunk 2020' RPG, by Stephen Billias ('Holo Men' & 'The Ravengers')

If anything out of this list would be considered 'must-reads', it would definitely be the 'Sprawl Trilogy' novels from William Gibson.

[Tendonz]

Burning Chrome

[Strontiumdog]

All the above mentioned by Superfly, I personally didn't like "when Gravity falls" but it's definitely Cyberpunk, obviously total priority goes to the Neuromancer trilogy not only because they clearly inspired the game but they are very good, classic, novels.

However the game is actually based on
Hardwired by Walter Jon Williams, a lot of the ideas, the most obviously being extreme bodymodification come from that novel.
Mike Pondsmith bought the rights to the novel to make a tabletop game which was then remade to be called Cyberpunk 2013, then Cyberpunk 2020.

He then claimed that he had only read Hardwired before creating Cyberpunk 2020 and hadn't read the Neuromancer trilogy at the time. I don't believe him, quite literally the first Chapter in Neuromancer is set in a Japanese city called "Night City".

Also a big shout out to Richard Morgan's Cyberpunk work. More modern Cyberpunk but very good nevertheless.

[Strontiumdog]

Originally posted by Rumpelcrutchskin:

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.
Hyperion Cantos series by Dan Simmons, more further in future with more advanced AI.
Culture series by Iain M Banks, even more further in future with basically godlike AI.

I would recommend every Human on this planet to read The Culture series as it's literally my favourite series ever but it's hardly Cyberpunk?! It's very intelligent Space Opera.

Also the Hyperion Cantos is incredible. I like your taste in novels. And again intelligent Space Opera, they are both amazing series but if the OP wants something to read to get immersed in the impressive 2077 universe they are not correct. I think the OP should read the Neuromancer Trilogy/Hardwired. And then read those series when he's finished playing for a bit.

[Duuvian]

Some of the old Shadowrun books are decent to good. That setting has fantasy stuff like elves, dwarves, dragons, and magic to go with the tech though.

I liked the one about Jack the Ripper (or whatever they were called in the book) the most I think.

[charly4711]

Originally posted by SuperFly:

Originally posted by charly4711:

Yeah, go shopping for the total awesomeness that is William Gibson or Bruce Sterling.

William Gibson has now segued into 'contemporary' fiction since our modern dystopia is only a hair's-breath away from the ridiculous stupidity the cyberpunk genre has always tried to caution readers against.
He did…

Wow, no thanks for making me feel old

[DeckDice]

If you like comics then try Transmetropolitan written by Warren Ellis and published by DC Comics

[Rumpelcrutchskin]

Originally posted by Strontiumdog:

Originally posted by Rumpelcrutchskin:

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.
Hyperion Cantos series by Dan Simmons, more further in future with more advanced AI.
Culture series by Iain M Banks, even more further in future with basically godlike AI.

I would recommend every Human on this planet to read The Culture series as it's literally my favourite series ever but it's hardly Cyberpunk?! It's very intelligent Space Opera.

Also the Hyperion Cantos is incredible. I like your taste in novels. And again intelligent Space Opera, they are both amazing series but if the OP wants something to read to get immersed in the impressive 2077 universe they are not correct. I think the OP should read the Neuromancer Trilogy/Hardwired. And then read those series when he's finished playing for a bit.

Yeah it`s not really cyberpunk but have lot of same themes like superadvanced AIs, body modifications, advanced weaponry, futuristic dark ops and agents with advanced equipment, cyberspace, intelligent droids etc.
They take place in more advanced space age so yeah they are more space operas.

[damion.ord]

Try William Gibson's Bridge triology: Virtual Light, Idoru & All Tomorrows Parties.

[Strontiumdog]

Originally posted by Rumpelcrutchskin:

Originally posted by Strontiumdog:

I would recommend every Human on this planet to read The Culture series as it's literally my favourite series ever but it's hardly Cyberpunk?! It's very intelligent Space Opera.

Also the Hyperion Cantos is incredible. I like your taste in novels. And again intelligent Space Opera, they are both amazing series but if the OP wants something to read to get immersed in the impressive 2077 universe they are not correct. I think the OP should read the Neuromancer Trilogy/Hardwired. And then read those series when he's finished playing for a bit.

Yeah it`s not really cyberpunk but have lot of same themes like superadvanced AIs, body modifications, advanced weaponry, futuristic dark ops and agents with advanced equipment, cyberspace, intelligent droids etc.
They take place in more advanced space age so yeah they are more space operas.

Such a shame Iain M Banks passed away, he was my favourite author.