Vurt

I liked this book!It has a definite pulp feel and patterns after authors like Philip K. Dick and William Burroughs, writing about strange psychedelic experiences in surreal dystopian futures. In fact the writing is nowhere as good as either of those authors, and there are places where the narrative is scattered and loose. But overall it's a wonderful ride, one that doesn't come around very often.Many elements of this strange story are unforgettably hallucinatory. The world the story takes place in is developed quite well. Finally, the story, in the end, could probably be read somewhat allegorically, and it is possible that there are intimations at deeper levels of purpose and symbolism than I am now aware of.It's a fun, and moves fast, and is full of beauty and strangeness that, again, the combination-of is quite rare. I do recommend it, especially for fans of alternate-reality stories.

Not for everyone's taste I suppose, but the way Noon uses language is like an exquisitely crafted music box. I am a writer as well and Noon is one of the voices that inspire my deep love of words. It is like he is plugged directly into my brain, and knows all the right buttons to push. His plotting is wildly imaginative, perhaps too much so for the casual reader. But if you can let go of expectations and just enjoy the ride, you will probably like the places he goes.

This is a fun read for anyone interested in science fiction with unusual, weird plots. You won't read anything quite like this! It is one of those books that are hard to put down once you've started.

Favorite book I’ve ever read

A fantastic story - full stop. the Sci-Fi setting is well put together, but the story itself really shines.

....You are younger (<16), you don't like reading about drug use, don't like cyber-punk-sci-fi-fanasy novels, don't like being simultaniously confused and enthralled, or didn't enjoy the original Alice in Wonderland story. This book is excellent, especially for people who love doing mental yoga and/or have a history of psychedelic use. Cheers

Love this book

This is an amazing book by an amazing author. Enough said. If you haven't read it yet, do so as it is Noon's masterpiece.

I first read this amazingly imaginative novel at university in Manchester, the city in which the story is based. It's a very different Manchester to the one we know today, inhabited not just by pure humans but a number of genetic hybrids of dogs, technology, Vurt & all sorts of other crazy things. As simply as I can explain it without giving anything away, in the future they discover the world of dreams, The Vurt world where people go as a means of recreation to escape reality & chase forbidden pleasures....or pain! They do this by means of special feathers that are like access keys to the Vurt world. The story follows a group of young desperados on their quest to find English Voodoo, a rare & powerful feather that will take them into the Vurt beyond where any of them have been before. This is one of my favourite books and the world that Jeff Noon creates in it's pages definitely left me wanting more. A classic for the Gen X crowd I'd say. P.S: If you enjoy this read the follow up Pollen straight after.

I think I have read other reviews that make comparisons to Gaiman and PK Dick and the novel, Trainspotting. And yes, the elements of fantasy, the dreamlike quality, the uncertain nature of reality of some of these writers works and the disjointed, frenetic pace and structure of Trainspotting are all there but it doesn't feel derivative.It feels like the complete vision of this authors imagination. A drug addled, dystopian roller coaster of a nightmare; set in an alternate reality which blurs the boundaries between real life and the 'feather' high and an unfamiliar cast of creatures: human, synthetic, part canine and shadow.None of these things is ever fully explained but that is part and parcel of the experience.Reading this novel is like jumping onto a moving train which takes you through an unfamiliar landscape at break neck speed. All the scenery is there but there's no time to fully examine it and you didn't get your copy of the guide book. You have to keep up with the narrator and main protagonist, Scribble and hope that the most pertinent dots will be joined up as the adventure moves along. Some are, some aren't. However, the story still manages to be: humorous, revolting, violent, moving, tense, poignant and always engaging.I'm really not sure if it's a three and a half or a five star rating. I'm still ruminating but from the jumping on point, I liked it. I liked it a lot, so I'll go with four stars. Bite down on the feather if you dare and see where it takes you.Note on the Kindle version: only spotted one small typo; other than that, all good.

One of the best-kept secrets in cyberpunk. I guess a bit TOO out there to have gone mainstream popular like Gibson but this guy really knows how to write and has such bold ideas that you're left mouth agape at many stages in this fast-paced brain melting novel.I downloaded this on a whim and was not disappointed. 'Vurt' is set against the backdrop of a future (and alternate) Manchester where gene splicing has led to a whole variety of new human-animal-robo hybrids, along with the blending of these with a virtual dream world called the Vurt, to which everyone is addicted, and a psychic ability imbued by 'shadow'. It follows the fortunes of a streetwise gang whose members, as documented by the 1st person character Mr Squiggle, really go through the grinder in the continual search for the next Vurt high and a lover / sister lost in a virtual dream world where nothing is for free and must be exchanged for something of equal 'value' in the real world (sometimes that something is a friend or loved one).Brilliant, challenging and a real gem of a debut novel by a UK author that, if you're a hard cyberpunk fan, you'll be adding to your list of favourites!

"Awake, you know that dreams exist. Inside a dream you think the dream IS reality. Inside a dream you have no knowlage of the waking world". Reality is a Manchester of the future, a slightly darker, grimmer Manchester to the one we know. The door to the dream is the Vurt feather. place it in your mouth, brush it on your throat,lay it on your tounge...and you are there. Meet Scribble who is searching for his sister - lost to the vurt, His friends who seek different things within the escapism offered by the feathers, and through it all the Game Cat. Listen to the Cat kitlings for he has travelled the feathers, He has ridden the vurt, and he knows...far more than he is telling.I picked this up on a recommendation and am now on my third copy, it's been borrowed, borrowed back (by me) and the only reason I needed extra copies was to replace the one that didn't come back ( thanx guys). Expect Noon to take you places you'd never been and never thaught to go - and my advice ? Dont pick it up unless you have time to finish it...you WONT want to put it down...and a girl puts a feather into her mouth

This book is disturbing, enthralling and always keeps you off balance. Noon deliberately tantalises your imagination into activity with incomplete descriptions and sometimes, descriptions that use made up words so you work hard to get coherent imagery out of it. This is a strong point of the book. What you end up with is a book experience that will be wildly different from someone else's, especially in terms of visuals.