Though Idoru exists in the same world, at roughly the same time, as Virtual Light, its progenitor, the reader is introduced to a cast of new characters and settings. While this frees the reader up to read Idoru as a stand-alone work of fiction, and while I believe this to be the best book of the trilogy, excising Berry, Chevette and the rest of Virtual Light's characters so completely from the story is jarring.
We shift our focus from disunited California to Tokyo where Colin Laney, a productive but brain-damaged American, is hired on by the loyal lieutenant of an aging rock star. Laney is ordered to turn his special talents -- Laney's disability seems to have given him unusual powers for intuiting bits of critically important data out of a sea of mundane information -- towards finding out if the rock star (Rez) is being manipulated by his enemies into marrying an artificial intelligence. Laney's world eventually collides with Idoru's second main character, Chia, a disaffected schoolgirl from Seattle who is designated by her chapter of the Lo/Rez fan club to travel on her own to Tokyo in hopes of finding out if Rez is serious about marrying the eponymous Idoru.
Though the story here seems superficial, Mr. Gibson uses the characters in Idoru to speak to a broader movement in his trilogy, chiefly that information has become the most valuable commodity. This truth not only makes the holders of information important, it makes the finders of information extraordinarily valuable. Though a story about the importance of information is hardly novel, Mr. Gibson's approach interweaves this notion with the excitement and risk of new, revolutionary technologies and comes out with a finished product which delights both intellectually and superficially.
Finally, a word on Idoru's characters. Laney is exquisitely tortured by his disability which hangs over him like the
sword of Damocles, while Chia is so naive that she can't even seem to conceive of how much danger she's in. But as good as the mains service the story, Mr. Gibson's supporting characters burn even brighter. Rez's search for love in any form as he descends from the zenith of fame is poignant, as is the undying loyalty of Blackwell, his chief of security. Most potent, for me, is Laney's domineering ex-boss at Slitscan which is a sort of futuristic
Entertainment Tonight on steroids. Kathy is wonderfully repugnant and, to the extent that she is in the novel, is a treasure. They all bring life to the best of the Bridge books. (4/5 Stars)
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