Book cover of Virtual Light

Book description

NEW YORK TIMES bestseller * 2005: Welcome to NoCal and SoCal, the uneasy sister-states of what used to be California.

The millennium has come and gone, leaving in its wake only stunned survivors. In Los Angeles, Berry Rydell is a former armed-response rentacop now working for a bounty hunter. Chevette…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked Virtual Light as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

What can you say about the book that kicked off a whole new genre?

Widely regarded as the first ‘cyberpunk’ novel, reading Virtual Light today is beyond eery. It takes place in the dystopian future year of 2006 (the book was written in 1994) and is set in San Francisco during a time when the middle class has disappeared and the only people left are either disgustingly rich or living on the street. And as I look around at what San Francisco, and many other cities have become, it makes me think that Gibson might be the Cassandra of the…

From Jeremy's list on the end of civilization as we know it.

If you love Virtual Light...

Ad

Book cover of The Body by the Shore

The Body by the Shore by Tabish Khair,

Harris Maloub, a killer with an erased official past, now in his fifties, is visited by someone who could not be alive and given an assignment. In Aarhus, Denmark, Jens Erik, police officer on pre-retirement leave, somehow cannot forget the body of a Black man recovered from the sea some…

Want books like Virtual Light?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 93 books like Virtual Light.

Browse books like Virtual Light

Book cover of The Girl With All the Gifts
Book cover of Fight Club
Book cover of Hit

Share your top 3 reads of 2025!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,276

readers submitted
so far, will you?

Ad

📚 If you like Virtual Light, you might also like...

Book cover of Exit Black

Exit Black by Joe Pitkin,

Imperium is the most expensive structure ever created. Once an orbiting laboratory, it is now a space hotel for the fantastically wealthy. But as the station preps for its first group of space tourists, Dr. Chloe Bonilla, Imperium’s resident biophysicist, finds herself questioning whether babysitting a passel of space glampers…

Book cover of Broken Mirror

Broken Mirror by Cody Sisco,

A fractured mind or a global conspiracy? Uncovering the truth can be hell when nobody believes you… and you can’t even trust yourself. 

"A fantastic science fiction thriller with a sincere and important message.”—Kirkus Reviews. 

“A breathtaking, deeply dark alternate-history Earth with complex characters, layered worldbuilding, and twist after twist…

5 book lists we think you will like!