Well, I mean, look. All books are about change. If there is no change, then they're goddamn pointless now aren't they? They aren't books at all, they're guidebooks or something. (this wasn't meant to flip out at you guys. sorry.)

My senior year of high school, we had this thing called the "english demo." It was one paper, and one oral exposition, on a book or a series of books of our choosing. It was worth one fourth of our grade for that half of the year. I chose the sprawl series, which caused some degree of upset in the departartment but ultimately proved to be popular with all involved.

Going back to look at that paper, I had no FUCKING IDEA what I was talking about. None. So I'm the wrong guy to ask.

Like Shadoth says, things change or it's not going to be a very good book, right? People grow and big things also change. My point (or rather, my unsupported assertion) was that the main characters in the book generally aren't the drivers of the big changes. They may change as a result of what happens, and they may happen to be involved in big changes, but really they're just trying to get by.

And might I add that this much topic drift in the Gibson Sightings thread is probably making hurts froth at the mouth? Good job!

Froth! Froth!

Naturally something changes. Something has to change, or it would be a book full of blank pages. But the fact that characters who were plugged into a machine at the beginning of a book are then plugged into a different machine by the end of the book, and that another wildly powerful entity is on the loose inside some machines does not mean that the society that Arkan made mention of has changed one bit. My response was just focused on Arkan's comment. That's it.

By the end of the books, are people still powerless cogs in the same corporate machine they started out in? Yup. That's all I meant, baby.

Turner at the end of CZ?

Okay, but remember you're talking to the systems guy. One badass who rides off into the sunset like McQueen does not mean a systemic change.

Keep in mind that I'm not criticizing. I like it better this way. "Underdog changes the crushing world system for the better" is an overused vehicle. The wheels have fallen off.