Hi-tech, low quality of life: the cyberpunk formula. Millions of people crammed into a steaming urban sprawl, ruled by mega-corporations with godlike power, doomed to eke out a living selling scrap cybernetic implants and virtual reality erotica. When it comes to the many genres of sci-fi, cyberpunk is often the most philosophically depressing, yet aesthetically stylish there is. And with the way the world is going, perhaps the most eerily reflective of the modern era? Prepare to jack in to the mainframe, these are the 10 best cyberpunk books ever written.

Recommended Videos

One of the most seminal (gross word) works of cyberpunk fiction ever penned, William Gibson’s Sprawl trilogy laid aesthetic and philosophical foundations of the genre. The first novel, Neuromancer, takes place in a not too distant American future, where world straddling mega-corporations have choked society with a torrent of hi-tech gadgetry that has made humanity more disconnected than ever. The novel revolves around an out of work hacker named Case, who is hired by a shadowy ex-soldier to pull off a digital heist involving a rogue AI. The novel helped popularize many cyberpunk mainstays, including cybernetic body augmentation and jack in-able virtual matrixes. You know that game Cyberpunk 2077? It essentially IS Neuromancer down to the very setting itself. Both stories even take place in dystopian metropolis called Night City, after all.