[Itse]

Neuromancer is only a classic because it's the first by William Gibson, which is pretty much where it's claim to fame ends. Gibson has many other books that are better as sci-fi, as entertainment and as literature.

If there's a real must-read, genre-defining Gibson-Cyberpunk, it would be the short story collection Burning Chrome. If you want to read a classic Gibson-cyberpunk novel, then read Count Zero.

(I would also say that Virtual Light, Idoru and All Tomorrow's Parties are better than Neuromancer. However they don't belong on that list because they are not genre-defining in the same sense.)