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augie_'s review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Gore, Racial slurs, Police brutality, Murder, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Blood, Violence, Gun violence, Drug use, and Death
laudelui's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Promete mucho el argumento, o igual tenía unas expectativas equivocadas. Pero me dio la sensación que algunas partes no enlazan bien o que faltaban trozos por explicar. Sobre explica algunas partes de la historia que luego no vienen al caso y otras dices pues se ha flipado.
Si te gusta una historia con contenido de mitología y/o religiones antiguas con trazas de ciberpunk, persecuciones locas e invento con energía nuclear, es para ti .
La parte del final remonta y me recordó a una película de Hollywood de los años noventa.
Si te gusta una historia con contenido de mitología y/o religiones antiguas con trazas de ciberpunk, persecuciones locas e invento con energía nuclear, es para ti .
La parte del final remonta y me recordó a una película de Hollywood de los años noventa.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship and Sexual content
Moderate: Violence, Drug use, Pedophilia, and Gun violence
Minor: Racism
cattit00d's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
1.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Misogyny, Drug use, Rape, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Racial slurs, Racism, and Homophobia
fahyhallowell's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
I just reread this book after decades, and enjoyed again the hyper cool dystopian world building. But. As a parent of young adults I found elements of the character of Y.T. a major downer. Like did the author ever meet a 15 year old? The character is preternaturaly expert at everything she does, including sex with a monstrous man at least twice her age. Basically a spophmoric male fantasy trope. I'm glad so many current sci fi writers are moving past that stuff now!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Sexual content, and Gun violence
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Drug use, and Kidnapping
janalg's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, and Violence
Moderate: Xenophobia, Racism, Racial slurs, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Drug abuse, Gore, Addiction, Alcohol, and Classism
flexagoon's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Great book. I'd absolutely recommend Snow Crash to anyone who is interested in cyberpunk, as this book is basically THE original cyberpunk book.
As others said, the ending is a bit lackluster and Deus Ex Machina, but it still didn't leave me disappointed after finishing the book.
The plot itself is confusing at times, but generally really interesting. People who like fast-paced action stories will probably love it. The book also has good worldbuilding.
I didn't really get the "metavirus" stuff but it was still interesting.
As others said, the ending is a bit lackluster and Deus Ex Machina, but it still didn't leave me disappointed after finishing the book.
The plot itself is confusing at times, but generally really interesting. People who like fast-paced action stories will probably love it. The book also has good worldbuilding.
I didn't really get the "metavirus" stuff but it was still interesting.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Gun violence, Racial slurs, and Violence
Moderate: Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Racial slurs
Minor: Blood, Drug use, and War
strawberrypinch's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Gore, Blood, Body horror, Gun violence, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Colonisation, Xenophobia, War, Death, Police brutality, Classism, Drug use, Cursing, and Drug abuse
Minor: Sexism, Genocide, Homophobia, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual harassment, Car accident, Kidnapping, Medical content, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, and Rape
nikogatts's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
informative
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
I'm confident in saying that every major element in this book had something about it that I really liked and something that I really disliked.
Worldbuilding
Liked: The vision. Snow Crash's near-future United States has many of the usual dystopian hallmarks: pollution, a powerless government, religious zealots, hyperinflation, a refugee crisis. One of this world's defining features is that nearly everything in it, from suburban neighborhoods to highways to public restrooms, is privately owned and part of a corporate chain. Many of these chains are owned by criminal organizations (the most prominent in the book being the Sicilian Mafia), religious groups, or the remnants of nation states. The employees of rival organizations openly engage in armed combat with one another. Access to certain locations is impossible unless you're able to pay for entry, qualify for membership, or, in the case of the suburbs, become a full citizen of an exclusive neighborhood. These divisions are enforced by a variety of (also privately owned) security and police forces, as well as a plethora of sci-fi weapons. Is it an America that I would like to live in? Absolutely not. But it is a fascinating read, and it's grounded enough in the realities of modern capitalism to hit a bit close to home.
This segmentation of a formerly open world ties into the book's central theming around the Biblical tale of the Tower of Babel. Instead of separating humans into various languages, as God did by destroying the Biblical Tower, Snow Crash's humanity has segmented itself into enclaves of corporate loyalty. In this torn and shredded world, two potential Towers of Babel rise.
One Tower is the Raft, a massive floating community of refugee boats and pirate ships tethered to an aircraft carrier owned by the Jim Bakker-esque billionaire L. Bob Rife. From here, Rife distributes the drug known as Snow Crash, which hacks into people's brains and forces them to act as loyal drones that speak in tongues.
The other Tower is the Metaverse, an online virtual reality open to anyone who can find a point of access. The quality of one's avatar and the ownership of virtual property is dependent on the user's hacking ability or wealth, but the world is generally open to, and able to be explored by, anyone tech-savvy enough to log on. The problem here is that the Metaverse is only used by a fraction of the population, and the more knowledgeable users are uniquely susceptible to Snow Crash's effects.
These settings are populated by more speculative concepts and fantastic technologies than I could possibly list here, and the imaginative near-future that Neal Stephenson creates is by far the most interesting part of this book.
Disliked: The execution. I went into this book knowing that it would be info-heavy. I'm not opposed to infodumps (I actually often enjoy them), but they have to be done in a way that doesn't halt or impede the rest of the story. This book can be very difficult to read for the first ten-or-so chapters, because a character will take a single action and then there will be pages and pages (sometimes the rest of the chapter) explaining the technologies being used or the origin and structure of the organizations involved. Many of these infodumps include information that isn't relevant at the time or that never becomes relevant, and some of it is downright insulting (I know that all of these numbers are 2 to the power of something; you don't have to tell me every time).
As the main characters gather more information about Snow Crash, the infodumps expand into entire chapters where a character word-vomits about a concept for five to ten pages. Even to me, a person who enjoys learning new but useless things, these chapters are tedious, especially when they occur in the last 75 pages of the book.
Characters
Liked: Y.T. She's a smart-talking teenage courier trying to make her own way in a harsh world. She's no-nonsense without being try-hard and she doesn't hesitate to smack a creep (until the last third of the book, when the author insists on having her sleep with a middle-aged man, <i>ugh</i>). Under her tough exterior, she has affection for the few close people in her life, especially her overworked mother. And for all of her street smarts, Y.T. is still a teenager in a world run by adults and she has to figure out how to survive when the people in power point their crosshairs in her direction.
Disliked: Pretty much everyone else. The main character is called Hiro Protagonist, and his name is the most interesting thing about him. His personality can be summed up as "cool geek guy." That is to say, he doesn't have a personality at all, but he has several cool skills, like computer programming and katana-wielding, that are supposed to fill the void. He largely exists as the reader's access point to the bulk of the information relevant to the plot, since he's both the Designated Guy Who Explains Things and the Designated Guy People Explain Things To.
Uncle Enzo would be interesting if the book had leaned into the evil underneath the mobster cliche. The Mafia isn't a noble or honorable criminal group and Stephenson missed an opportunity to use a corporatized Mafia as a way to satirize the mainstream Hollywood portrayal. Instead, the book pushes Enzo into a kindly father-figure role for a teenage girl he barely knows and the Mafia organization gets a stereotypical but sanitized portrayal.
There is an attempt to give Raven a tragic backstory to justify him wanting to nuke America, but it just falls flat because...is there even an America anymore? (Maybe that was the point, but it's a poorly made point.) This character is a blunt instrument and it's slimy as hell that the author makes him attracted to (and then "in love" with) a 15-year-old.
The remaining characters -- Juanita, Da5id, various allied goons, various opposing goons -- either existed as tools to move the plot along or weren't around long enough to make an impression.
Story
Liked: The content and themes. With all of the sci-fi speculation and satire stripped away, Snow Crash is a thriller about a dangerous new drug and the unlikely duo investigating its spread. Instead of a good cop and a bad cop, or an FBI agent and a captured serial killer, the two protagonists are a freelance hacker and a teenage courier. Their equipment is futuristically enhanced, but their goals and actions mirror those of any detective duo: collect intel, interview a handful of involved parties, follow the trail, find the source of the drug, and get into a few gun/sword fights in the process.
This type of premise could normally go either way in terms of quality, and Neal Stephenson elevates it beyond a standard guns-and-drugs story by tying in themes of language (from ancient Sumerian to modern programming), ancient historical and religious theory, and the psychological concept of viral knowledge. Combined with the above-mentioned worldbuilding and this story, for all of its issues in execution, was an amazing read.
Disliked: The writing and pacing. It takes more than two dozen chapters for Hiro Protagonist to start actively investigating Snow Crash and the breadcrumb trail left behind by a murdered man. Some of this is because of the density of the aforementioned infodumps, but some of it is because it takes more than 200 pages for someone to tell Hiro to do something.
It also can't be overstated how the glut of background information pushes relevant story details, both major and minor, off the page. I don't remember reading how Y.T. makes it to The Raft in the latter half of the book. I don't remember what Y.T.'s mom was being questioned for or what bearing that had on the plot. I don't remember how Hiro went from not knowing who Vitaly Chernobyl was to being his roommate and concert promoter. I don't remember why Hiro and Y.T. call each other "pod." Maybe these things are never explained; maybe the explanations got lost in some lengthy description. Either way, the writing emphasizes background information over storytelling, and the story suffers for it.
The Ending
Liked: Y.T.'s helicopter escape. Cinematic and kickass. An overconfident cult leader brought down (literally and figuratively) by a bunch of teens answering the call of one of their own.
Disliked: Oh god he's still explaining things. The last fifteen to twenty chapters are rough because it feels like the book should be rapidly building toward a climax. But instead of accelerating, the action keeps stopping for more explanations, including explanations of things that were already explained earlier in the book. The worst part is when Hiro and Raven are reciting their fathers' tragic backstories to each other over voice link while they're also doing a high-speed motorcycle chase through the Metaverse.
Bonus
Liked: Fido, the robot dog who defied his programming to save the nice girl who took care of him. Also, the accompanying philosophical question of whether Fido's virtual fate, along with the largely virtual existence of another character, is truly satisfying.
Disliked: The '90s-era racism and sexism, particularly the sexualization of 15-year-old Y.T., the double standard of how Colombian narcos are portrayed compared to the Mafia, and the bizarre, nerd-culture-specific way that Japanese people are portrayed.
Liked: The vision. Snow Crash's near-future United States has many of the usual dystopian hallmarks: pollution, a powerless government, religious zealots, hyperinflation, a refugee crisis. One of this world's defining features is that nearly everything in it, from suburban neighborhoods to highways to public restrooms, is privately owned and part of a corporate chain. Many of these chains are owned by criminal organizations (the most prominent in the book being the Sicilian Mafia), religious groups, or the remnants of nation states. The employees of rival organizations openly engage in armed combat with one another. Access to certain locations is impossible unless you're able to pay for entry, qualify for membership, or, in the case of the suburbs, become a full citizen of an exclusive neighborhood. These divisions are enforced by a variety of (also privately owned) security and police forces, as well as a plethora of sci-fi weapons. Is it an America that I would like to live in? Absolutely not. But it is a fascinating read, and it's grounded enough in the realities of modern capitalism to hit a bit close to home.
This segmentation of a formerly open world ties into the book's central theming around the Biblical tale of the Tower of Babel. Instead of separating humans into various languages, as God did by destroying the Biblical Tower, Snow Crash's humanity has segmented itself into enclaves of corporate loyalty. In this torn and shredded world, two potential Towers of Babel rise.
One Tower is the Raft, a massive floating community of refugee boats and pirate ships tethered to an aircraft carrier owned by the Jim Bakker-esque billionaire L. Bob Rife. From here, Rife distributes the drug known as Snow Crash, which hacks into people's brains and forces them to act as loyal drones that speak in tongues.
The other Tower is the Metaverse, an online virtual reality open to anyone who can find a point of access. The quality of one's avatar and the ownership of virtual property is dependent on the user's hacking ability or wealth, but the world is generally open to, and able to be explored by, anyone tech-savvy enough to log on. The problem here is that the Metaverse is only used by a fraction of the population, and the more knowledgeable users are uniquely susceptible to Snow Crash's effects.
These settings are populated by more speculative concepts and fantastic technologies than I could possibly list here, and the imaginative near-future that Neal Stephenson creates is by far the most interesting part of this book.
Disliked: The execution. I went into this book knowing that it would be info-heavy. I'm not opposed to infodumps (I actually often enjoy them), but they have to be done in a way that doesn't halt or impede the rest of the story. This book can be very difficult to read for the first ten-or-so chapters, because a character will take a single action and then there will be pages and pages (sometimes the rest of the chapter) explaining the technologies being used or the origin and structure of the organizations involved. Many of these infodumps include information that isn't relevant at the time or that never becomes relevant, and some of it is downright insulting (I know that all of these numbers are 2 to the power of something; you don't have to tell me every time).
As the main characters gather more information about Snow Crash, the infodumps expand into entire chapters where a character word-vomits about a concept for five to ten pages. Even to me, a person who enjoys learning new but useless things, these chapters are tedious, especially when they occur in the last 75 pages of the book.
Characters
Liked: Y.T. She's a smart-talking teenage courier trying to make her own way in a harsh world. She's no-nonsense without being try-hard and she doesn't hesitate to smack a creep (until the last third of the book, when the author insists on having her sleep with a middle-aged man, <i>ugh</i>). Under her tough exterior, she has affection for the few close people in her life, especially her overworked mother. And for all of her street smarts, Y.T. is still a teenager in a world run by adults and she has to figure out how to survive when the people in power point their crosshairs in her direction.
Disliked: Pretty much everyone else. The main character is called Hiro Protagonist, and his name is the most interesting thing about him. His personality can be summed up as "cool geek guy." That is to say, he doesn't have a personality at all, but he has several cool skills, like computer programming and katana-wielding, that are supposed to fill the void. He largely exists as the reader's access point to the bulk of the information relevant to the plot, since he's both the Designated Guy Who Explains Things and the Designated Guy People Explain Things To.
Uncle Enzo would be interesting if the book had leaned into the evil underneath the mobster cliche. The Mafia isn't a noble or honorable criminal group and Stephenson missed an opportunity to use a corporatized Mafia as a way to satirize the mainstream Hollywood portrayal. Instead, the book pushes Enzo into a kindly father-figure role for a teenage girl he barely knows and the Mafia organization gets a stereotypical but sanitized portrayal.
There is an attempt to give Raven a tragic backstory to justify him wanting to nuke America, but it just falls flat because...is there even an America anymore? (Maybe that was the point, but it's a poorly made point.) This character is a blunt instrument and it's slimy as hell that the author makes him attracted to (and then "in love" with) a 15-year-old.
The remaining characters -- Juanita, Da5id, various allied goons, various opposing goons -- either existed as tools to move the plot along or weren't around long enough to make an impression.
Story
Liked: The content and themes. With all of the sci-fi speculation and satire stripped away, Snow Crash is a thriller about a dangerous new drug and the unlikely duo investigating its spread. Instead of a good cop and a bad cop, or an FBI agent and a captured serial killer, the two protagonists are a freelance hacker and a teenage courier. Their equipment is futuristically enhanced, but their goals and actions mirror those of any detective duo: collect intel, interview a handful of involved parties, follow the trail, find the source of the drug, and get into a few gun/sword fights in the process.
This type of premise could normally go either way in terms of quality, and Neal Stephenson elevates it beyond a standard guns-and-drugs story by tying in themes of language (from ancient Sumerian to modern programming), ancient historical and religious theory, and the psychological concept of viral knowledge. Combined with the above-mentioned worldbuilding and this story, for all of its issues in execution, was an amazing read.
Disliked: The writing and pacing. It takes more than two dozen chapters for Hiro Protagonist to start actively investigating Snow Crash and the breadcrumb trail left behind by a murdered man. Some of this is because of the density of the aforementioned infodumps, but some of it is because it takes more than 200 pages for someone to tell Hiro to do something.
It also can't be overstated how the glut of background information pushes relevant story details, both major and minor, off the page. I don't remember reading how Y.T. makes it to The Raft in the latter half of the book. I don't remember what Y.T.'s mom was being questioned for or what bearing that had on the plot. I don't remember how Hiro went from not knowing who Vitaly Chernobyl was to being his roommate and concert promoter. I don't remember why Hiro and Y.T. call each other "pod." Maybe these things are never explained; maybe the explanations got lost in some lengthy description. Either way, the writing emphasizes background information over storytelling, and the story suffers for it.
The Ending
Liked: Y.T.'s helicopter escape. Cinematic and kickass. An overconfident cult leader brought down (literally and figuratively) by a bunch of teens answering the call of one of their own.
Disliked: Oh god he's still explaining things. The last fifteen to twenty chapters are rough because it feels like the book should be rapidly building toward a climax. But instead of accelerating, the action keeps stopping for more explanations, including explanations of things that were already explained earlier in the book. The worst part is when Hiro and Raven are reciting their fathers' tragic backstories to each other over voice link while they're also doing a high-speed motorcycle chase through the Metaverse.
Bonus
Liked: Fido, the robot dog who defied his programming to save the nice girl who took care of him. Also, the accompanying philosophical question of whether Fido's virtual fate, along with the largely virtual existence of another character, is truly satisfying.
Disliked: The '90s-era racism and sexism, particularly the sexualization of 15-year-old Y.T., the double standard of how Colombian narcos are portrayed compared to the Mafia, and the bizarre, nerd-culture-specific way that Japanese people are portrayed.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Murder, Violence, Adult/minor relationship, and Death
Moderate: Racism, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Xenophobia, Drug use, Gun violence, Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, and Racial slurs
Minor: Kidnapping
bites_of_books's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.5
I wanted to like this book much more but there were simply too many things that didn't do it for me.
The first couple of chapters I really enjoyed. As Stephenson described this futuristic world where corporations are the leaders of the world and where it is better to work for the Mafia than to get an education and try to have a traditional job, I could see how our world could end up like this in a couple of decades. The idea of the Metaverse was also very promising and interesting but unfortunately that never really took off.
Once Stephenson started to try to add too much logic to this futuristic, sci-fi world, it started to fall apart for me. There were chapters where one of the protagonists (called Hiro Protagonist ha) is basically getting a lecture from an AI about religious history, linguistics, and anthropology. Which are very interesting on their own but basically took me way out of the story and made my logic mind show up and be like "this makes zero sense." Then, in the next chapter we are back into exploring more of the ways that this corporation-led world is messed up and following (or trying to follow) the ways that our main characters are trying to solve the mystery of a virus that is affecting hackers but is also a drug in the real world... There's definitely mystery and intrigue but I ended up just wanting to know what was going to happen in order to be done with the book once and for all without really caring much about the main characters.
I am mostly frustrated because Stephenson has some great ideas, some really promising characters, and it all just ended up going nowhere for me. Like Y.T. was a super interesting character, a 15 year old girl who is super independent and wants to live her own life and not follow in her mother's footsteps as a government worker. Meanwhile she's just a means to an end and like that's it? Zero character development for anyone here. Oh and another super interesting character was Ng, a man who is paralyzed and heads one of the best security systems and rides around in a car that's been adapted so he can use it as a wheelchair/transportation/apartment/storage of very cool weapon system. His character was probably the best one who had clear intentions and purpose and I wish we'd had more of him throughout the book (he would have been a great main character!)
So disappointing... I'm not sure I'd want to try another of Stephenson's works, but who knows, maybe if he's done something a bit more cohesive and less all over the place I'll give it a shot.
The first couple of chapters I really enjoyed. As Stephenson described this futuristic world where corporations are the leaders of the world and where it is better to work for the Mafia than to get an education and try to have a traditional job, I could see how our world could end up like this in a couple of decades. The idea of the Metaverse was also very promising and interesting but unfortunately that never really took off.
Once Stephenson started to try to add too much logic to this futuristic, sci-fi world, it started to fall apart for me. There were chapters where one of the protagonists (called Hiro Protagonist ha) is basically getting a lecture from an AI about religious history, linguistics, and anthropology. Which are very interesting on their own but basically took me way out of the story and made my logic mind show up and be like "this makes zero sense." Then, in the next chapter we are back into exploring more of the ways that this corporation-led world is messed up and following (or trying to follow) the ways that our main characters are trying to solve the mystery of a virus that is affecting hackers but is also a drug in the real world... There's definitely mystery and intrigue but I ended up just wanting to know what was going to happen in order to be done with the book once and for all without really caring much about the main characters.
I am mostly frustrated because Stephenson has some great ideas, some really promising characters, and it all just ended up going nowhere for me. Like Y.T. was a super interesting character, a 15 year old girl who is super independent and wants to live her own life and not follow in her mother's footsteps as a government worker. Meanwhile she's just a means to an end and like that's it? Zero character development for anyone here. Oh and another super interesting character was Ng, a man who is paralyzed and heads one of the best security systems and rides around in a car that's been adapted so he can use it as a wheelchair/transportation/apartment/storage of very cool weapon system. His character was probably the best one who had clear intentions and purpose and I wish we'd had more of him throughout the book (he would have been a great main character!)
So disappointing... I'm not sure I'd want to try another of Stephenson's works, but who knows, maybe if he's done something a bit more cohesive and less all over the place I'll give it a shot.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Classism, Drug use, Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Drug abuse, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, and Sexual content
booksthatburn's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
SNOW CRASH is a cyberpunk fantasy starts with a high-stakes pizza delivery and ends with some cool explosives, taking a path that leads through many burbclaves, at least one cult, and a lot of exposition that relies on fascinations explanations of ancient Sumer to discuss a computer virus that's messing up brains.
It's using and remixing available stereotypes to their limit to create cartoonishly distilled essences that allow for quick action in the partitioned but not wholly divided setting. There are stark boundary lines all over the place, governing laws, behavior, and life-or-death stakes for everyone within these borders, lit by each Franchise's signage and governed by their franchisee manuals. Where the grooves of life are so well worn around most denizens that they barely notice a disturbance to their routines, unless they’re the protagonist, Hiro Protagonist or perhaps the Kourier Y.T. There's a franchise for most things, and some of those things are racism. There's some fatphobia and scattered ableist language which seem to be regular levels of bigotry instead of forming the kind of pointed social commentary which underpins and incorporates the other -isms.
Hiro’s biracial identity (Black/Japanese) matters to the story and exists for more than the surface-level excuse to name the main character “hero protagonist” with alternate spelling. There are several moments where he figures out things based on how someone reacts (or doesn’t) to his appearance and background.
Y.T. isn't as introspective as Hiro, but she gets a decent amount of focus and her perspective is integral to the story, both as an active agent and as an observer with a very different point of view from Hiro, a non-hacker one.
As a cultural artifact, this feels more prescient than it perhaps has a right to be because a lot of people have tried to make things more like the world imagined here, and that's not always a good thing. Reading it now is strange because even something like the word "avatar" as a representation of one's physical self in a digital context was popularized by this book and so it doesn't feel new, though it was at the time.
It's using and remixing available stereotypes to their limit to create cartoonishly distilled essences that allow for quick action in the partitioned but not wholly divided setting. There are stark boundary lines all over the place, governing laws, behavior, and life-or-death stakes for everyone within these borders, lit by each Franchise's signage and governed by their franchisee manuals. Where the grooves of life are so well worn around most denizens that they barely notice a disturbance to their routines, unless they’re the protagonist, Hiro Protagonist or perhaps the Kourier Y.T. There's a franchise for most things, and some of those things are racism. There's some fatphobia and scattered ableist language which seem to be regular levels of bigotry instead of forming the kind of pointed social commentary which underpins and incorporates the other -isms.
Hiro’s biracial identity (Black/Japanese) matters to the story and exists for more than the surface-level excuse to name the main character “hero protagonist” with alternate spelling. There are several moments where he figures out things based on how someone reacts (or doesn’t) to his appearance and background.
Y.T. isn't as introspective as Hiro, but she gets a decent amount of focus and her perspective is integral to the story, both as an active agent and as an observer with a very different point of view from Hiro, a non-hacker one.
As a cultural artifact, this feels more prescient than it perhaps has a right to be because a lot of people have tried to make things more like the world imagined here, and that's not always a good thing. Reading it now is strange because even something like the word "avatar" as a representation of one's physical self in a digital context was popularized by this book and so it doesn't feel new, though it was at the time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Gore, Violence, Gun violence, and Death
Moderate: Ableism, Xenophobia, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Sexism, Misogyny, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Animal death
Minor: Pregnancy and Excrement