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brigitte's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Ableism, Racism, and Racial slurs
Minor: Rape
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
selfsoulfriend's review against another edition
adventurous
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
2.0
Several of my friends have recommended this book to me, describing it as a better Ready Player One, so I decided to take them up on it because I trust their opinions. What they (and the reviews I read) failed to mention was the casual racism and cultural insensitivity that turns up every other page. It honestly ruined the book for me. It's not overtly hateful, mostly just offensive comments/ stereotypes. If it was only once or twice I'd be willing to look past it since the book is 30+ years old, but there's way too much of it for comfort. There's also an uncomfortably explicit sex scene between a 15 year old character and a much older man. I finally let myself put the book down about 80 pages from the end when a character named Tr*nny was introduced. This book just kept getting worse and the plot wasn't good enough to redeem it. The story felt very disorganized, was badly paced, and there were a bunch of huge infodumps where maybe a quarter of the information was actually relevant. Several chapters are literally the main character getting a history lecture from an AI and he just gets fed the information on a silver platter when it's convenient to the plot. I wish I was exaggerating. If you're trying to decide whether or not to read it, I'd say it's not worth it. I honestly don't know why it's so highly regarded as a cyberpunk must read.
(Side note. Even considering all its flaws it's still better than Ready Player One)
(Side note. Even considering all its flaws it's still better than Ready Player One)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship and Sexual content
Moderate: Racial slurs and Racism
Minor: Homophobia and Transphobia
sequelmage's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
First of all, I was shocked this book was first published nearly 30 years ago in 1992 just as the internet was just getting its start. The world building was fantastic and characters were fun. I'd also say this was a serious book at times, but it was also very much a parody of the cyberpunk genre. So don't go into this thinking it is a super serious cyberpunk book.
This would have been a 5 star read, but I was a little disappointed with the ending. It wasn’t terrible, but it just fell a little flat considering the great world building and plot that had come before.
This would have been a 5 star read, but I was a little disappointed with the ending. It wasn’t terrible, but it just fell a little flat considering the great world building and plot that had come before.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence and Violence
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Racism
confusedmuse's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
hopeful
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Car accident, Cursing, Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Kidnapping, Police brutality, Racial slurs, Racism, Religious bigotry, Self harm, Sexual content, Violence, and Adult/minor relationship
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