Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
An entertaining but odd book. The level of care that was provided for intricate plot and the technical details around encryption made it an enjoyable. However, the depth of the characters lacked the same amount of care. There were clear protagonists that were followed closely and Smart Hacker or Manly Man side characters that were clearly the support heroes of the story. Everyone else just fell quietly in the background as relatively flat single-purpose characters, which kept striking me as odd.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
informative
mysterious
tense
slow-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:
No
It was a dense challenging read I had my reservations about at first, but it turned out to be quite impressive and eventually won me over. While not as complex as Infinite Jest, this is one of those books that require some real attention on your part, especially when it comes to technical jargon and connecting the dots between timelines. Still, Stephenson effortlessly mixes them with captivating events, rich with dry humor that had me chuckling for its entirety so that even the pretentious parts were quite delightful and not a turn-off. The sprawling narrative that switches between past and present characters also kept things fresh and did not ruin the flow as I thought it might. The scope of the novel and the way it all conjoins towards the end was satisfying, especially for Randy's POV which I wasn't initially a fan of, but it all comes together nicely in the second half. Some of my favorite chapters involve Lawrence and Shaftoe, (Ram, Courting, and Metis to name a few) and I think it's safe to say it's one of the funniest books I have ever read, mainly due to the narration style. But it occasionally gets quite dark as well, so that you are suddenly caught off guard.
The 'cameos' of historical people were great, although I'm unsure why it's considered Science Fiction over Historical. While it's not an all-time favorite, I don't have many complaints to list, but for the sake of nitpicking, I would say it had a few lulls occasionally with random tangents that went nowhere, but they never overstayed their welcome in my experience. Certain female characters in the novel are not as fully realized as their male counterparts, which can feel like a missed opportunity given how detailed the rest of the cast is. Towards the end, the return of Andrew Loeb as final antagonist was a comical surprise since he's not a direct presence in the main narrative and I can see it being an abrupt ending for some people. The passage of time can be hard to distinguish as well but ultimately, none of these bothered me too much. Overall, a fantastic read that you may not be able to binge, but if you like the humor and find it rewarding to connect the dots, definitely stick with it. 4.5 ⭐
The 'cameos' of historical people were great, although I'm unsure why it's considered Science Fiction over Historical. While it's not an all-time favorite, I don't have many complaints to list, but for the sake of nitpicking, I would say it had a few lulls occasionally with random tangents that went nowhere, but they never overstayed their welcome in my experience. Certain female characters in the novel are not as fully realized as their male counterparts, which can feel like a missed opportunity given how detailed the rest of the cast is. Towards the end,
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, War
Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism
Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Sexual violence
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
DNF. Found the hustlers boorish and the writing sexist.
Given to me by a friend… perhaps closer to the target audience: a male engineering student.
Given to me by a friend… perhaps closer to the target audience: a male engineering student.
adventurous
challenging
funny
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Chile... I'm willing to try another Neal Stephenson book, but not this one. I'm disappointed because I like books centered around codes and mysteries, but...
I had to grit my teeth resisting the urge to bump this up to 4* purely to feel better about the many, many hours I spent on it. Parts of Cryptonomicon were a pure joy to read, specifically most of the WWII storylines. But much of the modern day story felt like a slog and it was full of thin and unsympathetic characters. And yes, the infamous math/tech info dumps were sometimes too much even for me (a professional software developer)!
So overall this is over a thousand pages of alternating 4-5* great chapters and 2-3* meh chapters. 500 pages of pure WWII sigint and codebreaking would have been a truly outstanding read. The way it ended up I'd call this novel good, but maybe not worth the time commitment required.
So overall this is over a thousand pages of alternating 4-5* great chapters and 2-3* meh chapters. 500 pages of pure WWII sigint and codebreaking would have been a truly outstanding read. The way it ended up I'd call this novel good, but maybe not worth the time commitment required.
adventurous
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
slow-paced