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drew_a_austin's review
adventurous
challenging
informative
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
3.5
jmitschke's review against another edition
4.0
Looooooong but really good. Took me the first third to get into it but then I got totally sucked in to the complex combination of nerdy cryptography/spy/hacker shenanigans and intersecting family storylines between WWII and the 1990s. The last third was a total page turner.
I also enjoyed Stephenson’s sense of humor and his attention to detail in his characters.
Minor complaints: maybe just one female POV? I wanted to hear more of Amy Shaftoe’s in her own words.
I also enjoyed Stephenson’s sense of humor and his attention to detail in his characters.
Minor complaints: maybe just one female POV? I wanted to hear more of Amy Shaftoe’s in her own words.
i11iane's review against another edition
4.0
Audiobook. Long. Winding. Good, but one name pronunciation got on my nerves.
tomrrandall's review against another edition
4.0
Loved the WW2-era storyline and the cryptography. The first half of the "modern" storyline dragged for me, probably because the technology of the late 90s is no longer cutting-edge enough to be interesting but not antiquated enough to be interesting, either. The second half redeems it, though, and I can see why this was supposedly required reading for employees in the early days of Paypal.
cody_reads_books's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
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? Yes
5.0
reedatl's review against another edition
3.0
A 1200 page info dump with cool themes and subjects, but it takes way too long for the characters and plot to become interesting... I liked a lot of it. I also hated a lot of it. And was bored to tears by a lot of it.
The WW2 stuff is great. The modern (1990s) stuff was incredibly dull until way late in the book because I didn't care about most of the characters until I was almost done with the book.
It's not as much fun as Snowcrash. Very ambitious and expansive so it's an inconsistent book with good bad and ugly qualities. Cool themes and content written by a highly intelligent man, but poor execution.
The WW2 stuff is great. The modern (1990s) stuff was incredibly dull until way late in the book because I didn't care about most of the characters until I was almost done with the book.
It's not as much fun as Snowcrash. Very ambitious and expansive so it's an inconsistent book with good bad and ugly qualities. Cool themes and content written by a highly intelligent man, but poor execution.
bluestarfish's review against another edition
3.0
This is a sprawling novel about code making and breaking, dozens of characters, an intertwined plot cutting between WWII and the present day (as written in 1999), and is a rather monstrous 900-plus page long mammoth! It is very action packed and remarkably readable. I found myself turning pages at a respectable rate without feeling the length of the book too much. Except perhaps tpwards the end where there was a slightly forced feel the the ending and tying up of all the various plot lines. But it was a very entertaining read, especially the hacker bits and NSA reading your mail... I skimmed over some of the equations in the book but was still interested in the ideas. A good read.
gongon44's review against another edition
5.0
Po deseti letech jsem to otevřel znovu... a přišlo mi to ještě lepší než napoprvé.