Reviews

Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson

redrobot's review against another edition

5.0

Frickin awesome! Love this book so much, my paperback copy is a little beat up. Very interesting reading, love all the cryptography! Got a little perturbed at one point when a character that should know better uses telnet across the internet to connect, but then I checked the copyright, which is 1999, so that kind of excuses it. Love the appendix on an encryption algorithm by Bruce Schneier!

creaturekind's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious 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

4.75

firper617's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark informative mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

bhgold1711's review against another edition

Was not interested at all in the story or characters. It was a slog of a first 100 pages mixed in with some misogyny and just awful characters, and honestly, I don't trust Neal Stephenson anymore. 

julibexkens's review against another edition

1.0

Did not finish (got to page 350). Liked it at times, but often one little interesting snippet was wrapped in so many pages. I kept waiting for a twist to make me go "aha! Now we are talking." Didn't come.

I loved The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O., I'm very glad that Neal Shusterman has evolved a lot as author since Cryptonomicon.

11corvus11's review against another edition

DNF. If this was a 250 page book and not an 1100 page book, I might have finished. I get that he's going for an immersive experience by using language that soldiers may have used at the time, even in the third person and even when not referring to them. But, frankly, I just don't wanna read 1100 pages of racial slurs and edge lord misogyny. I grabbed this because I love cyberpunk and planned on reading Snow Crash. This was another one of Stephensons books I saw recommended. I actually think it's well written. Just not for me.

sarah_beth_books's review against another edition

challenging slow-paced

4.0

https://youtu.be/t5OC8R-LNpY

jclermont's review against another edition

5.0

Very geeky, especially for the cryptography and history buff. I thought the development of the story across two different time periods was very well done.

rbixby's review against another edition

4.0

First Stephenson book I read. Loved the eccentric characters and the way the author weaved the stories of the two generations together.

The Captain Crunch scene alone is worth the price of admission.

gilles's review against another edition

adventurous challenging medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

While this book had some interesting moments, it was far too long with too many tangents that had no bearing on the plot. It's already a sprawling story that can be difficult to follow without side plots being introduced that don't have a lot of bearing on the main story threads besides world building. I generally don't mind world building, but it needs to serve the narrative, and I'm not sure a lot of this did. Many of the threads that seemed irrelevant did come together in the end, but I feel this could've been a much tighter story. There were also entire chapters devoted to the horniness of main characters and it was dropped in throughout the rest of the novel as well, which I could've done without.