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3.89 AVERAGE
3.89 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
informative
lighthearted
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Hello Metaverse,
Stay cool and HAGS,
Yours Truly
Stay cool and HAGS,
Yours Truly
adventurous
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
I don't remember much of this one other than really disliking it, sorry. I didn't find myself invested in the characters much at all. Could do with a reread, might like it better now that I'm older?
The writing style wasn’t to my liking, and I just wasn’t into the dialogue. Probably just because of when it was written. Went into this assuming I’d love it
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
You would have thought that a book with a character named “Hiro Protagonist” it would have been something funny or at least tongue-in-cheek, but no, apparently Stephenson unironically thought that this was clever subterfuge along with a litany of other things in this book.
After this and Anathem, I am convinced that Neal Stephenson must be an insufferable individual of preposterous levels of arrogance. Why anyone would read his books and give them 4-5 star ratings should inspire even the most illiterate of young authors to shoot for the stars.
After this and Anathem, I am convinced that Neal Stephenson must be an insufferable individual of preposterous levels of arrogance. Why anyone would read his books and give them 4-5 star ratings should inspire even the most illiterate of young authors to shoot for the stars.
adventurous
funny
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This book had a lot of really enjoyable concepts, but on the whole, it felt like a drag. I loved the languages and hacking elements, and the world-building was interesting enough, but I almost gave up on it about halfway through.
adventurous
funny
informative
lighthearted
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
That was... a bit of a mess.
It felt like this book didn't really know what kind of book it wanted to be. It started off as a cool, futuristic story about a high-stakes, mafia-controlled pizza delivery company in a world ruled by corporations and fast vehicles. Then it turned into a virtual reality thing, where everyone jacks into this metaverse where they have virtual avatars and can do cool things (which is a pretty neat concept, given when this book was written). You find out about this virus that only affects hackers because their brains are hardwired to understand binary information at a subconscious level. Pretty cool. But then it turned into a history lesson about ancient civilizations (for a really long time...), and then it turned into a nautical war novel where people are getting shot/maimed/killed left and right. And then it ended.
Hiro Protagonist's name felt really out of place. It makes you think that this book maybe won't take itself seriously, where it actually does the opposite--it takes itself way too seriously. One of the characters was literally a library, and he wouldn't shut up about Sumerian culture. And for some reason, Hiro kept goading him on and asking more questions. It took hours. And then, at the end, Hiro essentially takes over that character's function and describes everything to the mafia people. And that also takes forever.
YT was cool and fun to read. Her whole thing with Raven was a bit inconsistent and I think I missed something. Was she only into him because someone was messing with her head...?
Also, she didn't even care that the dog died. That was heartless. Her skateboarding was cool though and she did some pretty awesome things. Hiro's swordfights were also pretty awesome. And he talked about kendo. Though I do find it hard to believe that some 20/30yr old hacker guy is the best swordsman in the world...in real life and in the metaverse, apparently.
I liked the premise of this book (the crazy world where you can murder your pizza delivery guy if he's late, and also the "hacking people's brains" bit), but the execution was too longwinded.
It felt like this book didn't really know what kind of book it wanted to be. It started off as a cool, futuristic story about a high-stakes, mafia-controlled pizza delivery company in a world ruled by corporations and fast vehicles. Then it turned into a virtual reality thing, where everyone jacks into this metaverse where they have virtual avatars and can do cool things (which is a pretty neat concept, given when this book was written). You find out about this virus that only affects hackers because their brains are hardwired to understand binary information at a subconscious level. Pretty cool. But then it turned into a history lesson about ancient civilizations (for a really long time...), and then it turned into a nautical war novel where people are getting shot/maimed/killed left and right. And then it ended.
Hiro Protagonist's name felt really out of place. It makes you think that this book maybe won't take itself seriously, where it actually does the opposite--it takes itself way too seriously. One of the characters was literally a library, and he wouldn't shut up about Sumerian culture. And for some reason, Hiro kept goading him on and asking more questions. It took hours. And then, at the end, Hiro essentially takes over that character's function and describes everything to the mafia people. And that also takes forever.
YT was cool and fun to read. Her whole thing with Raven was a bit inconsistent and I think I missed something. Was she only into him because someone was messing with her head...?
Also, she didn't even care that the dog died. That was heartless. Her skateboarding was cool though and she did some pretty awesome things. Hiro's swordfights were also pretty awesome. And he talked about kendo. Though I do find it hard to believe that some 20/30yr old hacker guy is the best swordsman in the world...in real life and in the metaverse, apparently.
I liked the premise of this book (the crazy world where you can murder your pizza delivery guy if he's late, and also the "hacking people's brains" bit), but the execution was too longwinded.