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3.89 AVERAGE
3.89 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
fast-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
An imaginative, prescient and funny dystopian vision of a corporatised future. First prediction of the metaverse, which apparently inspired many of the current tech bros, despite it being part of a dystopia…
If you'll be reading a Neal Stephenson book, you got to keep in mind that he writes "hard sci-fi" and it will be like reading some snippets of academics journals or some history to make his book more grounded to reality. This review will contain mild spoilers, spoilers that will be crucial to the plot or twists will be hidden.
My first Neal Stephenson book is [b:Seveneves|22816087|Seveneves|Neal Stephenson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1449142000s/22816087.jpg|42299347], which I quite enjoyed especially the first part, but I'm sometimes [honestly] lost with his explanations that made me want to pause for a while especially the topic is something I am not interested in [even though it's a crucial detail in the book]. It still became a problem for me, when reading this book (though it's lessened), since with all the topics about the human language, the bicamerial mind, the Tower of Babel, history of some civilizations and many others interested me. At some point, it kinda reminded me of Ted Chiang's [b:Stories of Your Life|223380|Stories of Your Life and Others|Ted Chiang|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1356138316s/223380.jpg|216334] since they are talking about language and stuffs, which is adapted to the big screen by Denis Villeneuve (check it out it's really good). And books by [a:Steven Pinker|3915|Steven Pinker|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1235758085p2/3915.jpg] - such as [b:The Language Instinct|5755|The Language Instinct How the Mind Creates Language|Steven Pinker|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388342388s/5755.jpg|2422982] might be worth checking out, I honestly just read a few chapters/pages of his works.
Meanwhile for the plot itself, removing the sci-fi elements of this book, will be and might make it a little bit generic. As for the main characters - Hiro Protagonist and Y.T. or Yours Truly are well-written characters, even the secondary/side characters are well developed. Though this book does not mainly take place the Metaverse - the Metaverse is interesting especially through the eyes of Hiro which is a hacker.
This is a really fun read, tedious as some points (due to the infopocalypse). I'm going to rate this as 3.5 stars, but since goodreads is so outdated, I'll be rating it 3 stars, not really a four-star read for me.
My first Neal Stephenson book is [b:Seveneves|22816087|Seveneves|Neal Stephenson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1449142000s/22816087.jpg|42299347], which I quite enjoyed especially the first part, but I'm sometimes [honestly] lost with his explanations that made me want to pause for a while especially the topic is something I am not interested in [even though it's a crucial detail in the book]. It still became a problem for me, when reading this book (though it's lessened), since with all the topics about the human language, the bicamerial mind, the Tower of Babel, history of some civilizations and many others interested me. At some point, it kinda reminded me of Ted Chiang's [b:Stories of Your Life|223380|Stories of Your Life and Others|Ted Chiang|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1356138316s/223380.jpg|216334] since they are talking about language and stuffs, which is adapted to the big screen by Denis Villeneuve (check it out it's really good). And books by [a:Steven Pinker|3915|Steven Pinker|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1235758085p2/3915.jpg] - such as [b:The Language Instinct|5755|The Language Instinct How the Mind Creates Language|Steven Pinker|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388342388s/5755.jpg|2422982] might be worth checking out, I honestly just read a few chapters/pages of his works.
Meanwhile for the plot itself, removing the sci-fi elements of this book, will be
Spoiler
"an evil corporation/person trying to [mind] control people"This is a really fun read, tedious as some points (due to the infopocalypse). I'm going to rate this as 3.5 stars, but since goodreads is so outdated, I'll be rating it 3 stars, not really a four-star read for me.
It’s interesting, and even today has aged pretty well. It is at times very original, although the debt it owes to Julian Jayne’s nonfiction philosophy of mind text, “The Origins of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind” is clear and obvious - almost as if Stephenson read that book and Neuromancer and this novel was birthed. At times, it’s quite funny, and the social criticisms are often trenchant and well observed. Still, the ending is rushed and to me unsatisfactory, and the seemingly uncritical sexualization of a 15 year old girl bothers me enough to knock a star off, and call it 3.49 stars.
Ok Book
I did not like the book at first.
Then half way through the book, I could not put it down. I was reading anytime and everywhere.
I love the concept.
I wish the ending gave us what each of the characters did after saving the world.
I did not like the book at first.
Then half way through the book, I could not put it down. I was reading anytime and everywhere.
I love the concept.
I wish the ending gave us what each of the characters did after saving the world.
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A fun and clearly foundational book, but it totally lost me when the narrative came to a grinding halt to spout random religious and linguistic history. This happened multiple times.
The main character has no growth outside of the main story arc.
There's a bunch of casual racism and sexism that probably seemed fine in 1993 but is glaringly insensitive reading this today.
A fun trip at certain points but this was a struggle to finish.
The main character has no growth outside of the main story arc.
There's a bunch of casual racism and sexism that probably seemed fine in 1993 but is glaringly insensitive reading this today.
A fun trip at certain points but this was a struggle to finish.
adventurous
dark
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Meh, didn't feel particularly attached to any of the characters. Silly goofy but not that exciting.
A very stylized piece, the first few chapters read as though they were written by the characters themselves, though in third person. The writing style seems to be intentionally jarring, making for an interesting read. This is not my genre of choice, but I don't regret reading it. I have to say though, the author's note was my favorite part.
adventurous
challenging
funny
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes