Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.89 AVERAGE
3.89 AVERAGE
Lots of flaws, very jarring to read in many ways but ultimately enjoyable, mostly because of YTs character. Took until roughly 30% in to get invested. Needed more epilogue and suffered from exposition and plot dumping issues. Guilty pleasure read for different reasons than usual for me. Wished they did more wrap up at the end.
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
funny
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
I just finished Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson which was written in 1992 and describes a futuristic version of the continental United States that is sometimes weirdly prescient and sometimes ridiculous. The internet is described in a way that tracks with what it's become today (a space in every way except the physical where you can be admired for who you are or what you've done there, despite your real circumstances, personality, skills, occupation) but remains obsessed with the idea of physical space and the interaction of physical bodies and how time governs those interactions. My favorite part of reading this book was the worldbuilding. My least favorite part of reading this book was whenever it attempted to explain that worldbuilding instead of just observe it.
This book actually does a lot of explaining of the mechanisms of its main plot, attempts to give workable reasons for everything that happens, and I think that's the only place it really loses me. The plot of this book is insane. It's one of those things that, if you look too closely at it, instead of revealing its elementary pieces just stops making sense altogether. Like looking at muscle tissue under a microscope and finding out the cells are just ground up bits of wet newspaper. This book really lulled me with the prettiness of its muscle tissue on a x40 magnification. I wish we'd spent more time there and less time at x400. Every page at x400 felt many times as long as other pages and I don't think I got much in return for reading them.
The worldbuilding allows some really amazing things to be done with the writing. There are some unforgettable sentences in here detailing action that wouldn't be possible in another world. In this world, it happens every ten pages and each time it's sort of effortlessly badass, understated, relaxed. The two main characters are the same. I enjoyed them both. This was a long book and it felt like it, but I'm glad I read it and I hope to take something from how it was written.
This book actually does a lot of explaining of the mechanisms of its main plot, attempts to give workable reasons for everything that happens, and I think that's the only place it really loses me. The plot of this book is insane. It's one of those things that, if you look too closely at it, instead of revealing its elementary pieces just stops making sense altogether. Like looking at muscle tissue under a microscope and finding out the cells are just ground up bits of wet newspaper. This book really lulled me with the prettiness of its muscle tissue on a x40 magnification. I wish we'd spent more time there and less time at x400. Every page at x400 felt many times as long as other pages and I don't think I got much in return for reading them.
The worldbuilding allows some really amazing things to be done with the writing. There are some unforgettable sentences in here detailing action that wouldn't be possible in another world. In this world, it happens every ten pages and each time it's sort of effortlessly badass, understated, relaxed. The two main characters are the same. I enjoyed them both. This was a long book and it felt like it, but I'm glad I read it and I hope to take something from how it was written.
Read this in 24 hours and immediately went out and bought more Neal Stephenson books. :)
2.5⭐️ I don't think Stephenson is really for me, but I'm still glad I read something by him. I am still sort of curious about 2 other novels he's written: Diamond Age and Anathem.
YT bugged the shit out of me in the first half of the book. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but when I confirmed with someone who actually likes this book that YT is annoying to her too, I knew it wasn't just me. I found her attitude to be a little grating. I think Stephenson is known for not doing great female characters, and I wouldn't say YT was awful or offensive, just not a lot going on there. I liked the 2 chapters her mother gets where we see how awful her job is working for the government. When Uncle Enzo learns that YT's mother is picking her up at the end and he's like "oh good I was worried about them" I was like uh...I don't think all their issues are suddenly resolved...I couldn't tell if that was supposed to be taken seriously, or if it was supposed to be flippant. That said, YT was certainly a force to be reckoned with. I can see how she might be perceived as badd-ass, but I just didn't find her that interesting or complex of a character. Her "relationship" with the Raven was also baffling to me...they had sex once...and suddenly they were dating? And she "dumped" him?
I can see what Stephenson was trying to do with this book, and I think he actually did it fairly well. I've heard him be described as creating environments and moods through his ideas/world building and I just don't think I like hanging out in the environments he creates? They're just not that interesting to me. I found it kind of hard to care about what he was trying to explore.
I think this book could've been 200-300 pages shorter and still communicated the same ideas. The plot meandered and dragged a lot, especially at the beginning. I guess it's to allow the reader to feel more immersed in this Metaverse world, but idk.
Spoiler
It took nearly half the book for me to become remotely interested in the plot/ideas. Once the Librarian started talking to Hiro about linguistics, religion, and tying that all into how viruses spread, I became more intrigued. I'm not sure if I entirely buy Stephenson's argument, but at least I didn't feel like I was a robot on autopilot.YT bugged the shit out of me in the first half of the book. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but when I confirmed with someone who actually likes this book that YT is annoying to her too, I knew it wasn't just me. I found her attitude to be a little grating. I think Stephenson is known for not doing great female characters, and I wouldn't say YT was awful or offensive, just not a lot going on there. I liked the 2 chapters her mother gets where we see how awful her job is working for the government. When Uncle Enzo learns that YT's mother is picking her up at the end and he's like "oh good I was worried about them" I was like uh...I don't think all their issues are suddenly resolved...I couldn't tell if that was supposed to be taken seriously, or if it was supposed to be flippant. That said, YT was certainly a force to be reckoned with. I can see how she might be perceived as badd-ass, but I just didn't find her that interesting or complex of a character. Her "relationship" with the Raven was also baffling to me...they had sex once...and suddenly they were dating? And she "dumped" him?
I can see what Stephenson was trying to do with this book, and I think he actually did it fairly well. I've heard him be described as creating environments and moods through his ideas/world building and I just don't think I like hanging out in the environments he creates? They're just not that interesting to me. I found it kind of hard to care about what he was trying to explore.
I think this book could've been 200-300 pages shorter and still communicated the same ideas. The plot meandered and dragged a lot, especially at the beginning. I guess it's to allow the reader to feel more immersed in this Metaverse world, but idk.
In the acknowledgements at the end of this book, the author reveals it was originally intended to be a graphic novel. While I am by no means a fan of that medium, I can't help but feel that overall Snow Crash would have been better-suited to it.
During the first 100 pages or so I thought the book was excellent sci-fi writing - the dystopian Los Angeles portrayed was funny, satirical and exciting at the same time. From then on though the plot of the book came to the fore and it is, to be frank, bizarre. Overall the neurolinguistic 'hacking' that the narrative concerns is fascinating but the way it is delivered is disjointed and often at odds with the setting of the book - the 'history' in the book is difficult enough to comprehend without the added complications of the peculiar world Stephenson has created.
Overall I think the problem stems from the book being an awkward length. The author could have settled for a punchier storyline, playing to the book's sci-fi strengths more, or he could have made it a true epic and really got into some length detail about the subject matter.
During the first 100 pages or so I thought the book was excellent sci-fi writing - the dystopian Los Angeles portrayed was funny, satirical and exciting at the same time. From then on though the plot of the book came to the fore and it is, to be frank, bizarre. Overall the neurolinguistic 'hacking' that the narrative concerns is fascinating but the way it is delivered is disjointed and often at odds with the setting of the book - the 'history' in the book is difficult enough to comprehend without the added complications of the peculiar world Stephenson has created.
Overall I think the problem stems from the book being an awkward length. The author could have settled for a punchier storyline, playing to the book's sci-fi strengths more, or he could have made it a true epic and really got into some length detail about the subject matter.
Stephenson creates a distinct and imaginative world for SNOW CRASH. The Metaverse (think WoW meets THE SIMS) holds as much power as the real world. People own property, buy and sell services, and socialize or date. An elite group of hackers who began coding in the beginning are considered both superstars and the gods of the Metaverse--creating new elements of the world to meet the demands of its expansion.
(Stephenson wrote this in 1992, by the way, years before the terms "world wide web" and "Internet" were part of our everyday lives.)
In the real world, the U.S. government has sold all of its land to various franchises, who now hold power in their respective enclaves; they are responsible for keeping (or not keeping) order in their territory, while suburban enclaves ("burbclaves") hire security franchises to protect their homes and neighborhoods.
The world is an organized anarchy, and, if you believe this interpretation, it's fast-paced, fun, and dangerous.
IT'S SO PUNK, YOU GUYS.
There's a standard save-the-world plot, which our protagonist (aptly name Hiro Protagonist, in case you didn't know who to root for) has to thwart. Hiro is the world's best sword fighter and a Grade A hacker. He's also a pizza delivery guy and a concert organizer, because he has to be accessible to the reader, you know?
The main antagonist, L. Bob Rife (Colonel Sanders), has figured out how to spread a virus that infects people both in and out of the Metaverse. How, you ask? [Insert unnecessarily long speech about Sumeria and how our brain is a computer.] The second antagonist, Raven, wants to launch a nuke at the U.S. He keeps the nuke on his motorcycle. Total badass, this guy.
Hiro's partner, Y.T., the underage, super-hot skater chick, flirts with everyone and ends up bedding Raven. She doesn't really do anything else other than skate and talk about how hot she is.
I'm sorry, but you have to at least TRY to make characters. I understand that parts of this book are outdated and that, at the time, it redefined cyberpunk; but there's never been a time when characters aren't a necessary part of a story.
This is my second attempt at cyberpunk. Both books had the same problem, so I'm going to file it permanently under "Not My Cup of Tea."
(Stephenson wrote this in 1992, by the way, years before the terms "world wide web" and "Internet" were part of our everyday lives.)
In the real world, the U.S. government has sold all of its land to various franchises, who now hold power in their respective enclaves; they are responsible for keeping (or not keeping) order in their territory, while suburban enclaves ("burbclaves") hire security franchises to protect their homes and neighborhoods.
The world is an organized anarchy, and, if you believe this interpretation, it's fast-paced, fun, and dangerous.
IT'S SO PUNK, YOU GUYS.
There's a standard save-the-world plot, which our protagonist (aptly name Hiro Protagonist, in case you didn't know who to root for) has to thwart. Hiro is the world's best sword fighter and a Grade A hacker. He's also a pizza delivery guy and a concert organizer, because he has to be accessible to the reader, you know?
The main antagonist, L. Bob Rife (Colonel Sanders), has figured out how to spread a virus that infects people both in and out of the Metaverse. How, you ask? [Insert unnecessarily long speech about Sumeria and how our brain is a computer.] The second antagonist, Raven, wants to launch a nuke at the U.S. He keeps the nuke on his motorcycle. Total badass, this guy.
Hiro's partner, Y.T., the underage, super-hot skater chick, flirts with everyone and ends up bedding Raven. She doesn't really do anything else other than skate and talk about how hot she is.
I'm sorry, but you have to at least TRY to make characters. I understand that parts of this book are outdated and that, at the time, it redefined cyberpunk; but there's never been a time when characters aren't a necessary part of a story.
This is my second attempt at cyberpunk. Both books had the same problem, so I'm going to file it permanently under "Not My Cup of Tea."
adventurous
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:
No
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content
Weird sex scene with a 15 year old girl.
adventurous
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No