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rjfrost's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-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
3.5
goobearmilltato's review
3.0
Wow, Stephenson sure likes to pack in the information, doesn't he? I was impressed with just how much he crammed in this book, and how he put it all together in the story. Still, sometimes it felt like I was studying for a college course. Most of the time it was interesting enough, though, which is why I gave this a 3. As my first Neal Stephenson book, however, it kind of turned me off from all of his other 1000+ page books.
whiffer's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
veganheathen's review
3.0
The first half of this book was great and really interesting. Once I got into the middle, though, it was like the brakes engaged and the story turned slower, a bit dry and a little dull. I feel like this book could have been edited down to be a bit shorter, with a lot of the Enki and Asherah stuff condensed. It was interesting, but a bit heavy. I also felt like the ending wasn't really all that satisfying and was quite chaotic and predictable.
I had heard about how great this book is for years and I was slightly disappointed. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it, either.
I had heard about how great this book is for years and I was slightly disappointed. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it, either.
lauriewdc's review
3.0
This was an interesting and quick read. However, I could have done without the sex scene with a 15-year old girl. Gross.
socialbrad's review
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
aconnors12's review against another edition
2.0
***Did Not Finish***
Didn’t know what I was expecting from a book about the Metaverse from the 90s. I thought maybe I’d give it a shot. Maybe it would be nice to see what someone thought the Metaverse was and what it is today.
This book did not age well.
I made it through roughly 60 pages, fighting to give this book a chance after a couple off the cuff racial generalizations of made up countries and the frivlous tossing of the R-word. (It was the 90s, sure.) I even was willing to overlook for a few chapters the terrible Thesaurus like word dropping of random big letter adjectives mixed with lazy made up languages like “Taxilinga” the language of Taxi drivers. So much exposition and yet I still knew nothing of the world. Then I read through part of the Metaverse that was essentially a white supremacist community and that was a bit of a flag there.
Really what came down to it was that this protagonist was like every single twitch gamer bro that thought he was better than everyone else and “pwned” everyone that I grew up with and to this day know exist.
The only reason I didn’t give it 1 star is that for a book in the 90s, it does show virtual reality in a very similar light to what we see with the internet today.
Didn’t know what I was expecting from a book about the Metaverse from the 90s. I thought maybe I’d give it a shot. Maybe it would be nice to see what someone thought the Metaverse was and what it is today.
This book did not age well.
I made it through roughly 60 pages, fighting to give this book a chance after a couple off the cuff racial generalizations of made up countries and the frivlous tossing of the R-word. (It was the 90s, sure.) I even was willing to overlook for a few chapters the terrible Thesaurus like word dropping of random big letter adjectives mixed with lazy made up languages like “Taxilinga” the language of Taxi drivers. So much exposition and yet I still knew nothing of the world. Then I read through part of the Metaverse that was essentially a white supremacist community and that was a bit of a flag there.
Really what came down to it was that this protagonist was like every single twitch gamer bro that thought he was better than everyone else and “pwned” everyone that I grew up with and to this day know exist.
The only reason I didn’t give it 1 star is that for a book in the 90s, it does show virtual reality in a very similar light to what we see with the internet today.
6_am_hotdog's review
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
1.25
Holy shit this was bad.
jamo_etc's review against another edition
Maybe Neal Stephenson is not for me. Guy sure has some thoughts on religion and race.
bianchini_arthur's review against another edition
4.0
First of all, this book, being written in 1992, is absolutely crazy!
From what I understood, he coined the term Metaverse, which is widely used nowadays (2023 -2024), and got many cyberpunk futuristic ideas kind of right. I expect we will see people connected to the metaverse using goggles and walking on the street like "gargoyles" soon.
I did not like that much the amount of world-building, and sometimes it was not as gripping as expected, so I would give 3.8 for this book.
Obs: For a non-English native speaker, it was a bit hard; even though I read many books in english, there were a lot of new words for me.
From what I understood, he coined the term Metaverse, which is widely used nowadays (2023 -2024), and got many cyberpunk futuristic ideas kind of right. I expect we will see people connected to the metaverse using goggles and walking on the street like "gargoyles" soon.
I did not like that much the amount of world-building, and sometimes it was not as gripping as expected, so I would give 3.8 for this book.
Obs: For a non-English native speaker, it was a bit hard; even though I read many books in english, there were a lot of new words for me.