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tiasmith 's review for:
Snow Crash
by Neal Stephenson
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 I understand that parts of this book are outdated and that, at the time, it redefined cyberpunk; but there's never been a time when characters aren't a necessary part of a story.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."