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glanzwulf 's review for:
Snow Crash
by Neal Stephenson
It's fun, it's stylish, and it's been an inspiration to generations of techies and creatives. I can see why it's so highly recommended, and I can see how it could be amazing. But for me, it just fails in some really important ways.
For example, I did enjoy the world building as it had a lot of interesting ideas and when you consider that it came out in 1992, well, damn, you have to take your hat off to Neal. But as soon as the main plot kicks in, the world building is kind of pushed to the side and a not so fun plot is drags on. There were some good ideas, but it all felt like it wasn't connected, with some ideas being dropped and others being forgotten.
Then there are the characters, all of whom start off really well with interesting/unique backgrounds, but as the book goes on they never really develop or grow. In the end we're left with a really nice set of D&D character sheets, basically paper thin characters. I guess it depends on how/when you read it, because for example Hiro Protagonist (clever name!) is literally every 13 year old boy's dream, this cool super master hacker who is also a master swordsman, women love him and he gets the girl at the end (the girl that also had practically no development and exists almost exclusively for Hiro). Hiro never grows, is never really challenged, never has to do anything other than his usual badassery. Basically, Hiro is your typical 80's action movie star, he's a badass because he is and that's it, deal with it.
All in all, though, it's still an interesting read, and still has great ideas about the metaverse today (maybe someone should give a copy to Zuck?), but I feel like if I'd read it when I was younger, when I was less of a cynical grumpy old man, I would have enjoyed it a lot more.
For example, I did enjoy the world building as it had a lot of interesting ideas and when you consider that it came out in 1992, well, damn, you have to take your hat off to Neal. But as soon as the main plot kicks in, the world building is kind of pushed to the side and a not so fun plot is drags on. There were some good ideas, but it all felt like it wasn't connected, with some ideas being dropped and others being forgotten.
Then there are the characters, all of whom start off really well with interesting/unique backgrounds, but as the book goes on they never really develop or grow. In the end we're left with a really nice set of D&D character sheets, basically paper thin characters. I guess it depends on how/when you read it, because for example Hiro Protagonist (clever name!) is literally every 13 year old boy's dream, this cool super master hacker who is also a master swordsman, women love him and he gets the girl at the end (the girl that also had practically no development and exists almost exclusively for Hiro). Hiro never grows, is never really challenged, never has to do anything other than his usual badassery. Basically, Hiro is your typical 80's action movie star, he's a badass because he is and that's it, deal with it.
All in all, though, it's still an interesting read, and still has great ideas about the metaverse today (maybe someone should give a copy to Zuck?), but I feel like if I'd read it when I was younger, when I was less of a cynical grumpy old man, I would have enjoyed it a lot more.