Rating: 
Summary: One hail of a good book
Review: Shoo man, I red dis book and, well, let's just say I didn't put it down for a whole day. Dats pretty amazin' figerin I aint never red a cyberpunk book befor. I jus wanna say dat if you aint never red a cyberpunk book before, you need to read dis one. After I red dis great book, I red Neuromancer and it wasn't half as good as dis book.
I just wanna say I thank my creative writting teacher for introducin me to dis rad book. I won't say his name but he took da time to white out all da cuss words so we could read it. Thanks my creative writtin teacher.
One last thing. I really really love dis book and I recommend it to anyone who wants to read about hackers and stuff. Hiro is one bad butt character and Y.T. is really coo. Go out and buy it right now or when you get off da computer.
Rating: 
Summary: It's a good book, but don't expect too much from it
Review: The beginning of this book is unbelievable, if the first twenty or so pages do not hook you then forget about sci-fi literature altogether. However, Stephenson is not able to keep the incredible pace set in the beginning. Still, I think it deserves a read, if only for its believable portrayal of virtual reality.
Rating:
Summary: Simply a FUN book. You will have a blast!
Review: After rating about 50 or so books on Amazon.com, I asked for recommendations of books that I might enjoy. The number one choice on the list was a book called "Headcrash". I went to the book description and began to read the reader reviews. Many of the reviews referred to another book known as "Snow Crash" that a few people seemed to like MORE than Headcrash. While browsing a local used book store for a copy of Headcrash, I came across a used copy of Snow Crash. (you still following me?) I bought it and started to read it. I am familiar with the cyberpunk universe from having an interest in computer and video games, but I've never really read anything officially labeled as cyberpunk. This was my first endeavor, and I was slightly afraid that I wouldn't enjoy a brooding post-apocalyptic atmosphere. Snow Crash immediately hooked me. The subtle and quirky sense of humor that permeates the work is what did it. The book seems like a cross between the Shadowrun universe and Douglas Adams. The main character's name is 'Hiro Protagonist' after all... 'Ford Prefect' anyone? Hiro carries a pair of Samurai swords and has business cards that innocently labels him as "The World's Greatest Swordfighter". The ideas presented in Snow Crash are just too cool. A few things we have seen before, but much of the book is inventive and original. Stephenson creates many little detailed near-futuristic technological gadgets that are incredibly cool. "Perhaps they'll listen to Reason." (wait until you get there!) The Rat Things are another. Great stuff! The plot drives the book in a non-overbearing way that doesn't force the reader to "pay attention" to every little detail in fear of losing the significance of some event later in the book. However, little tidbits of information are dropped here and there in the first half of the book that suddenly come into play later on... making the reader think, "Oh.. so THAT's what that was!" This provides the reader with feelings of discovery and satisfaction. This was one of those books that had me postponing other activities that I like to do, in order to read a "just a little more". As I was reading Snow Crash, there were many, many times when I started thinking of what an incredible movie this book would make. Read it. You'll love it.
Rating:
Summary: Wow!
Review: This is one of the best sci-fi/cyberpunk novels out there (although the term "cyberpunk" marginally annoys me). Everybody has self-given, rock-star names, Newt Gingrich has his wish and gets his smaller government (although this goes beyond even Libertarians' veiws of small government), and I'll bet John Travolta won't be starring in the movie (L. Bob Fife is obviously a parody of L. Ron Hubbard, at least as the name goes). I especially liked how the novel had a huge break in the action for the language/biblical subplot (which is really the MAIN plot, if you at it just right). I thought the ending, contrary to what some people say, was GREAT. I'm glad there was NOT any hint of a romantic involvement between the main male and female characters, for a change. Beyond all that, the novel is exciting and hilarious. Now, there are some defects in this book, but they are minor compared to the quality of most of it. First, some of the tech (and apparently the history lesson) is BS. More importantly, the time period is bogus. Stephenson seems to realize this, and never states what year the novel is set. It obviously can't take place much farther in the future than 2010 or so, due to some characters (and their parents) war histories, yet the breakdown of society presented here requires much longer than that, say fifty years at least, IMHO. However, one can easily overlook these minor points and enjoy the rest of this book.
Rating:
Summary: Simply terrific!
Review: From the opening paragraph, I knew this was going a be a wild ride of a book. Stephenson's mix of Sumerian mythology, computers, paranoia and a great sense of humor was a refreshing change from the other cyberpunk I've read. In my experience, a cyberpunk novel has all the humor of a train wreck, but Stephenson manages to avoid the Gibsonian doom and gloom and see the humor in the situations he writes about. Stephenson keeps the pace of the novel moving along nicely, even when he's busy explaining obscure Sumerian mythology (trust me, it's all relevant to the plot.) Overall, this an excellent, well written novel and I look forward to reading more of his work.
Rating:
Summary: Fun to read! Mindboggling! Satiric! Visionary!
Review: Friend got Snow Crash as a gift. Looked in. Couldn't stop reading the first chapter. I had to give it back the same evening. Reluctantly! Bought it the next day! Back in '96 that is. I still consider it one of the most fun to read Sci-Fi novels up to date. The pace of the first few chapters is breathtaking. Leaves you craving for more, though at some times the plot isn't very transparent. Pretty witty. Some jokes took me completely by surprise. 'It costs a Trillion Dollars...` or so for example. Or the 'They will listen to REASON' phrase. You don't have to be a Sci-Fi fan to enjoy it! Lean back! Put on some danger sensitive sunglasses ! Let the adventure begin. You can be Y.T., or, if a male reader, even Hiro himself for a while. Enjoy the extrapolations of political and economic situations. Do not take it 100% serious. The future might be bleak enough. From certain angles, it surely has more than one, Snow Crash looks like the proverbial Cyberpunk Roleplaying Adventure with lots of action, probable and improbable ends, dark sneaky villains, desparate cast-out heroes and the like. I even took a liking in Raven, the dark mercenary/avenger par excellence. All in all a fast paced, word-inventing Tour de Force through a not so distant tomorrow. Would have rated it as a 10, but some explanations , endings of the plot are rather odd or at least not very well researched.
Rating:
Summary: Starts great, stays good, ends well
Review: The best techno-novel I've read. Stephenson has a fantastic and entertaining writing style that would support any story. Luckily the plot is good too. The book swims in technodreams, but doesn't drown. I liked it much better than the fabled "Neuromancer".
Rating:
Summary: 7.5
Review: Stephenson creates a highly interesting and believable world. The first half of the book had me in stitches as he lays down the foundation of the future. Toward the middle, the discussions on history had me a little confused, but it was then all suddenly explained in one foul swoop. Very provocative! From that point on, the story looses a bit of its edge and kind of seems thrown in as an after thought. The ending was very weak. Overall a worthy read
Rating:
Summary: A race to the future at sixty thousand miles an hour
Review: I have two words for this book: Simply Amazing.
From the very beginning of the book I was hooked on the fast paced action.
The main character, Hiro Protagonist, is an absolute genius.
Not only is he a master hacker, he's the world's greatest sword fighter.
When he teams up with Y.T., a local Kourier, they become an unstopable team.
Anyone who has at least a slight knowledge of computers should not pass this one up.
Stephenson has really created a classic with this fine piece.
Rating:
Summary: Great book, extremely funny, technologically sophisticated
Review: One of the problems I often have when reading a book with central themes like "cyberspace" and Artifical Intelligence is that very often the writer's lack of a core understanding of present technology doesn't allow him to plausibly predict it's probable evolution. In disagreement with a recent posting that stated that he "gets most of the technology wrong," I'd like to state that as a programmer and network engineer I was more impressed by this book in terms of technological realism than by any book of its type that I can recall. I have no idea what Neal Stephenson did for a living before he wrote, but if it wasn't programming, networking or computer engineering, he's studied it well or has friends who've coached him well. He never once used a plot deviced that seemed impossible or illogical, which is very rare indeed. This is in stark contrast to Gibson's Neuromancer, which although it entertained me, did not show in it's writing style that the writer had any underlying understanding of the functioning of a computer. In fact, Gibson can be forgiven for his lack of technological sophistication only because of the fact that his work was so ground-breaking for the time at which it was written. (Gibson has admitted he never even owned a PC or worked with a computer until after that book was written). This book has great satiric wit, and lies within the definition of "hard sf". A great combination in my book. It was so enjoyable and memorable I have to give it a 10.
|
