Home :: Books :: Science Fiction & Fantasy  

Arts & Photography
Audio CDs
Audiocassettes
Biographies & Memoirs
Business & Investing
Children's Books
Christianity
Comics & Graphic Novels
Computers & Internet
Cooking, Food & Wine
Entertainment
Gay & Lesbian
Health, Mind & Body
History
Home & Garden
Horror
Literature & Fiction
Mystery & Thrillers
Nonfiction
Outdoors & Nature
Parenting & Families
Professional & Technical
Reference
Religion & Spirituality
Romance
Science
Science Fiction & Fantasy

Sports
Teens
Travel
Women's Fiction
Snow Crash

Snow Crash

List Price: $14.00
Your Price: $10.50
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 .. 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 .. 56 >>

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Tedious at points but READ IT
Review: True, this story can drag on at points (particularly at the end, where I sort of felt like it should have been picking up), but, on the other hand, I just have to admire a guy who crafts a world where pizza delivery is controlled by a futuristic Mafia and the penalty for missing the 30min drop-off deadline is death. Because in a world like that, when, due to a kitchen fire you end up being handed a pizza that's already 20min old, you do what any sane man would do - you launch your car through someone's fence and go Grand Prix across people's lawn furniture and garden gnomes. People in this book react very believably; the world they exist in is just so out there that the things they do and the things they get mixed up in make for one wild trip, and it's a trip worth taking. It gets a little bogged down here and there - the guy needs an editor - but I wouldn't put that down as a reason not to read this book. Run out and grab it, you'll be glad you did!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Worthy concept, poor execution
Review: Snow Crash is an exciting novel, with a great premise and an interesting story line. Technological descriptions are vivid and original; I especially like the futuristic wheels used by both Y.T. and Hiro P.

However, this book suffers from a chronologically fragmented beginning, two plotlines which are horrendously slapped together, and a general sense of being on shaky ground throughout. Stephenson's bleak outlook on the future is not the problem here; the problem is that the plotline is so fractured and out of joint that the tale suffers greatly. I wound up being annoyed because whenever things got good with one character, the other main character would bludgeoun his/her way in and ruin the plot. It seems as if Stephenson or his editor wrote the manuscript, cut it up between random paragraphs, threw all the pieces in the air, and then reassembled with no thought for continuity or flow.

I love the plot itself. References to Ancient Near Eastern religion and modern computer technology usually don't mix well, but Stephenson can and does make it work. The fragmented and fractured plotline, however, is more a distraction than a successful device. Perhaps a second or third read will improve the experience; here's hoping this is so.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Snow Crash--Simply a Must-Read
Review: If you're a computer geek, computer geek-wannabe, or in any way interested in the 'cyber-culture' which has grown up around the Internet, this book is a must read. It takes a good idea (Gibson's _Neuromancer_ novels) and improves on it by spending as much time investigating the society in meatspace as it does cyberspace. The result is an entertaining novel which shows how both worlds interact with and change each other. The plot revolves around a drug called Snow Crash which is available both in Virtual and Real reality. After one of his friends becomes infected by this 'drug', Hero Protagonist and his skate-boarding female sidekick (if only I could find a girl like this...) must investigate who is behind this whole scheme and stop the onrushing Infopocalypse. Along the way they meet an assortment of memorable characters: a psychotic Aleut who uses razor-sharp glass knives to gut his opponents and carries a live nuclear weapon in the sidecar of his motorcycle, a cybernetic dog that can run at Mach2, a Mafia Godfather/Pizza Mogul with a penchant for straight razors, and a quadraplegic war vet who's wheelchair doubles as a tank. The settings range from the city-states of ancient Sumer to Virtual Reality libraries to a huge surplus aircraft carrier/refugee ship in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. I swear I'm not making this up! Simply put, this is the most entertaining and thought provoking book I've read in years. If you liked Gibson's books, you'll love this one.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Period 7 Book Review
Review: Snow Crash is an exceptional modern science fiction novel. In this book, the main character, Hiro, faces a corrupt world of cyber-punks. As a reader you will become quickly engrossed in the futuristic stream-lined world of the Metaverse, a virtual computer-generated world. This book is recomended to any science fiction lover. From Neal Stepehenson's use of hip attitude and profanity, this work is very realistic as well as realistic. The only drawback of the book is that is is long, but, it is still good.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good, yet deeply erred.
Review: Snow Crash starts out very gripping and slowly loses its grasp as the book progresses. Stephenson, who always seems in dire need of an editor, has this tendency to over-explain everything. What could be summarised in a paragraph is often drawn out into an entire chapter.

Still, the characters are engaging and even when the writing drags a bit, the plotline is entertaining. One of these days, someone will sit down with Stephenson and say "Trim," and a phenomenal book will result. Until then, merely good books like this will result.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Snow Crash : Virus or Myth?
Review: I have read Snow Crash twice. It is an amazing book. Neal Stephenson did an amazing job presenting the facts dealing with 'me', 'nam-shub', and 'en'. Outside of reading Snow Crash, I have done extensive research concerning Sumerian Mythology and theology and have found these facts to be more than true.

Snow Crash is an excellent book, and I highly suggest that any cyber-hippie read it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Hate to get to the end of a good book?
Review: I had a hard time pulling away from this one! Y.T. and Hiro make a great team! It would be great to see a continuation of it...

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The greatest book ever written?
Review: Snow crash is a book. And like other books you read it. but seriously snow crash is an awsome book the story is incredible its fast pased and wont bore the heck out of you like some other books. I would suggest this book to anyone anywhere. If you are into hacking or any other computer stuff check this book out hey its just a book, a book never did anyone any harm. Nueromancer also rulz!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Wild jaunt
Review: I love this book, but it could have used a more hard-nosed editor to cut out some of the vast reams of exposition in the latter 2/3 of the book. Otherwise, this is a highly-charged jaunt through all sorts of locales, virtual and otherwise. The first few chapters alone are worth the price of admission. This is a great book to give to someone who says "I don't like to read science fiction" (and yet that person will watch science fiction blockbusters all summer at the movies, hmmm, never did figure that one out). What will draw these new readers in is Stephenson's wild ideas of the future--it doesn't matter whether the futuristic ideas presented (like burbclaves) will come true or not (although many think we already live in a Snow Crash-esque world already). The point is that they're FUN, and not dumbed down--Stephenson provides a feast of visual sensations that are enthralling, and not just for techies or Trekkies.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: I loved it ........AT FIRST
Review: The author of this book owes me a day of my life back. This book initialy captivated me more than any other sci-fi novel I've read in recent years. I was hooked. The problem is the end of the book. Its so LAME and the climax is a BIG DUD. I'll never read another book by this author again!


<< 1 .. 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 .. 56 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates