Rating: 
Summary: Worthy Sci-Fi read
Review: I must admit that Stephenson has a vivid imagination even if his general vision of the future seems to be consistently bleak in his novels about them. "Snow Crash" is another book in the tradition of "The Diamond Age" that imagines what the next era will be like. "Diamond" looks farther down the line, into the next century, while "Show Crash" looks at how things will be just decades from now. It sees a world in which the US has collapsed under its own weight, in which the Mafia controls pizza delivery, and the FBI has its own city-state. Electronic guard dogs patrol the Asian community and skating is now even more firmly rooted as its own sub-culture. The main character, the not-so-subtly named Hiro Protagonist, is a sword-wielding freelance programmer who stumbles upon a shadowy conspiracy by powers unknown that threatens hackers worldwide with a virus that seems to leave them in a vegetative state. He takes on the challenge of finding out who is behind it and how to stop them mostly through a series of accidents. He is joined by a plucky young skater who has drawn attention from the local Mafia king. Lurking in the shadows is a dangerous Eskimo who goes by the name of Raven and rides a motorcycle powered with a nuclear bomb in its frame. Like I said, Stephenson has an active imagination. His characters are colorful but not really that broadly drawn. We get a sense of what they are like from what they do, but we only get snippets of background information about them. It was hard to really root for the characters because I did not feel I really knew or identified with them. Still, I really enjoyed his descriptions of the strange places they travel to, including the Mafia and FBI states, and an aircraft character that houses its own nation of people from every culture. As far as the conspiracy goes, it was unclear to me what the motivations of the people behind it were supposed to be. The technical aspects were also pretty hard to follow; it gets heavy in the nature of languages and programming. Even as someone who has dabbled in programming languages I had trouble understanding it. Other than Raven, who as a villain is fleshed out pretty well and is the most interesting character, I got the sense that the threat was really a clothesline on which to hang Stephenson's world vision and weird characters. I felt unsatisfied when the conclusion rolled around, since it is so abrupt and had little to do with the nature of the people involved. Still, I had fun reading this book. It has a wild and strange vision of the future that may prove eirily accurate if things continue to move in the direction they are in. I liked the characters even if I didn't completely identify them. And the story is gripping even if you can't follow the plot. It is the mark of a good writer that he can bite off more than he can chew and yet make it palateable.
Rating: 
Summary: My Favorite Book
Review: I read this book a few months ago and loved it. It is very entertaining and has a very interesting story. It is mainly about a different type of virus that can infect you through your blood or your computer. This book has everything from hackers, virtual reality, and cyborg dogs, to the mofia, odd cults, samuria sword fights and mind control dating back to ancient religions. If you haven't read this yet, you should definitly get it.
Rating:
Summary: The best Sci-Fi Book (Period)
Review: Snow Crash is simply the best Science Fiction book I have ever read. It is even better then Stranger in a Strangeland. Nuff said.
Rating: 
Summary: Two words: Over Rated
Review: Comic book cyberpunk. I didn't care about the characters and thought some of the good 'uns were soul-less. Also, there is a strong anti-American, anti-capitalist vibe to this book. There is a character in the story who is "Bill Gates-level wealthy" yet who has given the world nothing useful. Well, 'the rich' DO provide useful goods and services, thus they have wealth. One positive note: very well done Sumerian mythology blend with plotline.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent and original
Review: My suggestion is: read the first 20 pages. If you can put the book down at that point, do it - but I'll bet you can't. Snow Crash is an ultra-fast paced journey into the day after tomorrow that includes everything from acient Sumerians to the Metaverse (an extension of the internet) to a pizza delivery guy who carries Samurai swords and a canoe-paddling assasin whose blades are a molecule thick. His characters jump out of the pages, and his view of the not-so-distant future is startling and impressive. Stephenson's storytelling style fits the motif perfectly - hip, modern, and told entirely in present tense in something almost reminiscent of modernist stream-of-consciousness writers. This is the book you'll be telling your friends about.
Rating:
Summary: Fast Moving, That's for sure
Review: Long before "The Matrix" Mr. Stephenson wrote Snow Crash. It's fast-paced, hilarious, and well researched. Tying in all the various sciences, religions and philosophies was a stretch, but hey this is science fiction. He did it well. The characters made me laugh-- they are definitely memorable. I can't wait to read more of Mr. Stephenson's works.
Rating:
Summary: Too cartoonish¿
Review: Fun setting, but not much of a plot. The Sumerian undercurrents drag the action to a stop. But when there is action, it's full steam ahead, in the most implausible ways. For better cyberpunk, read William Gibson.
Rating:
Summary: THE Cyberpunk Book
Review: Snow Crash is a phenomenal book with crazy action, a greatstoryline, and superb characters. From the first page, NealStephenson pulls the reader into the story of our hero, HiroProtagonist (get it?) By page five, you're hooked, and good luck getting some sleep before the story is over. The characters in Snow Crash, while a bit over the top, are fantastic. Hiro is a computer hacker who has a side job working for the mob. Y. T. is Hiro's buddy, a skater kid with an attitude. We also get appearances by Uncle Enzo (the current mob don), a biker that has a nuke for a sidecar, and even the President of the United States. The plot trucks right along from the beginning, making you ask questions and guess what's really going on all the way through. It reads something like an episode of The X-Files mixed with Neuromancer, with just a bit of a Jackie Chan movie thrown in for good measure. To say more would be to give it away, so just trust me: it's cool. I've loaned this book out to several friends, and even my punky kid brother, who never reads, loved it. If you enjoy sci-fi, read it. If you like action, read it. If you like conspiracy books, read it. If you like cyberpunk, definitely read it.
Rating:
Summary: The Mind-Blowing Sci-Fi of Snow Crash
Review: Snow Crash is, hands down, one of the most mind-blowing sciencefiction and cyberpunk books of all time. As much as I appreciateNeuromancer, Snow Crash is 100 times more engrossing. I discovered it from reading an excerpt of the beginning in my Creative Writing class in college. I began reading about the deliverator, under the impression he was some kind of high-tech assassin, and was surprised by finding out he was a pizza delivery man. When I found the book in a local bookstore, I couldn't resist buying it. And it was worth every penny. It is one of the few books I can read over and over and, even though I know the ending, it is still suspensful. Even after the third and forth time of reading it, I still couldn't put it down. What I appreciated most about the book is, unlike the other cyberpunk guru's, Stephenson writes as if he himself is a product of the society he's portraying. The metaphors used in the book are hilariously sarcastic, a tone you would probably find in his near-future America. And the plotline is one of the most original I've ever seen. Who would have though to interpret ancient Sumerians as biological robots! Not only the plot but the background itself of future America makes you think about today's society, which is the entire purpose of Sci-Fi. The Metaverse, a cross between the internet and virtual reality, which may be the future of computer tech and the world wide web (by the way, the book was written before the average american knew of the internet), the possibilities of the biological effect from computers, and an interesting look of our future from common trends. I would suggest any and all people interested in Sci-Fi to read this book. You won't regret it.
Rating:
Summary: Outrageous, insane, and a lot of fun
Review: You have to admire a writer who has the guts to name his hero/protagonist "Hiro Protagonist." What seperates this book from the rest of the cyberschlock that litters bookstore shelves is an incredibly skewed sense of future Americana (pizza delivery is free if it doesn't make it in 30 minutes or less, complete with an apology from the Mafia Godfather, and the, um, termination of the hapless delivery boy), combined with some very heavy philosophy and ancient history. This book has scope, with nothing less at stake than the battle for control of the thoughts and actions of the future's cyberspace residents!
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