Rating:  Summary: Cyberterror Review: Hiro Protagonist, longtime unemployed L.A. hacker and greatest dork on earth, stumbles onto a new form of virus that infects not computers, but people, through their mind. He teams up with the Mafia and Y.T., a skater Kourier, to uncover media magnate L. Bob Rife's plan to enslave the populance and Raven's need for revenge upon America. In the process he digs into Sumerian history, tangles with the merciless Raven several times, and makes his way into the core of Rife's operation. At the same time, Y.T. does a lot of dirty Mafia work, gets kidnapped, and helps Hiro from oceanic lair.
And seriously, Hiro is the king of Dorkus. Stephenson is not just otaku, he's a Nipponphile, and Hiro's almost the embodiment of his geekdom. A mostly socially-clueless coder who also considers himself a great swordfighter, carrying his katana and wakizashi everywhere, he spends almost all of his time in the Metaverse, socializing with most on the outside by killing them. Y.T. thinks of him as a total dweeb, but somehow his hacker ex-girlfriend still sees something in him. I think his geekiness amused me throughout the book more than anything else, along with Y.T.'s skater ethos; she almost never loses her cool.
Neal Stephenson is the master of interposing hyperdescriptive passages all throughout his novels, but he writes so _well_ that it doesn't grate too much. They mostly fall in one of three categories: Nifty, yes I know that, and my God I don't care!, with an occasional no way pal. The book could never quite decide whether to be scholarly tract or thriller. By the end I did have a (very) specific idea of how he envisioned the future, and that contributed quite a bit to the story's flair. (Note: Chaps. 56 & part of 57 are 10 pages of total repeat infodump, and should have been cut.)
Few complaints about the end... no spoilers. Where does the US President come from and why? He does nothing. Why did Uncle Enzo not think about Raven bringing glass knives when that was brought up only hours ago? What happened to Raven's H-bomb? Augh. *end rant*
And, you know, this is cyberpunk. I could take major issue with quite a few of the silly or mistaken assumptions, like the total ignoring of sustainable economies, or the fact that revivalism started here in mid-1700's in a movement called the Great Awakening, but I don't take it all seriously. I was irritated at some of the streams of raw historical/lingual information in the middle of the book, but the subject matter did interest me quite a bit. I love the way Stephenson can weave widely different disciplines into compelling stories and technologies. There is a lot of everything jam-packed in here, and while it's a tangle to sort out, it is enlightening and hugely entertaining once you do. I couldn't put it down for long. Definitely better than its sequel, Diamond Age.
Rating:  Summary: Half Treasure, Half Garbage Review: I wouldn't normally review a book that already has been reviewed by hundereds of readers, but none of the reviews on the first page seem to notice what utter nonsense Stephenson's ideas about language and viruses are (and I don't have time to read the rest of the 500+ reviews, so sorry to anyone who already has done this). You know there's a problem when a writer supports his conclusions about historical events with pseudo-historical anecdotes and Biblical scripture. ("The Bible says it, so it must be true" may work for Fundamentalists, but not so well for the rest of us.) Some of his central premises (Humans should naturally all speak one language, for example, or that there was no sickness in the world until a "metavirus"--perhaps from outer space? caused biological viruses to be created as well as making people susceptible to them) are so obviously fallacious as to be completely laughable. Inconvenient aspects of his arguments are just ignored. This pseudo-intellectual garbage so irritated me that I almost disposed of the book (and books are sacred in my family, ordinarily we do NOT throw them out!). That said, most of the actual plot-driven parts of the story are great fun. His satire of American society is spot-on. A lot of the book is just awesome head-on thrill-ride chase scenes. Those parts work! and I LOVE the character of Y.T. It's funny that all along, I envisioned the story as a cartoon (some things in it are just such broad caricatures, I couldn't help it). When I got to the end, I discovered in the acknowledgement section, that the thing was originally conceived as a graphic novel. I guess the ideas are kind of "comic book" -esque, you know--sort of like how getting bitten by a radioactive spider could give someone super powers. If you like a good action story, and you can ignore ridiculous ideas and gaping holes in logic, then you will enjoy this book! But not for the delicate of sensibility--extreme violence & foul language, among other things.
Rating:  Summary: A Good Try, But... Review: I was offered Snow Crash by a friend to read. I was a little dismissive, due to it being 'cyber-punk', but I rallied on. After a fairly humourous opening, it went rapidly downhill from there. To give the man his dues, there are at least two cracking good ideas on every page. Unfortunately, the words stringing them together are awful. Horrible, dull, clunky sentences pervade most of the passages. I'd say the man can't write for toffee, but that would be unfair as I've not yet summoned the courage to read his other works. I'm told I would enjoy Cryptonomicon, but then again, I was told the same thing about Snow Crash. And then there is the info-dumping. How I hate info-dumps. The process of just reeling off large sections of what sounds like textbook or encyclopedia and just putting it down on the page as one character talking to another. Ugh. There's a lot of it in this book. So, The book gets 2 stars for the good ideas, but no more for everything else that makes it awful.
Rating:  Summary: Brilliant, inventive, addicting. Review: Take William Gibson's flair for neo-futuristic cyberpunk. Introduce a bizarrely colorful cast of characters: a dreadlocked hacker who prefers samurai swords to guns, a young but volatile messenger-cum-heroine, an unstable homicidal deviant who lugs around a hydrogen bomb just for kicks, and various and sundry extras both real and artificially programmed. Toss in a smidge of Douglas Adams's subtle wackiness, a garnish of JRR Tolkien's fascination with languages and a generous helping of Jonathan Lethem's taste for the flat-out absurd. Such a mix would be like Snow Crash in the same way that a printed recipe on a page is like an actual Death By Chocolate cake. Neal Stephenson has woven a kaleidoscopic hodgepodge of elements - humor, rapid-fire prose, witty cynicism, farce, biblical mythology and much more - into a book that stands out from all the other fiction I've read by dint of sheer audaciousness alone. Naming his main character Hiro Protagonist (harharhar) is just the tip of Stephenson's iceberg. We're treated to a detailed glimpse of a future America where pizza delivery is run by the Mafia, speaking in tongues is one's ticket to religious pseudo-enlightenment on a boat city on the Pacific, and the virtual-reality Metaverse (the future's hyperdeveloped version of the internet) accomodates motorcycle chases at Mach 2. Like the best science fiction it's wonderful escapism because it's so farfetched; like the best satire, there are numerous elements just weird enough to be completely believable. The plot's many details can get as confusing as the basic story itself is simple, but the disparity between all the parts still makes for an addictingly fun whole. The main lapse/s into lengthy dialogue-bordering-on-lecture occasionally interrupts the whole flow, but that's probably inevitable when one tries mixing this book's degree of the intellectual in among all the action/adventure stuff. That's really the only stumbling block I found here. Even the present-tense narration I normally hate was just a small speed bump. If you're fascinated with languages and mythology, the degree of inventiveness behind the Snow Crash virus itself will be the book's most brilliant touch (and maybe a laugh riot at the same time). If action's what you're looking for, be assured there are fights aplenty and no shortage of things blowing up. There's a strong vein of black humor running throughout the story that'll have your inner cynic cackling like a hyena, albeit a relatively calm one. With all that said.. this probably isn't a book for everyone. But if these descriptions sound like anyone's cup of tea, then I doubt they'll regret giving Snow Crash a whirl. A book that manages to be simultaneously this gripping, vivid, creative, cerebral and laugh-out-loud funny is a rare thing indeed.
Rating:  Summary: Cyberpunk classic..... Review: This book is definately a favorite! An engaging journey in a world of the future, it sucks in the technogeek in me.
Rating:  Summary: Samurai Hacker Pizza Delivery Review: I really enjoyed this book. The vision of cyberspace is dated but well founded. The characters are very unique and interesting.
Rating:  Summary: As kick ass as a story needs to be Review: A cyberpunk novel for sure, I felt that it was much more toned down than say William Gibson's "Neuromancer", still, I'm sure that it will probably always be compared to that novel. I haven't read any Neal Stephenson before, this is my first try.That surprised some of my friends, who said, "I'm amazed you haven't read it, eveyone who likes sci-fi and computers should read this book." - I've read it and I agree. There is plenty of interesting virtual world description and new tech to entertain any technical readers. None of it comes across as dumb or out of date or foolish etc... It all seems like a reasonable extrapulation of current trends. On top of that, there is so much cool, samurai sword, gun battles, car chases etc... scenes to entertain everyone else. Hiro and Raven are two of the most kick ass characters you'll ever meet in what seems like a pretty realistic world - that's hard to pull off. I sepecially liked the historic background, which has the scent of a well done bibilical/babalonian research paper. I'm sure that Mr. Stephenson has read lots about the history of the bible and it's links to babalonian culture and myths. Much of this book's story depends on theories about those historic areas. Still, I think everyone will remember this book for its tech background, the computer simulations and the metaverse. Oh yeah... that and the samurai swords 'cause really, who doesn't like samurai swords?
Rating:  Summary: Always give the guy a second chance Review: This was my first Neal Stephenson novel and I cannot say I was impressed. I am of the belief that one sould give an author a second chance though. This novel kept the pages turning for me but left me feeling kind of empty when I finished. I wish I could say more positive things about this respected author, but this book just wasn't all I thought it could have been
Rating:  Summary: Could have used a better ending... Review: I do love this book, it is one of the best cyberpunk novels I've ever read, tied with William Gibson's Neuromancer. The only thing maring it is the confusing pacing at the beginning when we have two separate characters going about their business before their paths reconverge and the ending, which is more of a non-ending. I really think this book could have been ended better a few chapters earlier, like a movie that runs too long after it's climax is over. I liked the Sumerian mythology but the exposition of it detracted from the pace of the story somewhat and made me wonder when he was going to get back to the characters. Despite these downsides, the book is good enough to warrant 4.5 stars, but since that isn't possible here I'll round it up to 5.
Rating:  Summary: Enjoyable read Review: This is my first foray into the cyberpunk genre, and I must say I thoroughly enjoyed it. It takes place in the no-so-distant future, where everything in California has become privatized. Hiro, a self-proclaimed freelance hacker, is delivering pizzas for the mafia when he finds out about a computer virus, Snow Crash, that not only crashes the computer, but hackers' brains as well. The rest of the story is Hiro, his ex-girlfriend, and sidekick Y.T. trying to figure out what is going on and how they can stop it. The book hits the ground running and never lets up. Stephenson has an interesting take on religion and has done some solid research on Sumer and its gods and goddesses. I enjoyed the Metaverse and see definite parallels with today's 'Net, although the virtual reality part of the Metaverse has never caught on in real life. The ending was a bit of a disappointment for me-it seemed like he just realized he had 5 pages to finish the book and kind of threw it all together. Overall, though, I thought it was a great read and recommend it to all.
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