Rating: 
Summary: It tells more than a story, Fantastic!
Review: I belive that if 'Beavis & ButHead' could read we would hear ButHead saying "That is the coolest thing I have ever seen."For it is. It is a fantastic book. Detailed, intelligent, well structured, powerfully cast and riviting to the very last detail. The intertwining of various stories and charachters is done impecibly. It is fun, it paints pictures you feel you can almost touch in your mind and it realy draws you into the Snow Crash world. I was fascinated about the annalysis of language and the 'meta virus'. The whole religion thing being shown for what it could be. The likable mafia who really do seem like the good guys, despite this you never realy know which of the corporations are good or bad. The description of technology is fantastic too. In depth, detailed, clear and understandable. This modern/futuristic guide to life is a must for any sci-fi/cy-fi fan and will draw in anyone who reads it. I was physicly unable to put it down for hour! ! s on end and I was devistated when there was no more to read.
Rating: 
Summary: Bad.
Review: I bought this book because of the fast paced and clearly absurd/comical nature of the first chapter. The book went straight downhill from there. Many things presented as technological advances either aren't advances (they already exist), or make assertions that are completely unbelievable. For example: The entire Metaverse concept. As presented, it was completely unbelievable. The level of human interface with it was so lo-tech that I can't imagine anyone losing themselves in it. Many more attempts are made to present futuristic things with a tone of "look at this way cool idea", as if it were a freshly invented concept first put to paper here. But they are, for the more part, reinventions of the wheel, having appeared many times before; and from that are ordinary and unremarkable and fully expectable elements of any cyberpunk-type future. The virtual construct of perceived space in the Metaverse was also unbelievable, lacking many of the features I! ! would clearly expect, and the explanations of how things worked only made me certain that it could never really work that way. The plot was cliche, from the start. The characters were only mildly sympathetic. The quality of the writing was okay. The humor was acceptable, but it is possible to carry only a few kinds of books on the quality of the humor. Overall, I wasted my money on this book. There seems to be two sides of the cyberpunk genre. One of Bruce Sterling and Neal Stephenson, and the other of Daniel Keys Moran, Walter Jon Williams, George Alec Effinger, and John Barnes. For those who read this, I am clearly a fan of the second group.
Rating:
Summary: Possibly the best book in the genre.. or ever.
Review: The other reviews said it all, but I've gotta lend my support for this book; So exciting and immersive I totally ignored all my classes and went cover to cover that day. If you read this one and like it, [one of] his other book, The Diamond Age, is possibly more immersive yet a wee less exciting... still a must though. Authors you should also read (same sci-fi not-to-distant-future trippy stuff); Rudy Rucker and Jeff Noon (Vurt).. oh, and neuromancer and all those classics ;-)
Rating:
Summary: High octane Rambunctiousness!
Review: It's been a while since I read this book, but I now feel compelled to add my .02 (so I slack a bit). Stephenson's vision is compelling - so much so that this book has memed itself into the tech-culture that ultimately will be our everything <Smack> (end of seriousness) Bam! Wakes you up by throwing a red hot pizza into your unit and slapping you silly. Deliver that pizza or it's your a**! Today this work reads like a dictionary of all that is cool: #Mafia-pizza #Babylonian memes #Motorcycle tac-nuke #Floating city-state #Katana neckslices #Hypervelocity pitbull #Brainfry cyberdrug #Smartwheel skateboard #Monomolecular bumpersticker - Put those in your book. Snowcrash isn't a novel, its a hyperguide to better living. The Dick and Jane for our times. See Dick write code and wear a deck. I'm still reeling from this mind bomb. Dang, i've been memed.
Rating:
Summary: Fast, detailed, incredibly wide-ranging, very convincing.
Review: You are quickly caught up completely in the Snow Crash universe, moving at light speed wherever Stephenson takes you. Particularly impressive is that nothing seems dated. 1993 to now is a long time in the computer world, and his Metaverse is not co-opted or made to look foolish by the Internet, which became widespread, remember, completely after he wrote this book. I haven't seen any other writing with such technical detail that ages so well. Well researched, and much of the research can be done only by talking to people in the particular sub-culture - you can't just go down to the library for much of what has such a real, "I've been there" feel to it. I just wish there was a slightly toned-down version of the "gag and gauge" section - I'm of a generation where there are people I can't recommend the book to, just because of that little part. Lots of punch, lots of impact throughout the book. That one part just goes a little further.
Rating: 
Summary: A Wild Ride
Review: Like The Diamond Age, Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash is a truly wild ride. And like Diamond Age, what you're getting here is really a series of odd and amusing episodes, with plot taking a back seat. Still, it's a fun ride.
Rating:
Summary: How Gibson should have done it
Review: Snow Crash is the book I now give to people in order to suck them into science fiction. It contains a good understanding of how programmers view the world, and of humor and irony. From the beginning, this book takes the reader on a (literal) ride through its world and challenges the reader to keep up. If light reading is what you're looking for, this book is not for you. While its premise is ridiculous, it -is- fun, and the journey it leads you on is amazing. Basic background: the concept of a "nation" has collapsed. Nothing is sacred unless it is related to money. Anti-technologists will hate this book. Techno-philes will love it.
Rating:
Summary: This is some dang good CP, read it!
Review: I read this book 6 months ago. Remembering how much I loved it, a few days ago I picked it up again and read the whole thing cover to cover in 3 days. The amount of work (4 years) that went into this book is amazing, and the humor is above and beyond any book I have ever read, this is my _favorite_ book. Stephenson's research and insight into such topics as skateboarding, heavy metal, computer programming, the mafia, corporate america, swordfighting, pizza delivery, linguistics and a slew of other things is incredibly impressive. The story has excellent flow, I could not put it down, which shows that book is impressive for holding the attention span of a 16 year old kid. This book combines my love of semi-pop-culture and cyberpunk that no other book I have ever read has. Stephenson is a genius. Yes, I know what I'm talking about I've read every Gibson book there is (except I'm in the middle of Idoru right now). You don't even have to be young to enjoy it, a 60 year old guy and I had a discussion about this book. I'd like to say you have to be the right kind of person for this book but you don't! Read it!!!
Rating:
Summary: This book kicked some major...!
Review: I picked this book up on a whim after reading about two lines worth of review in WiReD. Let me say this is one of the best books (Neruromancer is right up there too!) that I have read. I blew through it in 2 and half days. I couldn't put it down! The character were actually realistic, and I thought that the character of Y.T. to be one of the best portrals of a female character in any book I have read. She written in such a way that she almost, at times, displaced Hero. The plot was of the standard, One man vs the world to save everyone type, but what made it diffrent was the fact that it was believable and the characters were well written, nay, superbly written helped you really get lost in all of it. The mix of Mafia, Yazuka, Bushido, and Cyberpunk was handled really well. Its a really good look at how the future may turn out! This is one hell of a good book and good read!
Rating: 
Summary: Techno-babble mixed with religio-babble
Review: Our "Hiro" (sic) is an underachieving superman able to do anything and everything but with no desire to do anything. The author tries to tie in Sumerian superstition with the bible, and relates everything as a computer virus. The characters develop relationships amongst each other not because they should but because he needs it to further the plot. The primary characters are two-dimensional and the rest are one-dimensional. The technology side is a reasonable projection into the future from where we are. The rest is junk.
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