Anathem

I first tried reading Anathem back when it was relatively new, but couldn't get past the first 100 pages or so. Now, having the benefit of a decade more worldly knowledge (such as the history of the Catholic church, Western philosophy, etc.), I've finally finished it and I can say that it was an incredible read.

Is it an collection of philosophy dialogue? Is it an action-adventure novel? Is it actually just Snow Crash presented differently?

Yeah, kind of, but it's also a book that gets exponentially more exciting as it goes on and also says some pretty profound things. (The profound things are, unfortunately, fiction, but it would be a high bar for an action-adventure novel to also truly advance philosophy.)

So if you're considering reading this, just know that you shouldn't worry too much about the made-up words - you'll understand them in due time - and that the crazy stuff starts happening 1/3 of the way through and even crazier stuff 3/4 of the way through.

In writing an action-adventure novel based on philosophy and physics though, I think the author has run into a bit of a conundrum: it's too rigorous for readers wanting a fun read yet not rigorous enough to hold together well when the crazy stuff starts happening. That is, he takes a long time to set up a theoretical foundation for what happens, but as he stretches the theory to advance the story, he stretches a little too far and leaves a lot of holes.

a wonderfully weird and ambitious book...

short plot description: we find ourselves on the planet Arbre where after some terrible events in the past scientists have retreated from society and live in monastery-like settlements with minimum contact to the outside. The story is told from the viewpoint of Erasmas, a young student, when events force him and several other members of his settlement to go outside...

my thoughts: a brilliantly constructed book about Big Ideas with some commentary on popular culture but with some flaws. The world-building is the best part, really beautiful, cleverly done, very detailled but not boring (which is quite a feat since about the first 100 pages are more or less one long info dump). The plot is breathtaking in scope and well executed. The characters felt mostly flat and one-dimensional to me, not very believable.
Minor gripes: parts of the book felt like I've read them before (Umberto Eco's "The Name of the Rose" and works by Arthur C. Clarke and Aldous Huxley come to mind) and some plot parts felt tacked on (e.g. the romantic subplots).
But all in all I enjoyed the book very much, the idea of a radical separation between theoritical and practical science is intriguing.

my advice: give this one a try if you are not afraid of doing some thinking while reading, you will not be disappointed.