Snow Crash

Paperback, 470 pages

English language

Published Sept. 1, 2008 by Bantam Spectra.

ISBN:
978-0-553-38095-8
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4 stars (69 reviews)

In reality, Hiro Protagonist delivers pizza for Uncle Enzo’s CosaNostra Pizza Inc., but in the Metaverse he’s a warrior prince. Plunging headlong into the enigma of a new computer virus that’s striking down hackers everywhere, he races along the neon-lit streets on a search-and-destroy mission for the shadowy virtual villain threatening to bring about infocalypse. Snow Crash is a mind-altering romp through a future America so bizarre, so outrageous… you’ll recognize it immediately.

24 editions

Good book

4 stars

Content warning In my review I give content warnings but try to minimize spoilers when doing it

Disappointing

2 stars

I suspect that I would have enjoyed this a lot more if I'd read it 30 years ago. Reading it now, the cyberpunk stylings all feel incredibly dated and are unable to paper over the many problems with this novel. Starting with the characters, who amount to a collection of one-dimensional stereotypes about which it is impossible to care.

The plot doesn't feel like it's going anywhere for much of the time and when Stephenson starts talking about technology, everything starts to become increasingly ludicrous. This book really hasn't aged well.

Review of 'Snow Crash (SFBC 50th Anniversary Collection)' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

This is not your typical sci-fi novel, it's complex and intertwined plot is not always easy to follow but it's so so rewarding.
This novel is amazing in concepts and ideas, it was groundbreaking when it came out for sure. In this book Stephenson coined the Metaverse term which is now a days more and more common.
Can not laugh at the main character name: Hiro Protagonist

Great book, mediocre ending

4 stars

I really liked the story, the characters where good enough and the world the write created was really interesting. The whole "language" angle is my favorite part, really interesting, almost plausible and different enough from what I've read in the past. My main problem is with the ending: too quick, not at the same level as the rest of the story, in my opinion.

Review of 'Snow Crash' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Well that was a strange book. The first quarter of the book was really hard to get into, but once you get past the weirdness it becomes interesting. The ideas expressed in this book are really interesting and powerful, however the way it is written makes it quite hard to dwell into. Still an interesting read regarding as it’s considered a must read by a lot of the Silicon Tycoons.

Review of 'Snow Crash' on 'Storygraph'

2 stars

Wrote a whole long review about why I didn't like it, but got bored of my own opinion.

In short:

While clever, the linguistic virus, Sumerian, and religion lessons were long and dull
Characters unbelievable, and didn't really invest in them.
Sex with a minor scene - didn't want that

Did like:
the world
the technology
the prologue bit about pizza delivery. Loved that world building, really great opening! Then the main story wrecked it (for me).

Review of 'Snow Crash (SFBC 50th Anniversary Collection)' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Enjoyed the history lesson of the formation of the Abrahamic faiths and the comparison of religion to viruses. Y.T. even included a Golden Rule reminder, if I recall it correctly. All in all, a good cyber-punk ride with socio-political commentary that still feels relevant today.

Review of 'Snow Crash (SFBC 50th Anniversary Collection)' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Okay this was my second read of the book. I first read it in 1993 or 1994 and I remembered some of it but it is a very expansive story and Mr. Stephenson has done a lot of research into early Sumerian mythology and it shows.

Also, if you have ever heard of SecondLife this is the book that inspired the entire concept of SecondLife and the Metaverse. You will notice a lot of what SL is about is in this book. Good and bad.

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