Paperback
Published Sept. 21, 2011 by PENGUIN BOOKS LTD, UK.
Within the Metaverse, Hiro is offered a datafile named Snow Crash by a man named Raven who hints that it is a form of narcotic. Hiro's friend and fellow hacker Da5id views a bitmap image contained in the file which causes his computer to crash and Da5id to suffer brain damage in the real world.
This is the future we now live where all can be brought to life in the metaverse and now all can be taken away. Follow on an adventure with Hiro and YT as they work with the mob to uncover a plot of biblical proportions.
Within the Metaverse, Hiro is offered a datafile named Snow Crash by a man named Raven who hints that it is a form of narcotic. Hiro's friend and fellow hacker Da5id views a bitmap image contained in the file which causes his computer to crash and Da5id to suffer brain damage in the real world.
This is the future we now live where all can be brought to life in the metaverse and now all can be taken away. Follow on an adventure with Hiro and YT as they work with the mob to uncover a plot of biblical proportions.
This is the world of Snow Crash. The Feds won't help you. They're a much weaker clave. If you're in Bob Rife's employ, he claims ownership of your brain.
This is the world of Snow Crash. The Feds won't help you. They're a much weaker clave. If you're in Bob Rife's employ, he claims ownership of your brain.
An absolute classic masterpiece of cyberpunk with social commentary and themes just as relevant today as when it was written. Marred by its creepy obsession with a 15 year old character.
Content warning In my review I give content warnings but try to minimize spoilers when doing it
I really, really enjoyed it. The ending did feel a little incomplete, but overall it really succeeds at being the kind of book it's trying to be. (Sci fi in the "taking ideas we know about and seeing how far they can go" sense, a mostly serious story with some seriously absurd humor in it that's inherent to the setting and doesn't break the fourth wall - though the protagonist's name does tap on the glass pretty hard.)
At around the 60-70% of the way in there's some serious gore. There's also a sex scene between an underage character and an adult that I hadn't expected.
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.
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.
Just started reading this and it's quite amusing. I have read some chapters on a pizza delivery journey with a twist.
Just started reading this and it's quite amusing. I have read some chapters on a pizza delivery journey with a twist.
My girlfriend lent me this to read on the plane when I had a long flight. Overall entertaining, I didn't feel like I was slogging through (mostly), but it takes itself Way too seriously for a book whose main character is named Hiro Protagonist.
My girlfriend lent me this to read on the plane when I had a long flight. Overall entertaining, I didn't feel like I was slogging through (mostly), but it takes itself Way too seriously for a book whose main character is named Hiro Protagonist.
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
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
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.
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.
The book ranges a pretty wide variety of topics, probably more interesting to readers who program.
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.
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).
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).
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.
Listened to on a road trip. The only reason I survived it. Intriguing story and ideas, but drawn out too long.
Listened to on a road trip. The only reason I survived it. Intriguing story and ideas, but drawn out too long.
Wow, so were the first and last parts of this book actually the same story, or was there a dreadful accident at the printers?
Rereading for a book club, and having a ball with it again.
