Some great concepts
4 stars
The book ranges a pretty wide variety of topics, probably more interesting to readers who program.
Paperback, 470 pages
English language
Published Sept. 1, 2008 by Bantam Spectra.
Snow Crash
4 stars
(6 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.
Matt reviewed Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
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).
Dan Jones reviewed Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
Review of 'Snow Crash' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
The beginning of the book was a little hard to read. The dialog felt very stilted: like he was trying for some hip, sci-fi, noir, but it just didn't work. There were also some basic plot points that were extremely difficult to accept, like the idea that Mafia has built their new business model around pizza delivery, and the head of the Mafia would personally go to someone's house to apologize for a late pizza. Really? That's just absurd.
After the beginning, I like it more and more. There were still a few things that irked me, especially when technical terms were used incorrectly, but I tried to ignore that kind of stuff and just enjoy the story.
The story, for me, was fascinating. It blended many of my favorite things: the Internet, advance technology, language (esp. dead languages), and mythology, to name a few. There were a few parts …
The beginning of the book was a little hard to read. The dialog felt very stilted: like he was trying for some hip, sci-fi, noir, but it just didn't work. There were also some basic plot points that were extremely difficult to accept, like the idea that Mafia has built their new business model around pizza delivery, and the head of the Mafia would personally go to someone's house to apologize for a late pizza. Really? That's just absurd.
After the beginning, I like it more and more. There were still a few things that irked me, especially when technical terms were used incorrectly, but I tried to ignore that kind of stuff and just enjoy the story.
The story, for me, was fascinating. It blended many of my favorite things: the Internet, advance technology, language (esp. dead languages), and mythology, to name a few. There were a few parts that some people might find a little dry, such as long explanations of ancient myth and languages. I found those parts incredibly interesting, and they really helped draw me into the story.
This book is action, more than anything else. There is a lot of it, and it's very well written action. The idea for the book, I believe, was originally conceived as a graphic novel, and it shows. I can just see a lot of those images just popping right off the pages.
All in all, I found it mostly enjoyable, once I got past the first few chapters.
