スノウ・クラッシュ

Written like a comic book. Not my style, not realistic.

I'd heard a lot about this book, but I just couldn't get into it. After reading for a couple hours, nothing had really happened in the plot. The post-modernist style of writing is jarring and not welcoming to a casual reader. It might have been visionary at its time, but now the book is just boring.

If you're trying to decide whether or not to read this book, I think I've come up with a fool proof way to determine if it's worth your time. It's an easy test, really, and it is simply this: how do you respond to the following statement? The main character's name is Hiro Protagonist.

Do you think that's funny? Cute? Does it make you smack your forehead in wonder? If so, you will without a doubt be blown away by the rest of the book. On the other hand, if you're like me and can't get past feeling like "Hero Protagonist" was a placeholder used by the author until inspiration struck, only it never did and so he was left there wondering, like a freshman Philosophy major, "why don't I just call him that?", you will probably be unable to get around that mental image of the author and the rest of the book does nothing to refute it.

I've heard this was supposed to be mind-boggling. It's not. Maybe when it first came came out, but the best books are timeless. This feels like a relic. I've heard this was supposed to be funny. It's not. Unless you're the kind of person who thinks a name like "Themaine Character" is clever. I've heard this was supposed to be "fun." It's not. Reading this was a chore, and the only reason I powered through it was because I figured there would be a moment when it all clicked, because this couldn't possibly have a 4-star rating otherwise. Unfortunately, that moment never came.

So, don't let my wasted time be in vain. If you're on the fence about reading this book, refer back to my first question. I really do think it will help.

I devoured Anathem and adored The /Primer. For me, this one was a dull, disappointment. It had good elements but the arguments didn't hang together.

Totally misleading to compare this to Ready Player One other than the very superficial existence of (very different) virtual realities. Where RP1 dug into 80's and gaming trivia, this book dug into an arcane history of religion. I totally enjoyed the deep dive in RP1 but the deep dive here into (fictitious?) religious history as the core them and final twist was certainly distracting from some of the more interesting aspects of the premise. All of that at a price on the high side for Kindle books. #FAIL

One very funny passage about office memo but too much of a teenage male fantasy to appeal to me ... lots of violence and even though it takes place in the "metaverse" still offputting. Strong, Sassy 15 year old girl is the saving grace for this technophobe.

Overrated

This book is as I wrote above. It started off fun and almost as a comedic parody of books in the cyberpunk genre. It was considerably interesting and unique. I feel as if it had promised too much. The ending fizzled out with a whimper, almost as though the author just lost all ambition to finish it properly. I found myself repeatedly wishing I was reading Altered Carbon instead of Snow Crash during the last third of the novel. It was just ok, nothing grand in my opinion.

I really wish I had back the time spent reading this book. I believe the writer had trouble keeping track of his settings, characters, motivations,etc; in short...what was he smoking?
Not well written, not paced, no thought given to time continuity. If you put about ten books into a blender and hit 'frappe' I believe you might get this book. No. That book might make more sense than this collection of sentences.

Interesting ideas, and a fun snapshot of the future from the time it was written, but ultimately lacks mastery and polish.

Oh my god, what a horrible book. A very geeky book written by someone who doesn't know a single thing about technology, combined with horrible writing style, ridiculous character names, ridiculous dialog, and a plot that makes no sense. It couldn't have been much worse.

Just writing a review so that when I get recommendations for other books that I might like they don't base it on this one.

Although the book came recommended to me through a friend (so they clearly enjoyed reading) I didn't care for it much. I found it overly descriptive, with an attempt to be creative but thought the words that were created to describe living environment, etc to lack imagination.

This is completely just my personal opinion.

I read a lot of good books. This I couldn't get into.

My first and probably only book by this author. Some interesting concepts, but superficial, predictable and boring.

This book drives along at a snails pace. In fact, rather than being called Snow Crash, it should be called Snails Pace. It is very well written and great for finding new vocab words but it is filled with superfluous descriptions that do nothing to move the story along. We get it, you know big words and how to use them, now tell us the damn story. Reading this book was like a long chore that seems rewarding at the onset but quickly becomes an exercise in drudgery. I think the main reason I did not enjoy this book was due to my inability to buy into Stephenson's fictional ideas, they seemed less plausible than most of the science fiction I read, even though I do secretly believe that governments will be superseded by corporations in the future.
One more thing. Is Hiro Protagonist really the protagonist, or just the person the author chooses to follow for most of the book. Am I the only one who hates that character? Cocky, inconsiderate, terrible-friend, one dimensional, no sense of humor, oh wow he's so good at sword fighting and hacking lets give him a freaking medal!
Hope I didn't leave any more spoilers in there, I would write one with spoilers but it would take too long.

Meh.

Sorry ,but the worst sci-fi book I've read and yes I've read other reviews to see if I had missed anything.wafer thin characters, silly plot,awkward narrative style,poor poor poor!!!!

Not the Neal Stephenson I was hoping for. While the storyline was interesting enough, the made up world and devices were too much sci-fi, too little reality for my taste. In addition, the over use of lingo and euphemisms in the character dialog was tiresome and distracting.

Meh

There were definitely things I liked about this book, and most of those things are introduced early on. The world that Stephenson creates is rich, interesting, believable, and fun. The tech that populates this book is interesting, original, and all with practical aspects but plenty of cool factor.
The slang and cultural artifacts that help to place the reader in the world of the novel weren't overdone, nor are there long portions of exposition; the reader is trusted with figuring things out, which generally wasn't too hard.
The characters were credible, though a little flat. Everyone was fairly quick to pick things up, they spoke in similar ways, and they had to explain their motives. I tend to prefer a bit of vaudeville, which is to say, I like a villain to be villainous; not cartoony, but to have some really despicable aspects. This novel, on the other hand, had a hard time convincing me that anyone was the villain. I knew one guy was definitely dangerous, but the main villain was tought to get a grasp on.
And I suppose that points to the book's main downfall: it's muddy. Even the action sequences were hard to follow, because they simply weren't described clearly. The motivations of the main characters (including the book's protagonist, Hiro Protagonist, har har) seemed to be primarily self-preservation, but the motivations of the ancillary characters were never very clear, which made some of their actions seem very illogical.
One other sin this book committed: there was an exposition speech which lasted at least 3 chapters. Seriously. The hero has to explain something to some side characters (a topic which he'd in fact only discovered a couple of days prior, yet somehow he quickly became an expert in spite of spending most of his time fighting) and it's essentially a monologue; the only breaks are for them to ask inane questions designed simply as transition points, like: "Well, surely you can't mean that..." "But if what you're saying is true, then..." And the speech goes on for chapters. The topic was interesting, but it just rambled. The section should have been edited dramatically, and the fact that it was included really annoyed me.
The book had some really fun aspects, and if this were ever made into a movie, I'd want to see it, just to see the world that Stephenson created, along with some of the technology. But I wound up forcing myself to finish this book.
(One last point, minor spoiler alert: one of the main characters in this book is 15 years old, and there is a scene where she has sex with a grown man, an assassin. The fact that that was included really put me off, too.)