eBook
English language
Published July 5, 2003 by Random House Publishing Group.
Only once in a great while does a writer come along who defies comparison -- a writer so original he redefines the way we look at the world. Neal Stephenson is such a writer and Snow Crash is such a novel, weaving virtual reality, Sumerian myth, and just about everything in between with a cool, hip cyber-sensibility to bring us the gigantic thriller of the information age. In reality, Hiro Protagonist delivers pizza for Uncle Enzo's Cosa Nostra Inc., but it 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.From the Paperback edition.
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.
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.
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).
