Snow Crash in Beyond Reality

Apr 17, 2019 seak rated it liked it

Shelves: audio, 2019, science-fiction

I've been dying to read this book for years, but due to my terrible inability to read books not in audio format lately, this one's been on the backlog ... until I recently got Audible and find out Snow Crash is an "only from Audible" exclusive.

This book has so much going for it and that's why it's been something at the top of my list.

Ninja swords, check.
hackers, check.
Future dystopia, check.
pizza delivery, weird, but check.
Virtual reality, check.
Ninja fighting, check.

This also screams 80's, wh ...more

26 likes · Like · see review

Dec 23, 2010 Kevin Xu rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

This one of the best book I have ever read. This is how Gibson should have wrote Neuromancer. The book grabbed me from the start, until almost at the ending, which I think is a little weak. ...more

11 likes · Like · see review

Aug 07, 2010 Jenny T rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction, read-in-2010

In a future America (in which the Mafia runs a deadly efficient pizza-delivery service), freelance hacker Hiro Protagonist must navigate the Street of a global virtual reality as well as a dangerously real virus -- one that affects human beings as well as computers.

As this was written in 1992, the technology is a bit outdated; Virtual Reality has come a *long* way since then. But Neal Stephenson has a wry, quirky sense of humor, and the book's a wonderfully strange blending of ancient Sumerian l ...more

Like · see review

Sep 06, 2009 Mike rated it it was amazing

Shelves: sci-fi, favorites, audio, owned, standalone

When I decided to read Snow Crash, it had been in my "to read" list for probably a couple of years. I had been meaning to read something by Stephenson for awhile, but none of his novels ever made their way to the front of my list. I think Neal Stephenson is just one of those authors that, as a science fiction reader, you have to try out at some point and I'm glad that I finally did. Snow Crash was awesome.

Stephenson never gives a concrete date for when it's set, but hints at the early 21st Centu When I decided to read Snow Crash, it had been in my "to read" list for probably a couple of years. I had been meaning to read something by Stephenson for awhile, but none of his novels ever made their way to the front of my list. I think Neal Stephenson is just one of those authors that, as a science fiction reader, you have to try out at some point and I'm glad that I finally did. Snow Crash was awesome.

Stephenson never gives a concrete date for when it's set, but hints at the early 21st Century. Despite the fact that it's set only 10 or 20 years after the 1992 publish date, Stephenson has created a world that has changed dramatically, seeing a huge push towards capitalism to the point where even the United States has largely been replaced by independently owned countries. Even though it's nothing like what the world is really like today, I found this to be a very interesting, if not realistic, vision of the future. If nothing else, it provided an appropriate setting for the story.

The story follows two great characters, Hero Protagonist, hacker, pizza delivery guy, and the greatest swordsman in the world, and YT, 15 year old skater and messenger. Both characters were independent and unique. Hero was intelligent, quiet, and methodical, whereas YT was also intelligent, but sharp tongued and ironic. I also thought Uncle Enzo was a pretty interesting secondary character.

The plot was also very interesting, mixing politics, history, mythology, and religion. Interestingly enough, I actually felt like I learned a few things reading this novel and it definitely gave me a few things to think about as well. I won't go into further detail, because I don't want to spoil anything.

The last thing that I wanted to mention was the technology. I was really surprised at how accurate some of Stephenson's tech was. Yeah, some of it was pretty far flung, but other things like the metaverse and pretty much in place today.

I've heard some people say that you either love Stephenson or you hate him. I gave this novel 5 stars, but I'm not ready to jump into the "love" category yet. It was really good and I enjoyed it, but there are still other authors that I like better. That said, Snow Crash is a fairly recent cyberpunk classic and a must-read for any science fiction reader so get out there and pick it up if you haven't read it yet. ...more

Like · see review

Sep 09, 2012 Kathi rated it really liked it

Shelves: science-fiction

9/10
Wow, what a ride! I can hardly believe this was written 20 years ago. This was my first Stephenson book, and while I know that not all his books are like this, I can't wait to try another. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Mar 31, 2009 Amanda rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Like

Apr 01, 2009 Ron rated it it was amazing

Shelves: sf

Like

Apr 01, 2009 Brad Clarkston rated it liked it

Like

Apr 02, 2009 DivaDiane SM marked it as to-read

Shelves: sffbc-book-shelf

Like

Apr 04, 2009 Kimberly rated it liked it

Like

Apr 04, 2009 Stephanie rated it really liked it

Like

Apr 09, 2009 Retta F added it

Like

Apr 13, 2009 Random rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: science-fiction

Like

Apr 19, 2009 Jyn rated it really liked it

Like

Apr 27, 2009 Peta rated it it was ok

Like

Apr 28, 2009 Susan rated it liked it

Like

May 01, 2009 Charles rated it it was amazing

Like

May 10, 2009 Ken rated it really liked it

Like

May 18, 2009 Stephen rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction, sci-fi

Like

May 22, 2009 Carl rated it it was amazing

Like

Jul 03, 2009 Mike Kane rated it it was amazing

Like

Jul 20, 2009 Angela Randall rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction, ange-recommends, we-own, 1990-1999, 20th-century, american-author, sci-fi, geek, essential-reading, steve-spalding-32top-scifi-novels

Like