Snow Crash in Fantasy-Faction.com

Sep 05, 2012 Mogsy rated it liked it

Shelves: audiobook, science-fiction, dystopia, cyberpunk

Great read, and yet unfortunately not my kind of novel. I guess cyberpunk just isn't my thing, but hey, I had to give it a try to find out, right?

And ultimately, I'm glad I did. After finishing Snow Crash, I totally understand why this book is considered Stephenson's greatest classic. Awesome characters, awesome world, and especially awesome concepts/philosophies. I just wish I had a little more interest in some of the latter, but I could still grasp and recognize their merits and appreciate th ...more

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Mar 16, 2011 Jacob rated it it was amazing

(Repost from http://drying-ink.blogspot.com/2010/0... )
Snow Crash is, quite literally, a novel that changed the world: almost entirely responsible for the use of the term "avatar" in internet culture (an earlier simulation called, I believe, Habitat, used the term first - but Snow Crash popularised it), and apparently one of the inspirations for the online world "Second Life", it's also a fun read on its own.

Snow Crash is set in a world collapsed: into the "Burbclaves", territories divided by cu (Repost from http://drying-ink.blogspot.com/2010/0... )
Snow Crash is, quite literally, a novel that changed the world: almost entirely responsible for the use of the term "avatar" in internet culture (an earlier simulation called, I believe, Habitat, used the term first - but Snow Crash popularised it), and apparently one of the inspirations for the online world "Second Life", it's also a fun read on its own.

Snow Crash is set in a world collapsed: into the "Burbclaves", territories divided by culture and franchises of other nations (take one example: "Mr Lee's Greater Hong Kong"!), rather than into larger territories. The Mafia run the pizza service - and it's rumoured that when the timer reaches "30:00", Uncle Enzo becomes displeased in a way that promises a sudden (and fatal) accident. It's almost a caricature, but it's certainly fun! Meanwhile, the real gem of the piece is the Metaverse, an online virtual reality - or, more accurately, a set of shared protocols that makes it possible. Otherwise known as the Street, this virtual band's circumference is far greater than the planet's, and our protagonist - quite literally, Hiro Protagonist, is one of its founders.

As the book opens, Hiro is rather down on his luck: in the Street he's one of the few with open access to the Black Sun, an exclusive club for hackers and celebrities, but in mundane reality he delivers pizzas for the Cosa Nostra. Through a particularly strenuous delivery, he meets YT, our second protagonist: an odd mix a skateboards, high technology, and professionalism. Not to mention incomprehensible slang. It's only then that Hiro discovers a black and white avatar selling "Snow Crash" - a drug, or something else? - in the multiverse. There's only one real problem: that it's impossible.

The plot beyond this point is impossible to describe. It's convoluted, controversial, and very, very clever, mixing neurolinguistics and Sumerian civilisation to create what is possibly the ultimate post-cyberpunk tale. Yes, the world's a caricature. But it's full of gems such as "Reason" - the gun that you really don't want to talk to, for reasons that soon become apparent. It's brilliant fun, generally fast-paced, aside from a few chunks of hefty exposition - fortunately rare - and suffers from only one major flaw: it stops. Not ends, but stops. It's just a little disconcerting, but does resolve the main plot, and the rest of the book is fantastic enough to recommend it anyway.

9.5/10 ...more

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Feb 11, 2014 Pickle rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

3/5

this is one hell of a weird book but not in the Philip K Dick sense of weird, i think i need a re-read of this in a year or so so i can actually write a review.

It starts off with a pizza delivery boy who is also a ninja and the world's best swordsman. he has trouble delivering the pizza's so a fellow delivery girl called YT does it for him.

it then goes onto explain that in the read world there are no laws and the USA is broken up into, in not sure what to call it, but the MAFIA own a part, th ...more

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