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Snow Crash (by Neal Stephenson)
This science-fiction novel combines a scenario of a largely broken near-term future with a religious conspiracy based on ancient theories about information warfare dating back to the Sumerian ages. The protagonist is called Hiro Protagonist (neat, ain't it?), and he's a pizza delivery guy for one of the dominating enterprises in that near future: Uncle Enzo's pizza delivery company. But he's not only that: In what is called the MetaVerse, a virtual reality world with 3D characters, Hiro is one of the superheroes - an original hacker and a great Sword fighter. Somehow, he is being entangled into the story of a dangerous virus "Snow Crash", which selectively annihilates the brains of people that come into contact with it. While Hiro dives into this issue, he is joined by Y.T., a very young, sort-of-skateboarding girl. And a fascinating story is being told.
What is amazing about "Snow Crash" is how Neal Stephenson manages to convey a sense of space and continuity through the whole story, which is not that easy given the convoluted setup he has built. You never really miss where Hiro or Y.T. currently are and what their motivating drives are.
One nice subplot and interesting character is Raven, some kind of ultimate fighting person. Raven is killing all around, violent, and very dangerous. Yet, nobody really attacks him. Why? Because he carries a nuclear weapon which is linked to his survival via a chip implanted into Raven's head -- when Raven dies, the bomb goes off and kills everything in the vicinity. How interesting is that for personal protection? Splendid indeed.
The descriptions of the Metaverse are beyond superior. The coolest thing: Until this very moment of writing the review, I was not even aware of the fact that the book had been written in 1992 already. Well, some of the science-fiction in "Snow Crash" seemed to have been a little outdated given our current Internet experience, but altogether the vision of the Net hits so close to home, that I like the book even more right now.
The ancient background of the conspiracy is interwoven into the story at multiple points and does give it some deeper meaning. However, those explanations have also been the a weak point about the novel: It's just too much, too often, too long, too dry, and too drawn out at times. Too many hints, too little meat to chew on for the reader. Furthermore, to name the second critical thing, I found the ending to be way too fast and not really satisfactory.
Altogether, "Snow Crash" is a very enjoyable and thought-provoking book. Definitely recommended.
- Book Title: Snow Crash
- Book Authors: Neal Stephenson
- Year of Publication: 1992
- Buy the book at Amazon.com.
- My rating:
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