Book 2: ‘Snow Crash’ by Neal Stephenson

For book two, my three options were:

‘Red Mars’ by Kim Stanley Robinson

‘Look Who’s Back’ by Timur Vernes

‘Snow Crash’ by Neal Stephenson

Neal Stephenson is an author who I own two books by (the aforementioned ‘Snow Crash’ and ‘Cryptonomicon’), but I’d never really even opened the first page let alone cracked the spine of either. I saw this as an opportunity to gain some momentum as well due to ‘Snow Crash’ being the biggest book of the trio.

Goodreads synopsis: In reality, Hiro Protagonist delivers pizza for Uncle Enzo’s CosoNostra Pizza Inc., but in 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.

When it comes to a) science fiction narratives and b) length books, I occasionally feel that the pure workload that is required deserves merit, whether I particularly end up enjoying reading or not. A few years back, when I read ‘War and Peace’, I couldn’t honestly say I enjoyed every moment, but a book with that much content and complete focus on presenting the story the author wanted, length be damned, meant I came out of it feeling my time had been well spent, even if some evenings spent with the book were not particularly enjoyable.

‘Snow Crash’ isn’t anywhere near the length of ‘War and Peace’, but Neal Stephenson clearly had the story he wanted to tell and he was going to tell it without any desire to hold his reader’s hands or dumb things down for those who were unwilling to work for it. Unfortunately, this kills the pace of the book at times as crypto-religious exposition takes up page after page whilst I was left waiting for the action. If you bought into what Stephenson was selling you, this would have all been worthwhile. For me, it just felt like a lot of sizzle with no steak.

What Stephenson does do well is world building and action sequences. You get a keen sense of the world that Hiro Protagonist and Y.T. as one that sits just close enough to what exists now for it to be eerily feasible, yet also allowing some wilder flights of fancy across the narrative. Calling one of your main characters Hiro Protagonist is a little bit too cute for my liking, something which Stephenson is want to do at times. However, little touches like the rule book for using toilet paper at the Fed are legitimately funny and show Stephenson at his best.

The use of two main protagonists allows Stephenson to send them both off in different directions. This comes in handy when Hiro’s ‘part’ of the story slows down as he engages in crypto-religious discussion with The Librarian as at least Y.T. is engaged in action and adventure. Though Hiro’s discoveries are key to the overarching narrative, as well as showcasing some deep knowledge by Stephenson himself, it slows things down in a way that feels unnecessary to me. To others, I’m sure they’d love the slow unveiling of all this mystical and historical information. Even though it was central to the plot in many ways, the delivery of this never quite sat right with me.

Though at times this may sound like I didn’t enjoy the book, it still all worked together to make the last hundred pages or so a genuinely riveting read. I cared enough about the outcomes for Hiro and Y.T., alongside an interest in other characters who had been introduced by this point, most specifically Raven, a guy who is incredibly dangerous and not so good at keeping his temper. This race to the end was where the book did pick up pace, helped by the narrative/world building Stephenson had done up until that point and an increased focus on the action as the end game became more apparent.

It leaves me in an odd position. I celebrate the intelligence of Stephenson’s writing, as well as his unflinching approach to long form storytelling, whilst not necessarily being desirous of reading anything else he has put out there as I’d expect more of the same. It isn’t hard to see why Stephenson has built up a decent, if niche, following and reading ‘Snow Crash’ was definitely worthwhile, just not the eye opening experience I had perhaps expected.