Snow Crash

1st edition US hard cover.

Snow Crash is a techno-thriller by Neal Stephenson, published in June of 1992.

The story takes place in a futuristic world that is no longer controlled by governments, but rather corporations. Individual corporations are now issuing their own currency, security companies are more powerful than most armies, and the Central Intelligence Agency has turned into the Central Intelligence Corporation. Instead of just looking at the old Internet, you fully immerse yourself into the highly evolved virtual reality Metaverse. Ride along with Hiro Protagonist a former computer programmer who now delivers pizza for the Mafia. His fellow hackers are being wiped out by a new computer virus called Snow Crash that has the ability to not only infect your computer, but your mind as well. It appears to be based on civilization's oldest religions, and a strange cult is growing up around it. Along the way, he encounters Y.T., a fifteen-year-old Kourier who can't help but get into trouble, which is bad because her mother works for the FBI. You'll also meet Raven, a bad-ass biker who not only carries knives that can cut through bulletproof Kevlar, but has his brain hardwired to an atomic bomb.

Personal

My friend Dave lent me this book in the early 2000s. I was initially apprehensive because I don't usually like books people lend me, but I ended up enjoying it quite a bit. It was the book that introduced me to Neal Stephenson, and I've enjoyed every book I've read from him ever since. Years later, I re-read the book as an audio book and finished it on 2015-11-10.

I don't own this book, but have read it and listened to the audio book read by Jonathan Davis.

Review

— This section contains spoilers! —

Good

• I really like the idea of being a mind-hacker working with the assembly code of the brain.
• Stephenson did a good job at appropriating ancient mythology into modern hacking terms, though some of it seems forced.
• Hiro, even though he's not nearly the most interesting character, is a perfect lead.
• Y.T. is hilarious, and not too ridiculous to be unbelievable.
• Raven is a wonderful villain, a true bad-ass.
• I love how governments have become so unimportant that nobody even knows the President of the United States even when he's right in front of them.
• I would certainly listen to Reason.

Bad

• I don't like it when authors jump around in their time line like in this book. I guess they do it to make their writing seem edgy, or keep the right pace, but I find it unnecessary and confusing.
• Like many authors who have described an online virtual reality, the rules don't seem like they'd work in practice. The Metaverse seems far too constrictive in some ways (avatars have to be the same height at their owners, they can't teleport, etc.), and too liberal in others (a hacker can adjust their size to zero, a single programmer wrote the code for all the graveyard demons and it hasn't changed in years, etc.)
• The book goes into so much detail with ancient mythology that I started to get bored several times, and I found there to be too many analogies for the ancient terms.
• Y.T. may be mature for her age, but 15 is a too young for a graphic sex scene with a much older adult, and I'm not a fan of all the other times she is objectified.
• The future is way too soon. Most of the technology necessary for the Metaverse is still many years away despite the book taking place around 2010. Not to mention the nuclear-powered doglike protector.
• A lot of time is spent talking about the US government, but it never amounts to anything.
• "Snow crash" is a highly antiquated term, and not something that hackers past the 1970s would be familiar with, let alone future hackers.

Ugly

• Nothing.

Cover Art

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  Hardcover, USA, 1st edition. Good typeface and interesting merge from modern day to a microchip to mythology. Otherwise boring layout.

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  Mass Market, USA, Bantam. Fantastic painting of Babylonian gates opening to a futuristic city with Hiro striking a pose. My favorite.

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  Unknown, unknown. A less-complete version of the original art.

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  Paperback, USA, Bantam. Not sure why they cut up the original art, maybe they thought it was too busy.

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  Paperback, USA, Spectra. "Guy with sword running down hall," doesn't convey the book very well.

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  Paperback, unknown. This is an interesting collage, and fits the story, but it looks piecemeal.

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  Paperback, UK, Penguin. This is just horrible and has nothing to do with the book.

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  Paperback, USA, Del Rey. Abstract, but clearly about technology and samurai. Nice color use too.

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  Paperback, USA, Penguin. Nice palette, but what the hell am I even looking at?

Gallery

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  The back cover of the USA 1st edition.

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  Fan art of Hiro by IzzyMedrano.

Links

   

• cyberartsweb.org/cpace/scifi/ns/snowcrashov.html - Various essays about the book.
• slashdot.org/story/99/10/18/1049244/snow-crash - Slashdot review.