Review: Snow Crash

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I wish I'd read Snow Crash when it was first published in 1992. While it's a blast to read, with headlong science fiction adventure, fun characters, ticklish metaphors, and heretical psychological historical religious philosophy, its virtual reality technology is limited to its time, and hasn't aged that well. It was written before The Matrix, and I read it after, and that's a problem.

It's kind of funny, reading long explanations of telephone, weaponry, computer, and VR tech that are so commonplace now that it almost sounds pandering having them explained.

Still, it's visually spectacular, with thrilling action sequences of extremely involving speed and danger. After the enjoyable action climax, though, the denouement fizzled somewhat, not giving quite the emotional reward all the engagement deserved. Otherwise, I was never less than entertained by the whooshing rush, the dystopian franchised future setting, and intelligent curiosity about interconnectivity that the book provides.