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(Copied from a very old review originally posted elsewhere.)
Date: 29 September 1993, 13:01:55 EDT
From: David M. Chess
To: sf-reviews at presto.ig.com
Subject: Review of Neal Stephenson's "Snow Crash"
Note : Except for possibly a clue as to whether or not the heroes survive, I don't think there are any serious spoilers here.
Executive summary : A delicious first 150 pages, followed by another 300 that aren't bad either. Lots of new concepts and funny extrapolations, a new world-conspiracy theory, and attractive tech in a light-cyberpunk setting. Recommended for Neophiles of all stripes, especially metalinguistic and Eristic hacker-types. Not recommended for those who insist on Serious Literature or Meaningful Character Development.
Setting : North America and contiguous seas, primarily around Los Angeles, sometime after the breakup of the U.S. Government (well, it's still around, but in liddle privatized pieces). The urban landscape is dominated by rich enclaves ("burbclaves") with their own (generally vendored-out) police forces, and by "franchulates" ("franchise consulates"?), including Metazanias, New South Africas, Mr. Lee's Greater Hong Kongs, Snooze 'n' Cruises, Hoosegows, CosaNostra Pizza, Reverend Wayne's Pearly Gates, and so on. Kouriers on skateboards zoom down the (private) highways, their MagnaPoons firmly attached to bimbo boxes and speeding pizza-delivery cars. In other words, just like now, only more so. Cyberspace is here, too; it's called the Metaverse or the Street, and it's developing nicely.
Premise : Our heroes, a hacker who was involved with the early development of the Metaverse but is now down on his luck, and a 15-year-old Kourier who tries to conceal her job from her mom, get involved with all sorts of the Major Players in the world when someone finds something very very interesting in ancient Sumeria.
Story : I lost track several times, but it doesn't really matter! The good guys eventually figure out who the worst of the bad guys are, and that some of the apparent bad guys are really not so bad, there's lots of confusion and shooting and things blowing up, and a tense chase scene on the Street as one of the somewhat-bad guys tries to deliver a (virtual) bomb that will burn out the (real) brains of most of the skilled hackers in the world. Something like that. The fun part is the setting, though, and rooting for the good guys, even if you're not sure exactly what's going on.
There's also an interesting new world history / conspiracy theory here that might make a good Discordian heresy; episkopoi take note!
Characterization : Stephenson has a hard time drawing unsympathetic characters. Everyone that we really get to know turns out to be more or less good-hearted and sympathetic. The one or two people who are the Real Bad Guys remain pretty much part of the scenery: both distant and somewhat flat. There's no character *development* to speak of, or at least I didn't notice any; the characters are finally doing something rad and worthwhile with all these skills they've picked up before the book opens, but the experiences don't seem to change them any. That's OK: this is a Read, not a Bildungsroman.
Storytelling : This is the best part. Buy this book just for the prose and storytelling in the first 150 pages, and if your buttons are anything like my buttons, you won't be disappointed. Stephenson is on a roll, and he takes us with him, 'pooned along and riding in his wake, somewhat breathless (from the speed and from laughing so hard). In the midst of juggling a stream of undefined new words (don't worry; the referents will show up eventually!), you're knocked over by an offhand comment that's simultaneously utterly true and screamingly funny. Don't read it late at night if there's anyone in the next room trying to sleep.
After the first 150 pages or so, the effect dies down. Either I just got used to it (I don't think so), or the author got tired, or he came out of whatever altered state he started out in. The rest of the book contains the occasional gem, but the mechanics of the action start to feel, well, mechanical. I could picture Stephenson making little flow-charts of who had to be where when, and how to get them all there in time. The characters apparently had access to these charts as well; the actual motivation for some of the movement and action (beyond that it was necessary for the plot) wasn't always clear to me. But maybe I just wasn't paying attention!
Also, the bad guys seem to be rather stupid, and terrible shots. I cannot imagine *any* way our hero could have survived his final assault into Bad Guy territory. If this bothers you, this may bother you. On the other hand, if you enjoy hooting at the quality of training in Imperial Storm Trooper school, you may enjoy this as well.
Science : The tech is mostly quite believable and well done, especially the background tech. The explanation of the Metaverse interface falls a little short; he goes to considerable lengths to explain how the output systems work (tuned lasers projecting on special goggles, etc), but gives no consistent clues as to how *input* works (at one point our hero ends up waving a sword around in real life while fighting in the Metaverse, but in another place he is walking around in the Metaverse while riding in a car in reality; so how does it work?). The various things involving viruses (biological, mental, and computer) are not badly done: I work with these things for a living, and I only winced a couple of times. Some of the tech in the world-history/conspiracy thread isn't explained well enough to convince me, but the grab of the idea itself pretty much makes up for that.
Title : Stephenson says that "snow crash" is a hacker's term for when a system crashes so hard that the display turns to "snow" (like a TV between channels). Have any other hackers seen/used this term? I don't think I buy it: computer displays aren't RF driven, and aren't capable of displaying that kind of snow unless the hardware is broken in a very unlikely way; even the similar "random garbage on the screen" situation is pretty rare, and not all that related to the severity of the crash. If the CPU were in charge of the display sweep, I can see it, but I don't know of any systems like that.
Recommendation: Yep!
%A Stephenson, Neal %T Snow Crash %I Bantam Books; Spectra %C New York %D May 1993 (hardcover June 1992) %G ISBN 0-553-56261-4 %P 468 pp. %O paperback, US$5.99
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