Reamde

By: Neal Stephenson

Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner

Length: 38 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

“Stephenson has a once-in-a-generation gift: he makes complex ideas clear, and he makes them funny, heartbreaking, and thrilling.” - Time

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Anathem, Neal Stephenson is continually rocking the literary world with his brazen and brilliant fictional creations - whether he’s reimagining the past (The Baroque Cycle), inventing the future (Snow Crash), or both (Cryptonomicon). With Reamde, this visionary author whose mind-stretching fiction has been enthusiastically compared to the work of Thomas Pynchon, Don DeLillo, Kurt Vonnegut, and David Foster Wallace - not to mention William Gibson and Michael Crichton - once again blazes new ground with a high-stakes thriller that will enthrall his loyal audience, science and science fiction, and espionage fiction fans equally. The breathtaking tale of a wealthy tech entrepreneur caught in the very real crossfire of his own online fantasy war game, Reamde is a new high - and a new world - for the remarkable Neal Stephenson.

©2011 by Neal Stephenson. (P)2011 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“Stephenson...delivers a sprawling thriller that shows him in complete control of his story.” ( Publishers Weekly)

“Noir futurist Stephenson returns to cyberia with this fast-moving though sprawling techno-thriller...Who’ll prevail? We don’t know till the very end, thanks to Stephenson’s knife-sharp skills as a storyteller. An intriguing yarn—most geeky, and full of satisfying mayhem.” ( Kirkus Reviews, starred review)

“Sometimes when you’re reading Neal Stephenson, he doesn’t just seem like one of the best novelists writing in English right now; he seems like the only one.” (Lev Grossman, Time)

Good listen , not great though

Reamde is a good listen , but some of the characters actions are questionable (spoiler alert : leading a group of terrorists right to your family!) , given their circumstances. Overall ,it was a good listen , not great.

A fun story but distracting audio

A typical Stephenson story that is fun, technical, and engaging. If you liked Cryptonomicom, this is well worth a listen. Occasional audio issues were distracting at times. You could tell by the white noise when the narration stopped and started, which should have been cues for a new chapter but often appeared to come in mid-paragraph. This distracted from the story but was overall forgivable. Questionable mixing aside, the narrator performed well, with well executed voices, tone, and pacing. But I heard reference to a man carrying a "submarine" gun, and I can't help but wonder if that's faithful to the book :)

A little too long.....

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

For the most part, I enjoyed the time listening the the book. The narration was good enough but there was many times the story itself seemed to drag on much more than necessary. I did however enjoy the story, it was very fun and exciting, just very verbose.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

The ending was exactly what I expected, not a bad thing but no surprises.

Which scene was your favorite?

Some of the in game scenes were very good.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

If it was edited to be shorter, yes.

Ridiculously epic fun ride - perfect pandemic book

I am embarrassed to say I was blubbering in parts toward the end after this unbelievable, nonstop action, excitement with the u likely characters that I totally came to love. Team Zula! It reads like a movie - not the greatest bed to read before sleeping unless you are alone. Laughing awake my partner and trying to explain what was so funny then realizing the immense amount of context it would take to explain why it was so funny then realizing you are getting glare eyes because they are trying to sleep...
I wasn’t expecting this type of book from Stephenson but wow- he can tell all kinds of stories! And again, showcasing his brilliant skills as a writer, a knower of maybe everything. I’m delving into the next book which I know is completely different. Bring it all on! Just don’t stop— I want Zula action figures and tshirts.

Exceptional Experience

Leave it to Stephenson to craft an dizzying but well executed plot. From humble beginnings about an MMO and a Family Gathering, to ruminations on the qualities of a Walmart, this jet-setting thriller hits every metric you could imagine. Action, Romance, and of course Stephenson's observational humor and wit take you on a quest that leaves you waiting on the edge of your seat for what ces next. A fantastic read for Stephenson's fans, and a great introductory piece for newcomers!

Couldn't put it down

If you could sum up Reamde in three words, what would they be?

Compelling!!!

What did you like best about this story?

The action, after the first 100 or so pages, was riveting. A real page turner. I'd asked one of my daughter's for a recommendation for something that had a lot of action and Reamde is what she suggested. She said, "It's the quickest 1,000 pages I've ever read." I must agree - I listened to most of the almost 40 hours of audio in one weekend.

Have you listened to any of Malcolm Hillgartner’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Don't know

A good audio book, if not a great story.

The performance of this work was quite good and I enjoyed it thoroughly overall. However, if you're looking for another gripping and complex tale such as Cryptonomicon, know that this book falls somewhat short. The story overall is an entertaining, though not particularly engaging, thriller that rivals some of his previous works in quantity of characters but certainly lacks in any significant depth or particularly interesting plot elements. if you're a fan of Tom Clancy / Harrison Ford style plots and movies than this is the book for you.

And I thought Snow Crash was epic…

I first encountered Stephenson as a Second Life newbie, told Snow Crash was their bible. It was double-exciting in my newly found Virtual World.
I had avoided Reamde due to it's length, but was more than rewarded. Truly EPIC, with less ancient philosophy.
Hillgartner did an excellent job slipping between narrator, gender, & ethnicity, often a distraction with other singular narrators.

Entertaining but the story is weak

What did you like best about Reamde? What did you like least?

The story starts strong and the descriptions of locations are great. However, it quickly deteriorates into a Hollywood like set of unrealistic characters and one deus ex machina upon another.

Was Reamde worth the listening time?

I had to do a lot of driving for a while and 38 hours of this easy to listen book were good money spent.

It was OK

I have listened to other Neal Stephenson books and loved them. This one was ok, and I would not disuade anyone from listening to it, but it was not on par with his other books. At nearly 40 hours, it should have been better.