Snow Crash

By: Neal Stephenson

Narrated by: Jonathan Davis

Length: 17 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

Only once in a great while does a writer come along who defies comparison - a writer so original he redefines the way we look at the world. Neal Stephenson is such a writer and Snow Crash is such a novel, weaving virtual reality, Sumerian myth, and just about everything in between with a cool, hip cybersensibility to bring us the gigathriller of the information age.

In reality, Hiro Protagonist delivers pizza for Uncle Enzo's CosaNostra 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.

©1992 Neal Stephenson (P)2001 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Brilliantly realized...Stephenson turns out to be an engaging guide to an onrushing tomorrow." (The New York Times Book Review)
"Fast-forward free-style mall mythology for the 21st century." (William Gibson)

Long to start but engaging once into it

I found that the techno jargon/slang was initially fairly shallow and repetitive. The story could have done with a much shorter setup of the characters and period, with a bit less attempt at a clever approach. This almost felt like word filling to make a minimum.

However, once the story got going, it developed into a very engaging and well through out tale. The characters and interactions kept me listening until the very end, where I found it to be nicely all wrapped up.

Snow Crash

One of the worst sci-fi books I have ever read. The writing alternates between purple prose and deadening exposition interspersed with some all-too-few descriptions of place. The plot reveals the author's superficial understanding of biological and linguistic evolution, ancient civilizations, and religion. The main character is African-American/Chinese, yet this comes off as a shallow attempt at PC, especially considering the utter lack of a discussion of Eastern religions in the excruciatingly long passages on religion-as-virus. The characters are almost all, with the exception of YT perhaps, little more than expositors. Reads like a tech manuel: a souless and brain-numbing execution of some interesting ideas. Consequently, this book represents 16 hours of wasted time and left me with the question: Do book editors actually edit the books they publish? This would have been much better if someone had imposed a little discipline on the author.

brilliant!

neal stephenson was ot known to me until recently (well a few month back) and I stumbled upon his name in a few podcasts and was very appealed by what the hosts said. I am a huge cyberpunk fan having played the cyberpunk pen and paper rpg and especially shadowrun, so I started with his novel "snow crash" which was recommended at many places. and I haven't been disappointed. what a wonderful read. it sucks you in and won't let you go till the last page. a brilliant and sharp story, packed with interesting and within the story unique characters. if you are into scifi and cyberpunk it is a must read.

Sadly Dated

I felt that the story which rests very heavily on what it calls the Metaverse, but what we would today consider to be an instance of 'Second Life', is now rather badly dated. Problems with rendering, spatial interactions etc in this realm now seem ludicrous. I also took exception to the author's heavily descriptive style which robbed the narrative of any tension or pace. It was as if a postmodern rush of strangely juxtapositioned descriptive terms were thought more important than what later emerged as a really good story.

excellent

Just an excellent book - unbelievably witty and funny and very thought provoking

Blade Runner meets the Deliverator!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

If you like Sci-Fi, Technology and futuristic wastelands this is the one and only at the top of the food chain.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Snow Crash?

Everything.... there isn't a boring moment in the book. Start the first chapter you won't stop listening. Y.T. is pretty hilarious and the nuke on the Harley... oh I want one.

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

I have not but this one was great.

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

The Deliverator

Any additional comments?

Neal Stephenson you are the man!

Fantastic novel, good performance

Great novel that deserves a second read given all of its beautifully interwoven subplots. In particular the last 1/3 fires an arsenal of chekov's guns created in the first 2/3.

Fantastic!

Audio recording could be updated, as you can tell it is a bit dated. Story is fantastically told, entwining both sci-fi and fantasy in a way only Neal Stephenson could. It's a classic!

Amazingly versatile performance

This has always been an incredible book, but I really enjoyed how much Jonathan Davis brought to it with his impressively diverse character vocals.

Action packed, thought provoking...

May sound a little far-fetched...but this book is really well written - didn't want to stop listening. Plenty of action, but also really interesting - cool technology, of course, and also references to Sumerians, Tower of Babel, etc. Narrator does a good job.