November 27, 1995

Few authors today can claim as pivotal a role in the cyberpunk movement as Neal Stephenson can. His 1991 work Snow Crash embodies many of the themes that resonate throughout the cyberpunk genre. It is an masterpiece of the 1990's - riveting, saturated with technology, and a storyline that is at once compelling, yet easy to follow and understand.

From his opening, Stephenson casts the reader into his world, a world where chaos runs rampant and Darwin's Theory of Natural Selection is enhanced by the technological innovations of the time. Most impressive of these innovations is the Metaverse, a virtual Toombstone of the 21st century, a place where gunfights in the streets have been replaced with coreographed sword fights. This `universe' is prehaps the most entertaining setting in the book. Anything goes here, and it is the only place where the plebians can mingle with stars such as Sushi K and the only rule is to create an avatar pleasing enough to look at. I was constsntly amazed at the level of detail that Stephenson gave to this alternate universe, from the graveyard daemons to the virtual motorcycles, which cruised along at a leisurely 50,000 miles an hour. It is interesting to note that Stephenson, unfamiliar with the virtual reality scene, coined a phrase (`avatar') identical to one that was already in use.

Stephenson's protagonists, Hiro and Y.T., wereinteresting in a maladjusted sort of way. You never knew what they were going to do. It was refreshing to see a female protagonist that had the wisdom, the experience, and the guts to make such complex decisions about her sex life. It was during her tryst with Raven that I had to laugh out loud; it would be the first time of many. Who would have expected a hypodermic needle nestled deep within her cervix?!? Priceless! And Hiro...his character was a pleasant change from the other heroes in cyberpunk. He was at once witty and cynical, sensitive and yet powerful. His converstions witht the Librarian were enlightening and informative; I never thought that I would ever learn that much about the Sumerian culture. And I was pleased when Stephenson detailed Hiro's successes with the Metaverse - about how he created the graveyard daemons, how he originally coordinated the swordfight movements, and about how he made the `Bigboard', which was used to map out parts of the Metaverse.

All in all, this was a very fast, entertaining read. Stephenson did an excellent job in delivering a believable storyline wih indentifiable characters. This is the first Stephenson book that I have ever read, but it assuredly will not be the last. He has created a novel that has transformed a pretty tough critic into one of his most ardent fans.