Clan x86
Member Forums => Ender's Book Club => Topic started by: iago on August 04, 2012, 06:17:41 pm
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I just read Snowcrash, and wanted to give my opinion (and hear others').
First of all, it's an enjoyable read. The narrative is fun, the comparisons are great, the action scenes are better written than most action scenes I've read, and I really didn't want to put it down. It's also really cool that he invented a lot of concepts, and frequently got things right. It also brings up some interesting questions about how we think - how we're born without language, but it becomes hardcoded.
On the downside, I thought the entire concept was kinda lame. I mean, he tied in a lot of history (I'm not even sure where the real history ends and the fiction begins), and that was cool. And the way he revealed it, I have mixed feelings about - basically, entire chapters of him learning about it through exposition (talking to the 'Librarian' program) seemed like kind of the lazy way to explain the plot. The part I didn't like was that it didn't really seem to make sense, he tried to explain away a lot of things - like how hackers are vulnerable to something that others aren't - that I didn't really buy.
Additionally, the motivation of the 'bad guys' wasn't there. Why were they doing what they were doing? I didn't buy it. Especially Raven. Even the motivation of the good guys. I understand Juanita - she wanted knowledge - but I didn't really see Hiro's motivation, or why Uncle Enzo was so willing to help Y.T. And the romance thing between Y.T. and Raven - wtf?
The ending was pretty shitty, too. The way that Raven was possibly killed, while neat (shattering all the knife weapons using a tool that was planted earlier) and the way that Uncle Enzo may or may not have been killed, I didn't get.
They also forgot to give it an ending. What happened to Hiro? Y.T.? Uncle Enzo? The people on the Raft? Y.T.'s mom? The president? It seems like they left a lot that never got explained. And why was the President even introduced? He didn't do a thing!
All that said, this was one of his first books, and it was definitely an enjoyable read.
Anybody else have opinions on it?
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I enjoyed it. I accept that it was written in 1992 so a lot of material followed the trend of "hackers are badasses different in the brain". Enzo helped YT because of the pizza she delivered which then became rather famous (iirc). The end half of the book or so isn't that memorable to me (it's been about a year since I last read it). I don't even remember the president.
I remember thinking that Rife was supposed to be L Ron Hubbard and the cult as Scientology, but I'm not even sure if those things existed when it was written (Hubbard as Profit, not Hubbard as Some Guy). Maybe that's just me making wild connections.
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I'm just now reading this, and it's entertaining but would be too irritating to ever re-read. Also, it seems highly pandering. What computer-person ever says "Well 8 is the 3rd power of 2." and stuff like that? Wtf. HIGHLY pandering, as if to say "LOOK NERDS I KNOW BASE 2!!!"