I will try to summarize the plot, because the back of the book doesn't really do much besides say, "High stakes technological thriller!!" which is SORT OF true. It's about Richard Forthrast, who runs an online computer game that competes with World of Warcraft. It's about some Chinese hacker kids who invent a virus to steal money from people in the game. (I wish it had been more about them, actually.) It's about Richard's niece, Zula, whose boyfriend makes a terrible deal with some mobsters. And it's about a bunch of international terrorists whose secret hideout in China just happens to be in the same run-down building as the hackers.
It's super typical Stephenson; there's computer stuff, there's shooting, there's traveling the world, there's about 500 pages of climax where I had to keep putting the book down or I would forget to breathe. (I had to flip to the last page to make sure my favorite character survived, and she did.) But then it's NOT typical Stephenson, at the same time; there are no 25 page digressions on obscure mathematical concepts or long flashbacks to how Newton invented the calculus. And weirdly, I found myself really missing those. This is like a Bourne movie or a Bond movie; it's all action and adventure and shooting. It's almost like he decided to redo Snow Crash for the 2010s but it's got even less "here is how technology works" than Snow Crash.
As an interesting note: this is the first Stephenson I can think of that has lots of important female narrators. Eliza was important in the Baroque Cycle but not as important as Jack. America Shaftoe was more of an idea than a character in Cryptonomicon. Same with Y.T. in Snow Crash. Reamde features three different female protagonists, all of whom have tremendous agency, smarts, and personality. AND not a single one of whom is white. Stephenson still can't write a convincing romantic relationship but this was a huge improvement, women-wise.
This is going to sound weird, but instead of 981 pages of excellent action-adventure I wish it had been 1,000 pages and included more weird technological digressions. I read Stephenson and I feel smarter afterwards, usually. Anathem is magical just because it spends so much time being about higher math concepts. I love the dense and weird history in Cryptonomicon and The Baroque Cycle. This is JUST an action-adventure story.
Anyway, if you enjoy Stephenson this is great. And if you've never read his stuff this is probably his most approachable book in a long time -- the page count sounds intimidating but it reads really, really quickly and I found myself staying up until 1 or 2 to get to the next section.
Grade: A
originally posted 2011
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