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Snow Crash cover art

Snow Crash

By: Neal Stephenson
Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
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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)

What listeners say about Snow Crash

Average Customer Ratings
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Dated

Has not stood the test of time, disappointed after reading many reviews and recommendations from readers.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

weird

couldn't finish. too hard to get a grasp of. weak characterization nice dig at the corporatism in America and lax gun laws though.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A must must listen

How does Stephenson come up with such interesting and entertaining ideas and stories? Better yet, the dead pan narration adds its own level of humour. There a few dense information downloads, but you won't mind listening to this parts.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good story ruined by horrible presentation

Good story but between EVERY chapter is 10 seconds of really out of place music. Ruins the whole thing.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

This book's got it all

the narrator is reading very fast in the beginning of the book that made it hard to follow...i just slowed the reading speed with the app and later when i understood more of the universe i could switch it back and it was fine.Awsome book

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2 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

loved it when I read it in the 1990s

some of the tech has dated now but still a great cyber punk story. very entertaining

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Pseudo-Science Fiction

Snow Crash isn't all bad, in fact, it's pretty good in places. It contains some interesting ideas.

However, the central ideas, those on which the plot fundamentally hinges; they're ridiculous, unscientific garbage.

It's difficult to remain invested in a book based on a premise requiring a fundamentally incorrect understanding of Linguistics and the human brain. This departure from reality would be less jarring, if the Plot Device had just been literally magic. At least that way, you can explain how it works with "it's magic", instead of couching it in bad science.

Plot issues aside: the expository dialogue was awful. So many one-sided conversations between central characters and a dummy character to stand in for the audience. "Let me explain the book's thesis to you."
At one point, (in a chapter of exposition, as the main character re-explains the plot of the book) someone asks, "Where did Plot Device come from?", the protagonist responds "From space, on a comet." The space/comet thing is never touched on before, or again. It's never explained, nor shown how the character reached this conclusion.

Snow Crash is supposed to be a genre-defining masterpiece. I did not find this to be the case. I found it clumsy, ham-fisted, and reliant on an unbelievable premise. There are aspects of the book I enjoyed, but they were overwhelmed by my grievances.

The ideas in this book remain interesting, but that does not make them good. I also find the beliefs of Flat-Earthers interesting.


***

Enough on the book. Audiobook time:
It's a poor recording. It's old audio, heavily compressed. At least it helps you get into that '90s mood?

The chapters in this book are short, seeming to last a few minutes each, with musical intertitles between each chapter. This wears on me a touch, but if I'd liked the book more wouldn't have been a big issue.

Do I recommend this book?
Maybe? I don't think it was very good, and I'm glad it's over, but I don't regret reading it.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

A riot

Would you listen to Snow Crash again? Why?

It was great but once is enough

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

The crisp narrative style and the punchy narrator. Hilarious and engaging combination

What does Jonathan Davis bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

The book is tough going for the first half. Davis' style reveals Stephenson's dry humour exquisitely

Any additional comments?

Highly recommended for something different

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Don't bother

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

Better writing and plot

Would you ever listen to anything by Neal Stephenson again?

NO!

How could the performance have been better?

Not be so childish in the plot

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Snow Crash?

Most of it

Any additional comments?

It could appeal if your under the age of 12. The story idea isn't that bad, it's the writing and plot that leave you thinking I'm wasting my life listening to this.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Pretty good story and retro narration effects

The story is pretty rambly and complicated in places but that's what I'd expect from cyberpunk novel! Im sure the narration was great back when first released but the sound effects overlayed on the narrator voice were pretty annoying and made it hard to listen after a while.

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