The wildly entertaining book that invented the Metaverse!
Published in 1992
Brent: 5 stars. A book that is somehow both hilarious and also high stakes. Big ideas, big action, and incredibly fun to read!
Cody: 5 stars. Snow Crash is fun, fast and doesn’t take itself too seriously, yet it delivers massively prophetic ideas, is gorgeously written and one-of-a-kind.
Here's the setup:
Hiro Protagonist is a self-described hacker working as a pizza-delivery driver and living in a storage unit at LAX. He lives in a US that has been fully corporatized - from Judge Bob’s Judicial System to Pastor Wayne’s Pearly Gates.
To get away, Hiro spends much of his free-time in the Metaverse, where he wrote many of the subroutines that underpin the virtual world. One of his hacker friends, Da5id, is given a new virtual drug called Snow Crash that not only crashes his computer, but also destroys his brain in the real world. Hiro (and a hilarious cadre of friends) are drawn ever deeper into the worldwide conspiracy that is spilling out of the virtual world to threaten the real world.
Hugonauts' Thoughts:
There are so many things about this book we love, but we’ll try to pick just a few to highlight.
First, the big tech ideas that stuck with us over the twenty years since we read it the first time. It has the most fun and engrossing description of a VR world that we've ever read - it's everything Ready Player One was trying to be and so much more. It even coined the term Metaverse! Then there is the skateboard with smart wheels that adjusts to the terrain so you can skate right over potholes (or even down a forested hillside). A nuclear-powered gatling gun in a suitcase. And so, so many others.
The narrative voice is also amazing and truly unique. Humor rare in SF, but this book shows that it can be done incredibly successfully. The narrator establishes the general satirical tone, but it also adjusts to match whichever character it's currently following. That match of narrative voice to character brings us into the world in a much deeper way, and is also a big part of making all characters so likeable and fun. Are they burnouts or are they superheroes? Why not both!
Finally, the 'big idea' underneath the novel is really interesting. We won't spoil anything, but let's just say its about the intersection of language, religion, and ideas as viruses and potential tools of control. The actual details of how Snow Crash itself works in the book are a little ridiculous, but given the overall ridiculous tone of the novel it totally fits, and doesn't take away from the very-thought provoking big idea.
If you haven't read it, check it out - you're in for such a fun, wild ride!
Related Books
If you loved this one, you might also like:
Neuromancer - William Gibson
The cyberpunk novel that started it all. A hacker is hired by a mysterious woman, and an even more mysterious corporate entity, to sleuth around the virtual and real world on a corporate espionage mission with a fabulous twist.
Babel-17 - Samuel Delany
The language you speak ‘programs’ your brain in an interstellar journey across a war-torn galaxy
Good Omens - Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
A hilarious story about an angel and a demon who need to avert the apocalypse - not out of the goodness of their hearts, but so they can keep enjoying themselves on Earth instead of having to go back to dusty ol’ heaven and hell.
Watch or listen to the full Snow Crash discussion:
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