Has anyone picked this one up yet – just out in the last couple of weeks? Be a good summer read no doubt. Another SF one – I really liked Anathem, really did not like reamde, so be interested to see how this one works out.

Looks interesting, but also sounds exactly like the intro of a Sid Meier PC game.

Always hard to know what you’re going to get, with Stephenson… I absolutely loved the first half of Reamde and some bits of the last half but it just got to be such a grind, I suppose that’s appropriate considering the gold farming riff.

If ever a man made me appreciate the kindle, it’s him though- I’ve got the baroque cycle in hardcover and they were the first novels I rebought in digital, to save my spine and theirs.

Yup. I’m about 2/3rds of the way through it, having started it last week, and enjoying it as I have other books by him. I skipped reamde, due to the poor reviews, so I can’t offer a comparison. I do have one or two reservations about the plot & premise, but that would need <spoiler> tags.

Against the grain I really enjoyed Readme, anathema took me several attempts to get going & become interested. Forgot to load (audiobook) Seveneves onto my phone, but then the new James SA Corey’s book is out.. & that’ll be read first!

Anathem was awesome, crytonomicon was like.. Well, I’m not sure what’s going on or why I am reading this but it’s cool and giving me a nice feeling so I’ll carry on and oh, it’s stopped. Have not read Reamde.

Will probably try a new one when I have finished Cloud Atlas.

Hmmm onto part 2, not the page turner (even for an audiobook) & lacking the humor I’ve come to expect TBH.
Anyone else started it yet?

I was underwhelmed, especially by the last section. I think it would have made a better neal stephenson book if the last section had been expanded and the rest cut to about a 1/10th of the size.

massive fan of quicksilver and the earlier stuff but his later books are a bit “meh”

Cryptonomicom, Anathem and Reamde I thought were awesome. Bonkers, but awesome.

Snow Crash, fun but a little juvenile (although I think that may have been the point)

Baroque Cycle was hard work – had it’s moments, but just so. damn. long!

I’ll pick up the new one pretty shortly, I expect.

Read it a couple of weeks ago. It was good in parts, had an interesting premise then seemed to run out of direction, and then just….. stop.
Not as good as Cryptonomicon IMHO, or even Reamde. Have read NS from Zodiac onwards (even going backwards to In The Beginning Was The Command Line).
Got lost halfway through (ie 1.5 books) The Baroque Cycle though.

I think he’s lost his mojo, sadly – Reamde was good, though really a generic thriller, Seveneves was a real struggle. The telling bit to me was the postscript where he talks about the interesting space launch systems he included in the book.

It seems more a book to show off interesting technological ideas. There’s none of the clever humour in his other books, and the characters are dull and lifeless.

Lost his mojo, or just able to write about stuff he interested in or write a different style of book?
Is it’s the classic (music) band situation, everyone love the ‘old’ stuff (1st albums) and all their new stuff, not held back by the ‘labels’ requirements, is just rubbish?..

I know what you mean, but he’s already made a bunch of big changes – the pure SF of Snow Crash / Diamond Age to the historical / modern Cryptonomicon, to the completely historical Baroque Cycle, to the high concept SF of Anathem.

It’s just the latest book which seems to have lost it – and the (SPOILER ALERT) bit where the dad and fiancee both survive as well? Contrived.

I don’t think he’s bettered Snow Crash! I enjoyed Cryptanomicon and Reamde was ok, a few others, I’ve given up half way through, so,his latest doesn’t sound great either 🙁

One of my most treasured books…

I really enjoyed Reamde, could not get to grips with the Baroque Cycle books at all, and I’ve re-read Zodiac, Snow Crash and Diamond Age I don’t know how many times.
I’m certainly going to give this one a go, without paying attention to what others say, especially as I enjoyed Reamde, which others seem not to.

oh, it’s stopped

and then just….. stop

I don’t think I’ve read any of his stuff since the Baroque cycle, but he does seem to have some difficulty with ending his novels – I definitely felt that about Snow Crash and The Diamond Age. Probably about Zodiac too, but I can’t really remember.

I possibly enjoyed Interface the most out of his stuff (though it was attributed to Stephen Bury I think, because he collaborated with a relative who was too serious to be seen contributing to a novel with sci-fi elements).

Loved the Baroque Cycle, Cryptonomicon and The Diamond Age. And “In The Beginning Was The Command Line”. Not got round to Reamde, yet, and now he’s got another one out? Best get a move on 🙂

http://cristal.inria.fr/~weis/info/commandline.html