Reamde

[Dave]

http://nealstephenson.com/reamde/

This isn't out in paperback yet in the UK. I was about to pre-order it. Apparently it is already out in paperback in the US.

It looks like a return to an adventure thriller with a Reamde virtual world virus that causes a real world turf war.

So, thumbs up, or thumbs down?

[Finnien]

Thumbs up, but with a qualifier. I loved it for two reasons - the story itself, which is more of a return to his thriller era, and for the very detailed and very interesting MMO that exists in the novel. The story itself, I think, is less smooth than some of his others because of how it's written - two very different parts to it. Alone the story would be slightly below his normal quality, I think, but with the world he creates it brings it up to snuff.

[AndrewT]

When I looked at the book the first thing that struck me was the subliminal message Read Me. Go to the link and look at the colors of the letters. That is very clever.
I have not yet read and Stephenson. What is his best book to start with? He sounds very intriguing.

[Dave]

Difficult to tell what to read, because I personally find his books very different and if you read the other threads here some people didn't much like the books I did like. I think he is a little like Marmite - you love or hate him.

In order to answer you I just looked up some reviews of him. One said "postcyberpunk genre" - but that is not true of his very early books. "A penchant for explorations of society, mathematics, cryptography, currency, and the history of science" - that is not true of all his books, though certainly the "cryptography" theme is a strong one. "Stephenson's books tend to have elaborate, inventive plots drawing on numerous technological and sociological ideas at the same time" - yes, I'd agree with that, and is what I particularly like. I haven't read "Reamde" yet; I have it on advanced order now, but it sounds most like "Snow Crash" if you think you want to dip in something before you jump.

[viZion]

Originally Posted by AndrewT

When I looked at the book the first thing that struck me was the subliminal message Read Me. Go to the link and look at the colors of the letters. That is very clever.
I have not yet read and Stephenson. What is his best book to start with? He sounds very intriguing.

I suggest you start with Snow Crash or Cryptonomicon. Stephenson is one of my favorite authors but there are probably some books of his you should avoid for your first time. The Diamond Age, for example, is one of my favorite books of all time but I think it would be hard to understand or get into if it's your first time with Neal Stepheson.

Oddly enough, Reamde is probably his most accessible book. It's basically pure action but not really representative of his usual writing style. I loved it because it's a nice break from his usual books which can be pretty heavy at times (though always entertaining). There are action sequences in the book that last dozens and possibly hundreds of pages. It's hard for me to know exactly how long they are since I read this book on my Kindle. However, he does get nerdy with his descriptions of the MMORPG he invents for the book.

[Dave]

I've almost finished this book now and would agree with viZion that it is unlike his usual books, however it is very much like his early work Zodiac and Interface. Like all his recent books it is a doorstop, but it is all action. It is a little like those action movies that seem to end but then just continue on for another hour or two more. The descriptions of the MMORPG are not as distracting as he can usually be when he spins off on a tangent about something or other. It is clever, if very contrived, the way his usual huge cast of characters keep being drawn together, and also how the real world and virtual world run together in parallel. So, I agree with Finnien and give a qualified thumbs up.