I appear to be a little odd in liking Reamde as much as I do, but if you want something lower-concept and more thriller-like, I really enjoy Reamde.
Imagine if movies were like that: a huge slog for 1h15, and then a twist at 1h50 at which point it actually gets interesting/entertaining.
Don't get me wrong, I love a good slow burn read/watch, but "slog" is not that.
I think the idea is that you wouldn't understand everything either if you were actually transported into the future: there would be a ton of new terminologies, unfamiliar concepts, and a changed culture that takes different things to be a matter of course.
At some point in the book, around half way IIRC, there is an event that happens which explains the title. And it goes from something like an interesting hard sci-fi, to a sort of weird meandering fantasy thing that took a nuke to my suspension of disbelief. It also felt like the book was basically two entirely different books at that point. I simply could not get into it, or passed it.
I suppose I understand why he made that choice, but I don’t have to like it.
My biggest problem with him is, and I don't really mean it as an insult, but he's like a poor man's Pynchon or Hesse. If you like maximalist and historical fiction or like reading about people in monasteries might as well pick up GR or The Glass Bead game.
I'd say Anathem is his best book overall, but the first 100 or so pages is almost pure world building without much action which might turn people away.
Seveneves is close and is more accessible from the beginning. Just skip the last (after time jump) part of the book which is... unnecessary and bad.
But Cryptonomicon, Snow Crash and REAMDE were amazing.
TBH it seemed very ... "idealistic" in a way, "racist" would be another word, but I'd like to avoid the word's moral connotations. Just the idea that the descendants of this particular Eve are physically strong and then descendants of this Eve are intellectuals. It kinda seemed like a fairy tale instead of an actual development, which would realistically end up way more "messy".
I found the first one a slog, but the second one more than made up for it. It’s end to end swashbuckling fun. The third one is pretty clever, painting a colourful, accessible summary of how englightenment philosophy and science, and debt-based capitalism shape the modern global economy.
(At least… that’s how I recall them >15 years on)
On Seveneves, no two people seem to agree on which half of the book is "bad", but I will say in general that the first half is more popular among the base. I thought the latter was fine.
Seveneves was much more accessible, as was The Rise and Fall of DODO, and the Baroque Cycle. Fall or Dodge in Hell is a bit more challenging but for different reasons than his early works, the subject matter is just more abstract.
No doubt they are all meandering and longwinded, the newer ones perhaps more so, but that’s Stephenson, it can be a strength and a weakness.
I have read a number of novels in Bengali that are like this, but was refreshing to see one famous book by a famous author in English.
It actually isn’t. That is the name he works under, a sort of stage name, as he styles himself as a sort of programmer celebrity. His actual name is Hiroaki. (This is mentioned in the book.)
I'm not explicitly saying you're lying but I'd like more evidence.
“Stupid name,” she says, shoving the card into one of a hundred little pockets on her coverall.
“But you'll never forget it,” Hiro says.
I.e. the name is an obvious marketing gimmick.