Abstract Reader reviewed Reamde by Neal Stephenson
Fun albeit sometimes a bit obnoxious
4 stars
It's a fun adventure/thriller involving techbros, terrorists, mafia, three-letter-agencies and gun-nuts. It takes some pretty crazy twists and turns but eventually culminates in a really satisfying manner. It was kind of different from what I usually read/listen to but definitely worth it.
As pointed out in the title, the writing can sometimes be a little obnoxious. This is because the book was clearly written by a techbro-y kind of guy: Computer stuff, MMORPG culture, commercial and military organization principles and gun usage are all described and explained in minute detail. Some of this is quite interesting (I learned a bunch of stuff about firearm safety) but it can get somewhat draining at some points.
Another thing that I found somewhat off-putting is all of the cartoonish characters. Nearly everyone is an excentric genius, super hardcore operator or very principled anti-Trump conservative. With some fantastical stories, Dune prime among, this sort …
It's a fun adventure/thriller involving techbros, terrorists, mafia, three-letter-agencies and gun-nuts. It takes some pretty crazy twists and turns but eventually culminates in a really satisfying manner. It was kind of different from what I usually read/listen to but definitely worth it.
As pointed out in the title, the writing can sometimes be a little obnoxious. This is because the book was clearly written by a techbro-y kind of guy: Computer stuff, MMORPG culture, commercial and military organization principles and gun usage are all described and explained in minute detail. Some of this is quite interesting (I learned a bunch of stuff about firearm safety) but it can get somewhat draining at some points.
Another thing that I found somewhat off-putting is all of the cartoonish characters. Nearly everyone is an excentric genius, super hardcore operator or very principled anti-Trump conservative. With some fantastical stories, Dune prime among, this sort of stuff is fine or even great, but for a story that is supposed to take place in the real world, it makes some of the characters much less relatable than I think they were intended to be.
Even though the negatives of this review are much longer than the positives, I still had a lot of fun with it and if it sounds like something you'd like, I'd recommend you give it a try!
