4 ms·
I actually liked it less than others. Snow Crash, despite being a train-wreck in terms of narrative cohesion, plotting, and basically every other measure of fi
by __jal 8y ago
I actually liked it less than others.
Snow Crash, despite being a train-wreck in terms of narrative cohesion, plotting, and basically every other measure of fiction as a craft, is just about perfect mind-candy. I reread it about two years ago, and it was almost as good as the first time.
Later work like Anathem, I think, starts showing him as a mature author[1], finally paying as much attention to the craft of writing as the ideas.
Diamond Age... I dunno. Certainly had its moments, and the exploration of 90s-era anarcho-capitalist crypto-anarchy themes was solid, but it really didn't grab me that much. The writing was less uneven than Snow Crash, but a lot of the crazy brilliance was missing.
[1] Still flunking Fictional Narrative Endings 101, but apparently that's intentional.
- gruturo 8y ago[1] Still flunking Fictional Narrative Endings 101, but apparently that's intentional. How is that intentional, I’m curious? I love his books but I hate hate hate HATE how he can’t ever finish one properly. I just went through seveneves and decided that maybe I really had enough of his endings.
- _jal 8y agoHe used to have a comment on it at one of his websites, but that appears to be gone. This quotes that: http://kaedrin.com/weblog/archive/001495.html http://kaedrin.com/weblog/archive/001495.html
- mirimir 8y agoHis endings have consistently left me expecting a sequel. Well, not really expecting, any more, because I pretty much know what (not) to expect. But then there was Mongoliad, so ???
- oldcynic 8y agoOne of the reasons I love his books is the lack of "Standard Hollywood / Fictional Ending number 1" that has become so pervasive that it's effectively satire of itself and so unsatisfying.