Richard K Morgan goes for different impact from Stephenson. A lot of it is about the world building, and the impact on people and culture that the little detail

Richard K Morgan goes for different impact from Stephenson. A lot of it is about the world building, and the impact on people and culture that the little details of some technology or planet would have. Stuff like the Harlan's Day celebrations with balloons released for angelfire instead of the fireworks, the Meths growing increasingly out of touch with everyday people, the evolved weapons systems becoming indistinguishable from consciousness. While Neuromancer was awesome because it introduced so many new concepts, and moreover delighted in doing so, I feel like the 2 sequels lost their awe of the world they were in, which was a real letdown. Neal Stephenson is not boring, but you have to look for the ridiculous under the surface to understand what he's doing. Everything is a caricature, and his story is about the interaction of over-the-top stereotypes or tropes. Snow Crash has the main character "Hero Protagonist" who develops a feud with an Eskimo ninja, saves the world from Zombie Robot TV Evangelicals, with the help of the Mafia (who have pivoted to pizza delivery). Then he fills it in with more tropes in a fractal fashion all the way down. I have a soft spot for Iain M Banks's work, even if I find it a bit... slow at times. Neal Asher takes something like The Use Of Weapons and turns it from space opera into gritty action. Maybe not as refined, but that's really not what it's trying to achieve.