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If Cryptonomicon was hard to get into for them, Anathem will be a nightmare. It still is my favorite of NS books but easily accessible it is not. Reamde would
by pilsetnieks 5y ago
If Cryptonomicon was hard to get into for them, Anathem will be a nightmare.
It still is my favorite of NS books but easily accessible it is not.
Reamde would be the most accessible, it's basically a more techy Tom Clancy novel partly set in World of Warcraft.
- arethuza 5y agoI really like all of his novels from Cryptonomicon onwards - apart from Reamde - I did like Fall; or, Dodge in Hell, probably because it wrapped up the Baroque Cycle in such a neat way.
- Super_Jambo 5y agoI'm a big fan of Anathem but never made it through Cryptonomicon despite a few attempts. So I don't think this is necessarily true.
- krageon 5y agoI liked both Cryptonomicon and Anathem once I actually punctured through the wall of frankly gratuitous language, but I fell asleep multiple times on the way. Recommending it to other folks is something I wouldn't do I think, as I don't feel the books were very well written.
- caconym_ 5y agoI'm not convinced it's the subject matter and/or length turning people off Cryptonomicon. For all its weird made up words and spec-fic wankery, the fact is that Anathem has a pretty standard YA-esque protagonist and a relatively coherent plot that's paced well (IMO) and carries its momentum through to the end. This makes it read more like a mainstream page-turner than a lot of his other works, the most prominent of which is probably Cryptonomicon. I mentioned Reamde for the same reason, though as you say it's a lot more grounded in the world we know. It seems like at least one child of my comment agrees with me. It's interesting (and kind of neat) how much fans of Stephenson seem to disagree on the merits of his individual works.