Reamde / Neal Stephenson

Reamde
by Neal Stephenson
action
copyright 2011

read in January 2012
rated 8 out of 10: really quite good

Really quite good and really quite thick. Not quite gripping but never boring. Paints the bad guys as fools but is willing to poke fun at the good guys...

Reamde is as wordy as Stephenson's earlier Anathem. In Reamde, however -- something happens. It just takes a lot of words to describe it. Take the bear, for example...

The girl wakes up to hear a grizzly bear sniffing and scratching nearby. She thinks, Uh oh, the bear is attracted to attractive girls. She moves to a ten page flashback, to tell the story of an uncle who told her about bears and women. The flashback includes commentary on conversations, lifestyle, her own upbringing, the uncle's family and beliefs. Back to the present and the girl changes her mind... The bear is only after food scraps lying nearby... So what was the point of the lengthy flashback? No point at all!

Then there's the planning...

Characters don't just do something, they discuss it first. No need for the reader to wonder, Why didn't they choose another action... Every possible action had been considered, analysed and logically selected or rejected...

Which is not as boring as it sounds. It's just a very wordy approach to writing. Wordy... and thorough.

Despite the wordiness, I have categorised this book as "action". It takes a chapter or two to really get started -- then it is non-stop action. Violent, deadly action.

It takes quite a few pages to get to understand the title of the book. It takes three times that many pages to get to the main story. Did you ever watch Some Mothers Do Have Them? A simple start leads... inevitably... to a complex and disastrous conclusion. That's the Reamde style.

The book is also very right wing, in the Heinlein -- or even Hubbard -- style. The villains are cunning but fools. The heroes use good old American (and English) know-how to win the day. Even the Canadian cougars eat villain in preference to hero.

Despite this bias, there is still time to point out some of the bad points of the American and English ways of living and working. Stephenson clearly delineates good from evil. Yet he is happy to point out that "good" is still not perfect.

This is an entertaining romp through action, violence and wrong-doing. Massive coincidences ensure that the plot keeps on twisting. And in the final chapters, right triumphs over might... Especially since right is supported by right-might, with enough weapons to fight a small war...

Oh, and there's an online game at the center of the plot. A game which is said to be a step beyond today's World of Warcraft. And the game includes many features which I had already decided should be incorporated in the next generation online game... (Though my own ideas predated WoW.)

Great action, over the top characters. And a massive computer game.

What's not to like?!

====
Problems ? Solved

Anathem / Neal Stephenson

Anathem

category: science fiction, author:

Neal Stephenson

original copyright 2008

read in July 2012

Agamedes' opinion: 7 out of 10, well worth reading

Round about page 100, one of the characters complained about his life. "If only something would happen," he said. Strangely enough, I had been thinking the same thing.

This is a very slow-moving book.

Perhaps it was near page 150 that I was reminded of the standard advice to authors: Show, don't tell. Perhaps Stephenson has read that advice. Perhaps he didn't understand it.

Here's the hero. He's spent many pages in earnest discussion with other characters. And, occasionally, with himself. Now, thinks Stephenson, it's time to show something... So what does he do? The hero shows some tourists round a museum, while telling them -- and us -- some more of the history of his world...

Boring!

Still, it does get better.

Anathem is a textbook, a primer, in quantum physics. Wrapped up in a slow-moving story of "alien" invasion. The textbook material is quite good... Several times I found myself thinking, Wow! so that's what [some esoteric theory of physics] is all about!

This book does hit many of the essential points of traditional "hard" science fiction. One major scientific theme. Clever but cardboard characters. Scientific theory made practical to save the world. Hero is logical, understanding, brilliant. There's a token love interest. Rest of the world is, by and large, cooperative.

Look, I may sound as though I think that this book is awful -- but I don't and it's not! There are just so many faults... But the faults are all part of good science fiction. Except, perhaps for the slow-moving plot.

Those characters...

I spent several years in a support group for intellectually gifted children. Often, it was the parents who needed support. One particular issue was with "average" parents of exceptionally intelligent children.

"My child is a mind reader," was a common claim...

The smart child sees clues... The parent rushes them past the bike display. They quickly hide the small tool kit. They spend an hour locked in the garage, after a large cardboard parcel has been delivered... Aha! thinks the child, It looks as though I'm getting a bike for my birthday! Not mind-reading, just observation and logic.

The main characters of Anathem are like that: intelligent, logical, taking small clues and building a clear picture of the world around them. With an added bonus: the Anathem characters are also able to turn scientific theory into practical devices. How can the aliens possibly win, when the heroes can "read their minds" and build effective counter-measures?!

If you enjoy hard science fiction, read Anathem. If you want a primer on quantum physics, read Anathem. If you are a slow reader, or easily bored... try any book by Doc Smith.

..o0o..

These reviews are provided by Agamedes Consulting. For an independent and thoughtful review of your processes, problems or documents, email nickleth at gmail dot com.

PissWeakly: the Index

Snow Crash / Neal Stephenson

Snow Crash

category: science fiction, author:

Neal Stephenson

original copyright 1992

read in March 2010

Agamedes' opinion: 8 out of 10: really quite good

I don't like near-future science fiction. It tends to be predictive, message-heavy and wrong. That said...

Snow Crash is near-future science fiction. And I thoroughly enjoyed it!

So what's right with Snow Crash?

Okay, it's set in the near future. Although... possibly... in 1992 the author thought that the "near future" of this book would be 2012. Okay, it's predictive. Snow Crash takes some scientific ideas -- including ideas from social science -- and... sort of... predicts the future. Really, though, it is more exaggeration than prediction...

Take these current day situations. Extend them ad absurdum, to their ridiculous limits. This is not prediction -- it is comic absurdity. And a lot of fun.

Okay, there's also a lot of violence. Cartoonish violence. There are no laws and might is the accepted way of establishing right. Yet there is a pleasant innocence about the whole book.

The hero chops -- kills -- people with his sword, though he doesn't enjoy it. He only chops evil people, only in self defense, it is an accepted response to severe physical threats. No worse than Road Runner, really... Which is an unfortunate comparison. Because I really dislike Road Runner.

At the end of the book, the hero has saved the day and -- more importantly -- he has given up his slacker ways, in order to set up his own business, doing the work at which he excels. (Not the sword fighting; the other work at which he excels.)

The heroine also has a career change just past the end of the book. Well, it seems clear that if there is a book two, she will be promoted to a position from which she is expected to take over the business. Unfortunately, "the business" is the mafia.

Another aspect of this book's acceptance of violence: the mafia is an accepted business group, with a willingness to kill and maim. Cartoonish, again. Yet it seems to me to be too close to the public "family support" image behind which the mafia has long attempted to hide.

Ah well.

I'm almost ashamed to say, I enjoyed the book. The violence, the willingness to do violence, the ever-present threat of violence, are all a part of the fun of this book. In fact, they are all essential parts of the fun.

With that touch of innocence: neither hero nor heroine are ever in danger of being seriously harmed in the making of this book.

In an author's footnote, Stephenson reveals that Snow Crash started life as an illustrated novel. Yes, I can definitely see that: the plot is comic book, through and through. With far more detail, fun, depth of character than could be packed into even the best of illustrated novels.

Snow Crash is also, a book for young adults. Anyone else can enjoy it. It's just that the violence is not really suitable for children. And the computer themes and lack of, well, deep meaning and reference to reality, may be unsuitable for older, more cynical adults who have lost their love of fun.

Don't buy Snow Crash for your children. Nor for your aged parents. But don't worry if they read it. And don't be surprised if they thoroughly enjoy it.

..o0o..

These reviews are provided by Agamedes Consulting. For an independent and thoughtful review of your processes, problems or documents, email nickleth at gmail dot com.

PissWeakly: the Index