#well anathem doesnt really have women and snow crash has a very cool woman but snow crash has other problems lol

[pleckthaniel]

all the neal stephenson novels ive read at least part of, ranked

because ive read probably too much neal stephenson for any normal person and CERTAINLY too much for anyone who doesn’t actively work in the tech industry

the diamond age: MY BELOVED. this one goes bonkers crazy. kind of steampunk adjacent but also heavily implied to take place in the same (cyberpunk) world as snow crash. it’s about a little girl coming of age in a horrifyingly cynical dystopia and all the people who try to help her along the way both directly and indirectly. also REALLY interesting commentary on the effect of access to resources on life outcomes as well as philosophies based on idolizing the past. such a good book CANNOT emphasize this one enough. its one of my favorites ever

seveneves: MY BELOVED PART 2. personally i think this is probably objectively the best neal stephenson novel. basically at the start there’s 1 year (or something; i cant remember the exact time limit lol) until the moon breaks up completely and obliterates all life on earth. part 1 is about humanity’s attempts to preserve itself, part 2 follows the struggles of the remnants of humanity after most of the species is wiped out, and part 3 takes place like thousands of years later when earth is habitable again and humanity is returning. it’s seriously SO good oh my god. the diamond age is my personal favorite of neal’s but if you pick one book on this list to read pick seveneves fr

the rise and fall of DODO: also very very good. time travel plus magic shenanigans plus secret government organization. ties itself up VERY neatly for such a chaotic story lol. i do have one problem with it which is that it sets up a will-they-won’t-they kind of romance as the emotional core of the book but the payoff kinda falls flat to me even though i was invested. but otherwise i loved it, i would say this is the “fun” one in neal’s canon if you don’t want to have to wade through a lot of lectures about science and philosophy (which why wouldn’t you)(that’s the interesting part)

anathem: pretty good and interesting imo, but it was also very very slow-paced and philosophical so if you’re not into that you will not enjoy. basically goes ‘what if math was religion and also the many-worlds interpretation was 100% true’ and unfolds from there.

snow crash: good, obviously. i mean it kind of both defined and skewered an entire genre at the same time, is one of the more influential works of science fiction period, launched the idea of the Metaverse/a VR Internet into popular consciousness, et cetera. i just personally dont like it nearly as much as some of neal’s other work. it’s very.. chaotic in a way that’s harder to follow than the more meticulously written books i guess? hiro protagonist is an iconic name though

the big u: satire of american college life. im sort of on indefinite hold on reading this one bc my copy is at my parents’ house but it’s funny so far, if roughly as sexist as you might expect a book written by a cis man in the 80s to be. it’s supposed to get really fucking weird by the end which is why i haven’t officially quit reading it

zodiac: deeply boring. lots of interminable scenes of a guy going around on an inflatable paddleboat. i quit like 1/3 of the way through

cryptonomicon: the parts set during the 90s are pretty interesting, but i ended up noping out in the middle of Generic White Man Character #85′s endless war flashback about getting pinned down in guadalcanal. i know a lot of people really like this one though so idk maybe give it a shot if you have a higher tolerance for world war II bullshit than me

the baroque cycle: haven’t actually read these just wanted to say. i know i’m an overwriter but who the fuck writes books this long. hire an editor bro

#basically the ones that have women in them are better #well anathem doesnt really have women and snow crash has a very cool woman but snow crash has other problems lol #scout talks #recs #q