"When Hiro first saw this place ((the Metaverse)), ten years ago, the monorail hadn't
been written yet; he and his buddies had to write car and motorcycle software in order
to get around. They would take their software out and race it in the black desert of the
electronic night."
It's not
Cryptonomicon, but it's good. Very good.
Neal Stephenson's
Snow Crash is,
loosely,
cyberpunk. The emphasis being on the word 'loosely'. Readers of other
novels by Stephenson will be aware that he goes to great lengths, a bit like
Chuck
Palahniuk, to research his topic (eg: he uses the word '
hacker' in its correct context!),
so at times the work comes across as non-fiction, and that attempting to categorise the
books into
genres will likely end up in a
headache. The style is relaxed, the characters
well-realised (although the backstories of Hiro and Raven seem a bit mis-placed in the
story, and how they recognised each other is a mystery), and there are several very
funny moments. The technical side of the book isn't entirely unbelievable. Perhaps
the internet is not the
3-D wonderland portrayed here, but technology is getting there.
Also, the basis of the story, the concept of
Babel, is explained lucidly. Enough detail
for comprehension, but concisely written so readers don't fall asleep.
"Does it fuck up you brain?" Hiro says. "Or your computer?"
"Both. Neither. What's the difference?"
Hiro finally realises that he has just wasted sixty seconds of his life having a
meaningless conversation with a paranoid schizophrenic. He turns around and goes
into The Black Sun.
Setting:
Snow Crash is set in a future that, as
fondue has commented, coincides with the
present day, or even the past. The tale's aptly-named protagonist, Hiroaki "Hiro"
Protagonist is thirty years old, and born in the 1970s, so there is a discrepancy
between the cyberpunk world created by Stephenson and the
year 2000 as we have
known it. In the world of
Snow Crash, the world is split into countries within
countries,
franchulates. These are owned by huge
corporations, and have varying
levels of exclusiveness, and look for various ideals amongst their
citizens. Examples
include
Mr. Lee's Greater Hong Kong and
New South Africa - both of which lie
within the
United States of America. The actual
US Government has lost any
influence that it once had, and now mainly consists of the world's largest software
developing company. In a moment of humour, the
US President is introduced to a
communications magnate, L. Bob Rife, and others... and none of them know who he is!
The rest of the world, too, is compartmentalised in a similar way. Huge
franchise
chains control daily life, from
drive-thru places where you can sleep on your vehicle
to the
RadiKS Kourier system. People can sleep in
U-Stor-Its, buy
drugs on every
street corner, and nobody walks around unarmed. Murder and mayhem no longer
even raise eyebrows. And behind everything lies the Metaverse. This is a
3-D
internet, similar to creations by other
science fiction and cyberpunk writers. To access
it, you jack in through the nearest
terminal (via
goggles and a
computer), and emerge
in a Public
Port or in your private Metaverse space in the form of an
avatar. The most
common of these figures are shop-bought pre-made assembly line pieces of software,
female
Brandys, and male
Clints. From this point onwards, you can access pretty
much anything, although dying in the Metaverse will result in a
disconnection. And it is into this world that a new virus/drug arrives. One that effects people, making them
speak in tongues and be receptive to commands. One that renders hackers unconcious.
"Hiro puts his head in his hands. He's not exactly thinking about this; he's letting it
ricochet around in his skull, waiting for it to come to rest. "Wait a minute, Juanita.
Make up your mind. This Snow Crash thing--is it a virus, a drug, or a religion?"
Juanita shrugs. "What's the difference?"
WARNING:- SPOILERS AHEAD. STOP READING NOW IF YOU ARE
PLANNING TO READ THIS BOOK. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
Characters of Note:
Hiro Protagonist - "Last of the freelance hackers. Greatest
swordfighter in the world.
Stringer,
Central Intelligence Corporation. Specialising in software-related intel
(
music,
movies and
microcode)." Hiro is the story's main character. He wears black
clothing and a pair of
Japanese swords (a
katana and a
wakizashi) that he inherited
from his father, who in turn won them in single combat from a Japanese
Officer in
World War II. Hiro lives in a U-Stor-It with a musician (
Vitaly Chernobyl, who
specialises in
Ukrainian nuclear fuzz-grunge) and his computer. Aside from his
freelance hacking, Hiro scratches a living from delivering
CosaNostra Pizza, a
Mafia-run franchise and from uploading information into what was once the
Library
of Congress but is now the Central Intelligence Corporation. In his early twenties,
Hiro was one of the coders who created the Metaverse, but he sold off his
shares at the
same time. This means he isn't rich, but he has good
street cred, The Street being the
long centre of the Metaverse.
Dimitri "Raven" Ravinoff - Raven is a mystery. He rides in from nowhere, sells Snow
Crash, and keeps appearing at precisely the wrong moment for Hiro. We hear about
him before we see him, and when we do, the first thing we are told is his size, and an
interesting
tattoo upon his forehead: "
POOR IMPULSE CONTROL". His
weapon of
choice is
glass. Undetectable, and pierces almost anything. An
Aleut, he has
formidable skills in a
kayak, and at
harpooning various objects, including people. He
rides a
Harley Davidson with a
sidecar, where his
hydrogen bomb sits - one linked to
heart sensors in Raven. If Raven's heart stops, the bomb will
detonate, hence how
welcoming the local law enforcement is in each franchulate. Raven's motives are also
a mystery. It's only a blase conversation between Y.T. and Raven that reveals his
long-term plan... blowing up America.
Y. "Yours Truly" T. - Y.T. is a fifteen year old Kourier with
attitude, and who lies to
her mother (a
Federal programmer) about her job. She spends her days pooning fast
vehicles (ie, attaching an
electromagnetic harpoon pad on a cable onto cars) and
following these at speed on her board, effectively
surfing traffic with high
manoeuvrability in her quest to deliver packages. It is on one of these jobs that she
meets Hiro who has crashed his car in an attempt to deliver a pizza in time. On a
whim, she decides to deliver the pizza, thus earning the respect of Uncle Enzo, the
don of the Mafia. Y.T. quickly becomes embroiled in the plotline, and strikes a deal
with Hiro to share intelligence for the Central Intelligence Corporation.
Juanita - Juanita is a charismatic female programmer who used to be Hiro's lover
when they worked together at
Black Sun Systems. Hiro was in charge of avatar
bodies, Juanita of faces. As she did not sell off her stock, she is currently extremely
wealthy, and was married to Da5id (whom she divorced after two years). A
Roman
Catholic Christian, Juanita begins tracking the story of Babel with a
gargoyle (ie,
person wearing a computer and constantly in both Reality and the Metaverse) named
Lagos, and sets Hiro on the path of the mystery. Strong in her beliefs and ideals,
Juanita is introduced early in the book, but doesn't resurface until the conclusion
where she is a major player. She is, however, an
enigma the entire way through.
Da5id - Da5id is a man set in his ways, who refuses to admit he is wrong.
Fortunately, he is also the approximate god of the Metaverse, the father of it all. The
head of Black Sun Systems, he employed Hiro and Juanita (although he and Hiro fell
out and Hiro left the company) and now runs the most prestigious address in The
Street - The Black Sun. Da5id actually has very little importance to the story of
Snow
Crash except as a warning to Hiro and Juanita. He is the first casualty of Snow Crash,
a virus/drug, and ends up
unconscious in
hospital. We do not learn if he recovers or
not, although going by the
diagnosis given by the
doctors and the fact that the virus possibly
rewired his
brain, chances are he does not.
Uncle Enzo - A
volunteer veteran of
Vietnam (oh, the
alliteration!), Uncle Enzo
arrived back into the United States of America and rose to prominence in the Mafia
"You've got a friend in the Family!". Now, he leads the strong corporation with skill
and care. He also looks out for Y.T. who saved him from embarrassment and a
court
trial by delivering Hiro's pizza within the thirty minute deadline, and this proves to be
very useful. He is part of the group who seek to figure out what L. Bob Rife is up to,
and stop him (along with Ng, Mr Lee, Lagos and Juanita).
Mr. Lee - Mr Lee is a powerful man, the leader of a successful franchulate chain, Mr
Lee's Greater Hong Kong. He is mentioned often through the book, although mainly
because the franchulate is used by Hiro, a citizen, and only appears in person at the
end.
Ng - Ng begins as a curiosity. Y.T. meets the approximately fifty year old
Vietnamese
man in the Metaverse, and strikes a deal with him that she will help obtain a sample of
Snow Crash in its inhaleable drug form. He heads up a top
security firm, and has been
hired by Mr Lee to this end. The reason why he needs the help of a gutsy fifteen year
old to get the sample? He's pretty much a
cyborg, and cannot move from his huge
vehicle. However, he has enough mechanical toys in there that he almost wouldn't
want to do so! He is also the creator of
Reason, an incredible weapon (the bad guys
in this book
always listen to Reason!).
L. Bob Rife - This
fibre optics magnate is also a bit of a mystery, and he too is only
met in person at the end of the book. In terms of the plotline, he is the Bad Guy,
although he isn't a patch on Raven in terms of "actual badness". Immensely
wealthy,
he has been financing a large and secretive coding project, and giving impressive
donations to
Pentecostal Churches. For the duration of
Snow Crash, he is present on a
huge, floating city of Pentecostal converts named the
Raft. And he has plans of
world
domination, or so it appears...
The Rat Thing, aka Fido - The Rat Thing is a product of Ng Security, and is part
cyborg, part
dog, and the subject of many
urban myths. It appears that the civilians
know of the existence of these creatures, but are not sure about the rumours of
converted dogs. Fido, this particular Rat Thing, used to be the pet of Y.T., and so
looks out for her - convenient as it is a
nuclear-powered moving defence system. The
pack of Rat Things are not exactly a major part of the book, but they're a really
interesting concept.
...and of course, many other miscellaneous characters including Mafia members,
Federal programmers, Enforcers, Rock Stars, Hackers, Salespeople and Citizens.
Until a man is twenty-five, he still thinks, every so often, that under the right
circumstances, he could be the baddest motherfucker in the world. ... Hiro used to feel
that way, too, but then he ran into Raven. In a way, this is liberating. He no longer
has to worry about trying to be the baddest motherfucker in the world. The position is
taken.. The crowning touch, the one thing that really puts true world-class
badmotherfuckerdom totally out of reach, of course, is the hydrogen bomb. If it wasn't
for the hydrogen bomb, a man could still aspire. ... Which is okay. Sometimes it's
alright to just be a little bad. To know your limitations. Make do with what you've
got.
The story of
Snow Crash is complicated, and impossible to explain without a lengthy
appendix of information on
linguistic and
theological theories. So I'll end this with a
piece of advice: track this book down and read it. Seriously.