Discover new books on Goodreads
Meet your next favorite book

Graham Crawford's Reviews > Reamde

Reamde by Neal Stephenson
Rate this book
Clear rating

by
5884833
's review

liked it

I love Neil Stephenson (most of the time), and I loved this book - most of the time. When He's good he's brilliant, but when he's bad he's mind numbingly dull. This is probably his most commercial/mainstream book yet - It screams please make me into to a Hollywood action movie, or big budget miniseries. For my taste it screams this too loudly.

The best parts of the novel are about the Chinese hacking and Gold Farming scene, the REAMDE virus- all classic slick Stephenson. Once we are back in America, it degenerates into a B grade Bruce Willis Flick. The shoot out with terrorists at the end had every cliché in the book - and why did it need to be sooooo long winded - bullet by bullet. Gun porn. Not very smart - airport stuff. And the cringe worthy romance epilogue where everyone gets hitched and attends Thanksgiving dinner ....excuse me while I throw up!!

I was quite concerned by the politics. Stephenson normally is quite insightful, but choosing to write about a Moslem terrorist threat in this manner demonstrates a middle American naivety he hasn't shown before. Is this what he really thinks, or is it just what he thinks will get him a movie deal? If he wanted to play the terrorism card it needed to be a LOT smarter than prayer rugs and gaff tape.

The entire terrorism thread hinges on the deus ex machina of a wrong room number. Of course the book would have been much shorter without this silly complication, but it would have been a far better one if he had stuck with the Chinese hackers - and explored the "great firewall of China" themes more thoroughly.

82 likes · flag

Sign into Goodreads to see if any of your friends have read Reamde.
Sign In »

Reading Progress

November 7, 2011 – Started Reading
November 9, 2011 – Shelved
November 10, 2011 – Finished Reading

Comments Showing 1-10 of 10 (10 new)

dateDown arrow    newest »

message 1: by Graham (last edited Dec 22, 2011 04:07PM) (new) - rated it 3 stars

Graham Crawford Smashley wrote: "Heya! I just read your review while trying to decide whether to crack open this book or not.

Because of how you enjoyed the scenes about goldfarming and China, I had to stop a sec and highly recom..."


Thanks for that Smashley -- I will chase this up as its a really interesting topic!

Re:reamde - yes the first (good) half of the book is about virtual gold mining, then it turns on a silly plot devise half way through - morphing into a Bruce Willis B-grade terrorist movie - Maybe Stephenson's actually having a joke , and trying his hand at the Mash-up genre.... but I doubt it.


Carl I'm at 45% and just slogging through. It's not that it's bad it's just that it goes on and on. I thought Quicksilver took a commitment to finish but not like this. If the book is really about the terrorist story line why did it get named for the virus. Heck the first 40% could have been cut no problem.


Corina "When he's good he's brilliant, but when he's bad he's mind numbingly dull."

Best description of Stephenson I've heard. Exactly how I feel.


Tyler YES


Shane totally agree with your review, wish i read it before taking on this monster.


Kelsey As someone who completely agrees with this review, I'm wondering, what would you recommend as a Stephenson book that's more on par with the first (interesting) half of REAMDE??


London All very true. The terrorism plot is nonsense. Once they get to America, the terrorists are doing stuff that makes no sense. Their goal is relatively small and doesn't require Jones, nor the incredibly complex logistics. If thy can coordinate all those people without getting discovered, they could have just had the dudes who show up for the last gunfight do it alone. Same impact. And, yes, that final battle just goes on-and-on.

@Kelsey, I considered Diamond Age, Cryptonocron and the entire Baroque Cycle to be enormously rewarding, but Diamond Age is less violent and does a fantastic job of challenging readers to question their value systems by showing how other ways of thinking about morality work for other cultures.


message 8: by Jay (new) - rated it 1 star

Jay Tate Apologies, but I think I just cribbed your review, right down to the Die Hard reference. I'm just stunned you gave it 3 stars.


message 9: by Eddy (new) - added it

Eddy I stopped reading a few scenes after the room number misdirection and random introduction of the terrorist element. I honestly thought the story was going somewhere interesting until then, but I regret wasting my time reading it.


message 10: by Tom (new) - rated it 3 stars

Tom This is spot on, unfortunately. The several hundred pages of pursuit and gun fight across the US-Canadian border had no redeeming qualities. The entire book gives the impression of having to tick off a list of modes of transport involved in fire fights (helicopters, motorcycles, boats, ATVs, the list goes on), much like a James Bond movie. I'm not against action scenes, but having it drag out across several hundred pages just didn't work for me.


back to top