Adam O'Grady

I’m really liking Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson at the moment (~34% done) but it feels really weird.

I started out reading Snow Crash and then Reamde and they were both brilliant despite being so diametrically opposed in terms of writing style. The former was such a cyberpunk, soft sci-fi romp that generated fantastic, neon scenes in the mind while Reamde felt a lot more like solid contemporary fiction.

Cryptonomicon straddles the middle of this axis while not being afraid to wander too far from either side. The “present day” timeline that follows Randy seems quite solidly written without the need for hyperbole or strange tics in description while the two WWII-era characters inject huge doses of themselves into the third-person narrator which get steadily more surreal as the book continues. It works well for keeping the reader grounded in the character that is currently being followed and helps to create a strong separation within the storylines, while the reader infers from the plotlines that they are doomed to intertwine.

Potentially because a lot of the action/adventure sections are set in WWII rather than a satirical, near-future, libertarian semi-dystopia they feel occasionally more Matthew Reilly than I’m used to with Stephenson but not unenjoyable.