Reamde by Neal Stephenson
September 21 2011, 8:15pm
felius's review: "I'm imagining a conversation something like this took place when Neal dropped off the final draft of his manuscript for "Anathem" (cracking someone's desk in the process).
INT. PUBLISHING CORP OFFICE. DAY
IMAGINARY SMARMY PUBLISHING TYPE: Look, Neal - this is great stuff. GREAT stuff. I mean, the geeks will just LAP. IT. UP. Kung Fu scientist monks give us a dramatic re-imagining of the history of philosophy for several hundred pages, before discovering quantum super powers, hopping dimensions and going off to space. But, you know - I'm just not sure how to SELL it.
NEAL "NOBODY PUTS BABY IN A GENRE" STEPHENSON: Well how about you publish it and see what happens? My last book was about pirates, economics, and the invention of money us we know it - and it was longer than Lord of the Rings. Didn't seem to have any trouble selling that one.
I: Well SURE, Neal. You have FANS now. I mean, these people would buy your shopping list. But maybe if you had a bit less of the history of science business, and more of the running around and getting into fights… I'm just saying, there's a whole potential audience out there who would love you, but don't have the time to read 5 years worth of New Scientist beforehand.
N: What sort of thing did you have in mind? Knights cross the world on a secret mission to rid the world of the Mongol horde?
I: Yes! That's the spirit! That'd be FANTASTIC!
N: Already doing it. Bunch of us got together and thought we'd give it a crack, but then we realised we had to invent a new publishing platform to deliver a serialised multi-media story to a platform-neutral world-wide audience, featuring a collaborative user-editable wiki, integrated discussion system…
I: (SNORING LOUDLY - SNORTS, THEN WAKES UP) Alright then, well how about something else? Something a bit less mind-expanding geek nirvana, and a bit more… Tom Clancy?
N: (SPUTTERING) Tom Clancy? Tom CLANCY?! (BEAT) OK, I'll do it.
And he did. And it's a great read.
There's no science fiction AT ALL, in this - there's a fictional MMO (i.e. a Massively Multiplayer Online game), but every aspect of the computing stuff is completely accurate and feasible (where it doesn't already exist - the hackers run Linux, not Finux. They don't install "software to allow anonymous internet access" - they install Tor. T'Rain may not exist yet, but I'd bet several groups are already developing something like it.)
There's the Russian mob, Chinese hackers, Islamic extremists, American survivalists, a couple of special forces types and an MI6 agent. It's an utterly conventional but extremely well executed tech thriller. This is the Neal Stephenson book you can buy as a Christmas present for your Dad (or your mum - I was first introduced to Clancy by my wife's grandmother, who stomped off horrified when she heard I hadn't read any and came back a few minutes later with a well-worn copy of "Without Remorse".)
It's no Anathem, but it's a rollicking good read and well worth your time."New York, NY : William Morrow, 2011.
