I'm a big Stephenson fan, and I thought Reamde was terrible.
His usual quirky pacing just turns into a dragging nightmare that never pays off, it's uncharacteristically full of questionable technical premises, and if it weren't for a few islands of genuinely entertaining scenes I would not have made it through.
I honestly believe it's the result of some suit pressuring him to write about topics people see on Dateline
It definitely dragged on, but overall I thought it was enjoyable. He definitely kept building up to climaxes throughout the whole book - on an airplane, I kept sadly checking the percentage read because I was sure I was almost done with it, only to discover that I was only 30%, 50%, 70% along...
If you're a Stephenson fan, I would absolutely give this a read.
The other thing about Reamde is that it's one of those books that depends on case after case of events happening and aligning in a very particular way or there wouldn't be a story.
Its a fun book, and a good intro to Stephenson (it was my first book I read of his, and now I've read four others). But if you've read his other stuff first or are a more hardcore sci-fi nerd, its easy to think that its a little closer to a blockbuster thriller than science fiction.
Its very different from Stephenson's other novels. Its much more of a thriller with a few tech elements thrown in. I really enjoyed it, but don't go in expecting another cryptonomicon.
Reamde, is a fast paced techno thriller. It's arguably one of his lesser novels but still a ton of fun IMHO.
The premise of the book is that of an online game that is essentially similar to world of warcraft with the difference that the entire point of the game is the in game economy.
This part of the book is pretty well developed and ties in nicely with his other novels that also deal with money, gold, crypto currencies, etc. The crisis in the game is when a group of enterprising chinese hackers deploy a virus that encrypts people's laptops via a bit of ransomware distributed via email. To unlock their computers people are to pay some of the in game gold in a particular area. All goes sideways through a set of rather unlikely coincidences.
There are a lot of other elements being dragged into this including a fair bit of gun wielding by terrorists, russian mafia, and the protagonist and his somewhat libertarian family. This is is not the most innovative plot and it is ultimately a relatively one dimensional plot that is in places a bit cringeworthy.
I still enjoyed this book and have read it multiple times. It's got plenty of side plots, detailed musings, and so on that are typical for Neal Stephenson. If you enjoy that kind of thing, this book is fine but it's no Anathem or Snow Crash.
I was going to recommend Reamde as well. I think it is best to look at it as an interesting spin on the typical cybercrime story, and not as a "Neil Stephenson" book specifically. In other words, read it for the story, not for the author.
His usual quirky pacing just turns into a dragging nightmare that never pays off, it's uncharacteristically full of questionable technical premises, and if it weren't for a few islands of genuinely entertaining scenes I would not have made it through.
I honestly believe it's the result of some suit pressuring him to write about topics people see on Dateline