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Comment by aidenn0 | Hacker News Reader

That's funny because I love The Diamond Age, I like Snow Crash and thought Cryptonomicon was mediocre at best. I also never made it to the second half of Seveneves because I disliked the beginning so much.

Clearly there are two styles of Stephenson books, and we like the opposite ones.

[edit]

Maybe I should try finishing Seveneves to see if I like the ending?

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Hear, hear. The Diamond Age is probably my favourite:

  The Diamond Age +++
  Snow Crash ++
  Quicksilver/The Confusion/The System of the World ++ (I think it makes sense to rate them as a series)
  Anathem +
  Seveneves -
  Cryptonomicon -
  Reamde --

Fall, or Dodge in Hell: hate to admit it but I haven't read it yet. It's sitting right next to The Rise and Fall of DODO, which is also waiting to be read. And I should probably read Zodiac at some point, but it hasn't seemed urgent.

I'm not hugely fond of the earlier books but I loved Cryptonomicon and all of the later novels apart from Reamde - Fall, or Dodge in Hell is pretty good in my view and ties up some loose ends from earlier books in satisfying ways.

I still think The Baroque Cycle would make a wonderful sprawling multi-series show (Jack Shaftoe being one of my favourite fictional characters).

If you didn’t know....and I don’t want this to be a spoiler, but you figure it out in the first few pages...Fall is a direct and some what spiritual sequel to your two lowest rated....that being said it waves in a good bit of the snowcrash absurd stuff as well.

I roughly agree with your ratings and would rate Fall/Dodge in Hell at a ----.

yeah, I too did not like Fall/Dodge in Hell. However, the first section, about internet hate/bot culture I liked.

I was captivated by the first half of Seveneves and simply endured the second half. The very end was like, “meh - I see what you did there” but to get there took great feats of endurance.

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