Neal Stephenson: Reamde

After his forays into lengthy historical epics (The Baroque Cycle) and mind-blowing alt-universe SF (Anathem, incidentally one of my favorite novels ever), the beloved-of-unix-geeks Neal Stephenson’s next novel is surely an anticipated one. And given the author’s recent ambitions, it’s a surprisingly conventional thriller. It’s a good one, of course—possessed of an intricate and tightly-woven plot, Reamde puts its author’s talents on full display. But it’s even less “speculative” than the book from Stephenson’s oeuvre it most resembles, Cryptonomicon. The plot of Reamde centers around a virus created to extort virtual currency from players of a fictional MMORPG called T’rain, and the unexpected, spiraling consequences that ensue when the virus affects a different group of criminals whose ambitious are secured the old-fashioned way: By the application of violence. Reamde is at its best when describing the creation and management of T’rain; Stephenson’s deep understand of the ways different species of nerds relate to each other lends these passages significant verisimilitude; they’re also generally very funny. I hope his next book has more nerds being nerds, and fewer terrorists being terrible people.