Reamde

4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars | 5,472 ratings

Price: 30

Last update: 01-04-2025


About this item

“Stephenson has a once-in-a-generation gift: he makes complex ideas clear, and he makes them funny, heartbreaking, and thrilling.” - Time

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Anathem, Neal Stephenson is continually rocking the literary world with his brazen and brilliant fictional creations - whether he’s reimagining the past (The Baroque Cycle), inventing the future (Snow Crash), or both (Cryptonomicon). With Reamde, this visionary author whose mind-stretching fiction has been enthusiastically compared to the work of Thomas Pynchon, Don DeLillo, Kurt Vonnegut, and David Foster Wallace - not to mention William Gibson and Michael Crichton - once again blazes new ground with a high-stakes thriller that will enthrall his loyal audience, science and science fiction, and espionage fiction fans equally. The breathtaking tale of a wealthy tech entrepreneur caught in the very real crossfire of his own online fantasy war game, Reamde is a new high - and a new world - for the remarkable Neal Stephenson.


Top reviews from the United States

  • Lizzy Chrome
    5.0 out of 5 stars A Throwback to Stephenson's Earlier Style
    Reviewed in the United States on October 18, 2014
    A longtime fan of Neal Stephenson, I must say that this is one of my favorites. The only flaw is the pacing, and that is easily forgiven once the story picks up.

    PLOT:

    The plot is complex, but still understandable for the average person. The story takes you all across the globe, weaving together the adventures of Russian mobsters, Chinese hackers, Islamic terrorists, and a big-shot game developer.

    Many Stephenson fans complain that "Reamde" isn't as "deep" as some of his other books like "Cryptonomicon," but that's exactly why I love it. I felt Stephenson's later books, like "Cryptonomicon" and "Quicksilver," were too complicated, probably geared towards people smarter than average. I prefer his older works, like "Snow Crash" and "The Big U," and "Reamde" felt like a throwback to that older Stephenson style.

    CHARACTERS:

    As with all of his other novels, Stephenson's cast is great, because unlike so many "serious" authors he actually *cares* about his own characters. They have ages, physical descriptions, pasts, opinions, etc. The fact that he's able to write strong women who aren't "sexy," and ethnic minorities who aren't shallow stereotypes, is also a big plus. In "Reamde" you'll meet Richard Forthras, a semi-conservative ex-pot-smuggler-turned-computer-game-developer who will stop at nothing to protect his family; a young Eritrean orphan-turned-adopted Iowan with a head on her shoulders; a feisty Chinese tea seller; a Russian mobster with morals; a calm, calculating terrorist leader; a female secret agent bent on catching him; and more.

    I've seen a few reviews where people complained that the foreign characters thought too much like Americans, but I disagree. I know and have met people in different countries (thanks to the Internet) and a lot of them share the same values about equality, pop culture, etc. And if people like Yuxia, Marin, and Sokalov are the minority in their country, then it still stands to reason that they would be the ones who wind up sympathizing and getting involved with the American protagonists.

    WRITING STYLE:

    Stephenson's writing is always unique and entertaining. But, alas, the pacing....god GOD the pacing. The beginning is horribly slow, and the story takes forever to get rolling. And even after it does, there is still a horribly bland subplot about the game developers that barely contributed to the story, and could easily have been trimmed. When I re-read "Reamde" (and I know I will) I know which scenes I'll be skipping.

    VERDICT:

    This book is amazing, whether you're a Stephenson fan or not. If you've already read "Snow Crash," "The Big U," and "the Diamond Age," then you know it just takes patience before the story gets fantastic. If not, then you gotta take my and every other Stephenson fan's word for it. Give "Reamde" a chance. It's worth it.
  • Amazon Customer
    4.0 out of 5 stars An extremely appropriate title...
    Reviewed in the United States on January 28, 2013
    In a book as complex as it is lengthy, Reamde begins by introducing the two main protagonists, Richard Forthrast and his niece, Zula, in a scene describing a family reunion of unusual tastes. Zula, an orphan from the African country of Eritrea, has been raised by the Forthrast family in Iowa for most of her life. When she runs into her uncle Richard at the reunion, whom she hasn't seen in several years, Richard finds himself immediately protective of the brilliant and spirited young woman that Zula has become.

    The book moves slowly at first, mostly revolving around Richard and his past, and delving deeply into the mechanics, history, and construction of the fictional game at the heart of the story, T'Rain. It's intriguing material, and to call it a page-turner is to undersell this book. Unfortunately, the beginnings may turn off some readers, as Reamde is what seems like several different genres mixed, and the first chapters are very much about video gaming and business acumen. Those who stick with it though are rewarded as events take a turn, and the story picks up dramatically.

    It's been said that some stories "can't be made up", but Reamde is proof that some of them can. The smallest and seemingly innocuous plot threads end up being central to the story. For example, Zula's boyfriend, Peter, borrows a USB drive from her uncle Richard, which is unknowingly infected with the Reamde virus. Peter's use of it during a questionable business transaction causes the buyer's files to be encrypted--including the ones Peter just sold him--and being held for ransom. The buyer is understandably upset, showing up at Peter's home for an explanation. Things quickly grow more complicated, as the creator of the virus is requiring payment in the game T'Rain, which can then be extracted for real profit anonymously. As attempts are made to pay the ransom within the game, the buyer's boss arrives, demanding explanations, not liking what he's hearing. He decides to take a more direct approach, and flies everyone to China--Zula included--to find the virus creator and extract some vengeance. Things go off the rails, and Peter and Zula's lives are threatened at every turn.

    And that's just the beginning.

    Reamde hosts a cast of characters that's almost obnoxiously vast, and yet the author does an excellent job of making them not only believable, but memorable as well. Where many books might introduce a character, only to have them forgotten by the next page turn, Stephenson breaths life into each voice, and gives them their very own purpose in the story--from Richard and Zula, all the way down to the woman who offers her services in navigating them around in China. The lives of each of these characters is so true-to-life, it's hard to imagine that they're fictional characters at all. Their actions, opinions, mannerisms, and even accents all match perfectly their history, so that they're practically four-dimensional; it's rare that an author can make characters so believable, that the reader could actually imagine them stepping off the page, and holding a conversation with them.

    Spanning over a thousand pages, Reamde is no book for the casual reader. In a way, it's almost too long, and does have sections that drag by--kind of like a long movie with slow scenes. Yet it's still a page-turner, even in the slower chapters--a tribute to the skill of the author. The story weaves and dodges, and as the characters split up, their stories aren't yet over, as they impressively and--most importantly--believably collide into a climax that's both suspenseful, and cathartic.

    There's not much to complain about in this book. Yes it's long, and sometimes feels a little repetitive, but Neil Stephenson should be commended for penning a tremendously entertaining novel (and he has been). There are a couple plot threads that seem to be left aside, but aren't particularly important to the outcome of events in the book. Perhaps the only disappointment would be that there's not much of an epilogue. We're shown where the characters end up, but not much more. After spending a thousand pages with this cast, caring whether they lived or died, fell in love, or not, readers are left with a very brief glimpse of life after the pages run out. It would have been nice for a little bit more.

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