Neal Stephenson Gets Back to His Roots

Two decades ago, Neal Stephenson became a geek literature icon, thanks in large part to his 1992 novel Snow Crash. That book fused near-future societal extrapolation, cyberpunk online interactions, and geeky infodumps with a conventional thriller. While his new novel Reamde takes place in the present day instead of the future, it follows the same trends, making it a spiritual sequel of sorts to Snow Crash. As such, it’s a showcase of how Stephenson’s writing has changed and softened over the years.