REAMDE

NOTE:  I know that a significant number of the books I have put up on here recently have been written at least in part by Neal Stephenson.  I have exhausted my supply of unread Neal Stephenson books so some new authors will be showing up.  Promise. 

REAMDE (a rearrangement of the letters of README), by Neal Stephenson is a whopper of a book.  The paperback edition clocks in at just over 1000 pages; many other authors would have been inclined to split this into two or even three books.  However, REAMDE is one of those books that is extremely difficult to put down, which is dangerous in a book of its magnitude.

A very simple explanation of the plot would be that it is a story about how a video game affects the world but that leaves so much out.  REAMDE is very much a character driven story and it just so happens that most of the characters are related to the video game in someway or another.  The vast majority of the book has nothing to do with video games, instead dealing with Russian gangsters, MI6 agents, Spetsnaz,  Jihadists, hackers, and Idaho gun nuts. 

What good is a character driven story with bad characters?  Not much, that's for sure.  Luckily, REAMDE has good characters in spades.  There are so many different characters that were just a pleasure to read about in this book that I am hard pressed to pick a favorite.  The book is also global in scope, from Seattle to China to the Philippines to Canada, this book sees its characters scattered all over the world and yet still manages to plausibly bring them together for the conclusion.

Speaking of the conclusion, it is basically a continuous, hundred page battle, jumping around between all the characters involved.  It is fairly predictable that the protagonists will defeat their foes, but who gets to defeat the main antagonist is a serious question right up until it happens.  It is very exciting and basically stole my Sunday afternoon.  The book is serious fun all the way through, with excitement, action, and a teeny bit of comedy.

I would recommend anyone who likes action or computer related fiction to pick up this book.  There is enough action and excitement to carry the book even if the reader does not care about the video game parts, but the experience will be improved by enjoying those.  Of all of Stephenson's books, this is probably the one that could be enjoyed by the greatest number of people.

Overall, I would give this book a 94%.