| 1.
Sand Storm - James Rollins - This was a good story that combined
anti-matter and ancient and modern times. It starts with an earthquake
in the middle east that just about levels an historical site but that
also opens up an unknown room where an ancient book had once been
stored. This book was supposedly the gospel of Jesus. Then in London,
at the British Museum, a strange explosion occurs that has the ear
marking of an matter/anti matter explosion. This fact brings in Sigma
to investigate specifically Painter Crowe and his beautiful assistant,
Coral Novak. When an ancient artifact exposed in the explosion points
the way toward Ubar, the legendary “Atlantis of the Sands”. Painter
travels across the world in search of the lost city and a destructive
power beyond imagining in an attempt to keep it from falling into the
wrong hands. Unfortunately Painter has competition. A band of ruthless
mercenaries, led by a former friend and ally Cassandra, are also intent
on claiming the prize, and they will destroy anyone who gets in their
way. Ancient history collides with cutting-edge science with the safety
of the world at stake! The description of Ubar is especially vivid. A
city underground made of sand stone and glass. This was a good story
that I could see myself reading again at some point. |
| 2. The Hunt For Atlantis - Andy McDermott - This was the first book from a new author and I really enjoyed it. McDermott is like a clone of James Rollins who I also really like. The story unfolds as a graduate student is trying to pursue her degree by speculating on where Atlantis might be located. Her adviser rejects her proposal saying Atlantis is just a legend and that she should find something else for her dissertation. In steps an ultra rich Norwegian who offers to finance an expedition to see if she is correct about the location. So off to Brazil they go after following various leads and they find an unknown tribe of natives that are protecting a copy of Atlantis where the Atlantians went after their island off the coast of Portugal collapsed into the sea. They soon find an enemy (which happens to be an ancient society called the Brotherhood) who is trying to erase all traces of the civilization because they consider Atlantians evil. Of course a battle occurs which results in the underground city being totally destroyed. From clues they found prior to the city's destruction they determine the location of the original Atlantis so off they go again. As they are researching the sunken city, they are again attacked by the Brotherhood and their research vessel is sunk in an attempt to destroy all traces of the ancient city. To save the crew of the research vessel from being murdered, the graduate student, Nina Wilde, offers up herself and leads the Brotherhood to the last remaining Atlantian city in Nepal. Her bodyguard and protector ex-SAS Eddie Chase sets out to rescue her at the final Atlantian site. Come to find out the rich Norwegian backer finds out that about 15% of the people distributed across the Earth have Atlantian genes so he bio-engineers a virus that will kill everyone without this gene so that descendants of the Atlantians can once again rule the Earth like they did in antiquity. Nina is placed on a jumbo jet carrying the virus and will be killed if she doesn't agree to join their cause. Chase get on board and of course messes up their plans and ends up getting the jet to crash into the Norwegian's labratory. In the end the plot is destroyed along with the Norwegian and his lab. This was a good read because the plot twist of having the Norwegian be the bad guy was not revealed until the last minute. I've already download the next McDermott book and an looking forward to another good story. |
| 3.
The Tomb of Hercules - Andy McDermott - Another adventure in
which Eddie Chase and Dr. Nina Wilde find themselves in mortal danger
while trying to find the legendary tomb of Hercules. Dr. Wilde was
prohibited from claiming the discovery of Atlantis so she was dead set
on finding another ancient marvel that she could discover and confirm
her place in the world of archeology. The adventure starts off with
Eddie going to Singapore to rescue his ex-wife Sophia. Little did he
know that the rescue was all a part of a plan that Lady Sophia
Blackwell was hatching to not only get back at (and kill) Eddie but
also to kill her other two husbands (both in one week) so that she
could take over their vast empires. Her plan was to smuggle a nuke on
board a ship heading to New York harbor so she could blow it up and
crush the world's financial markets with the chaos that would ensue.
Her riches would be protected because of the massive amounts of gold
and jewels found in Hercules tomb in Africa. Sophia tries to kill Eddie
and Nina over and over again as they got progressively closer to
thwarting her plan. In the end of course they destroy Sophia's support
system and finally bring her to justice as well. They also find that
they still love each other and mend their relationship that was
strained by the politics of their jobs. This was a decent read but
nothing great. Still, I'll go and find another McDermott novel to read
while I'm at it. |
| 4.
Return To Atlantis - Andy McDermott - More of the same with this
story. Eddie and Nina are chased relentlessly by Sophia (Eddie's evil
ex-wife) and Stikes who was Eddie's arch nemesis. This time a
collection of three statues made from a meteorite were discovered in
three separate Atlantis locations across the world and when brought
back together they exude a strange earth energy that only a few humans
can tap and control; with Nina (she has Atlantian blood in her family)
being one of them. Two groups of people are trying to use this
power, one for good and one for evil. The group trying to use this
power for good (and who were quickly dispatched) wants to generate
unlimited energy for the world. The other group (the bad guys) think
the original human DNA was brought to earth on this meteorite and think
they can use the original DNA to make a virus that will cause all
humans to become docile and follow their orders. Possession of the
three statues changes hands multiple times as each side tries to take
control for their cause. At the end of the story Eddie and Nina locate
the skystone from which the other statues were made in a volcano in
Africa. They attempt to destroy the skystone so the bad guys cannot
accomplish their goal but in the process almost get themselves killed
as the volcano in which the skystone resides erupts because of the
concentration of earth energy and Nina's presence. In the end Eddie and
Nina narrowly make it out alive but Stikes falls into the lava lake and
Sophia dies when the parachute she dives out of a helicopter with
catches fire and causes her to fall to a fiery and well deserved death.
|
| 5.
The Obsidian Chamber - Preston & Childs - I hadn't read a P
& C book for a while so I thought I would check this one out. This
was like going to a family reunion in that all of the characters from
his other books were present in this story. The last P & C book I
read had Pendergast swept out to sea with the assumption he was dead
but I knew better. I knew he would come back to fight crime with the
FBI again. This story mostly centers around Diogenes (Pendergast's evil
bother) and his attempt to woo Constance Green who he previously used,
got pregnant and then tossed aside. As a result she tried to kill him
by pushing him into the volcano on Stromboli island near Italy but that
didn't stick either. With Pendergast presumed dead, Diogenes goes to
the Riverside Drive mansion and slowly makes his presence known the
Constance. Previously he hatched a plot to convince Proctor
(Perdergast's butler, driver and body guard) that he had kidnapped
Constance so Proctor would travel across the world to try and get her
back. Diogenes finally convinces Constance that he was a changed man
and tells her he is deeply in love with her and wants her to live with
him on his private island. Meanwhile, Pendergast is picked out of the
ocean by drug smugglers who, when they find out he is an FBI agent, try
to ransom him. Pendergast of course breaks his bondage and kills all of
his captors. He quickly heads back to Riverside Drive only to find
Proctor and Constance both missing so he has to puzzle out why. In the
end Diogenes is tracked to his island hideaway and Pendergast rescues
Constance but lets his brother go to wallow in his loneliness and
shame. This was a good read and I read the book faster than I have read
many other books recently. |
| 6.
The Third Gate - Lincoln Childs - I have read many Preston and
Childs books and many Preston books so I thought it was time to read a
Childs book. I have to say I think this was a very good book that kept
me in suspense the whole time. It is a story about a treasure hunter
that has found the tomb of what he believes is the first ruler of
united Egypt. The tomb is found in the Sudd which is a huge swampy area
in Sudan near the source of the Nile. The treasure hunter is under
extreme time pressure as the area is situated in what is to become a
new reservoir and will soon be flooded. The dig has been kept secret
from the Egyptian authorities because of the red tape that would slow
things down. They find the tomb under about 40 feet of stinking mud in
the Sudd and have built a large excavation facility over the top of it.
The doctor on this dig has a research facility for NDE or near death
experiences since his wife was clinically dead for 14 minutes and he
brought her back (minus her soul come to find out). She was brought to
the dig because she seemed to be in contact with a spirit of the dead
pharaoh who keeps warning people to stay away. Strange things keep
happening at the facility with many people getting hurt or killed and
it is attributed to the curse on the site. Knowing the risk of opening
the tomb they proceed anyway and find lots of treasure that they came
for. Unbeknownst to the treasure hunters the wife is taken over by the
mummy in the tomb (who happens not to be who they thought it was: a
woman instead of a man) and proceeds to blow up the facility to punish
the infidels. It then become apparent that the problems the facility
had been experiencing was caused by her and some other unscrupulous
archaeologists. Like I said I liked this story alot because of the
suspense so I will get another Child's book from the library and see if
it is as good. I hope so because it gives me another author to read. |
| 7.
Deep Storm - Lincoln Childs - Wow another good book by Childs.
In this story a Navy research facility is positioned over an anomaly in
the Atlantic ocean that some think might be the remains of Atlantis.
This amazing facility is over 12 stories tall and is a city unto itself
even though it is located under 2000 feet of ocean. The facility is
divided into two levels: the non-classified and the classified levels.
Something however is amiss because many of the personnel are becoming
sick with unexplained aliments. A specialist name Dr. Crane is brought
to the facility to investigate but everything he looks at as a cause is
negative. All the while the security of the facility keeps getting more
intrusive and soon the scientists are being watched by an elite
security force. As the ailments gets worse Dr. Crane is given a
clearance so he can continue his investigation in the secure portions
of the site. He soon finds that the story of Atlantis was bogus and
that the military was actually digging down to the MOHO layer in the
Earth's crust because they have found what they believe is alien
technology embedded in the ocean floor. As they get close to the
boundry, Dr. Crane discovers the reason for the ailments in that
peoples brain waves are being manipulated by the alien technology in an
attempt to keep people away from this area. Dr. Crane comes to the
conclusion that these are warning signs and that the drilling should
immediately stop. As things get progressively worse the head of the
elite security squad takes over command cause he believes that the
alien technology could be used for weapons and so wants to secure it
for the USA before some other country finds out. So in the final phase
of drilling he descends into the drilled tunnel and finds an alien
storage for weapons of unimaginable power built from matter and
anti-mater black holes that have been stored there for possible later
retrieval. He makes the mistake of trying to touch one of the weapons
with a robotic arm which sets off a major explosion that completely
destroys the facility. Luckily Dr. Crane has gotten most of the
personnel to the escape pod and ascending to the surface when the
explosion goes off. This again was a riveting story and so I am off again to the digital library to find another Childs novel for my next read. |
| 8.
Lethal Velocity - Lincoln Childs - This was a different story
in that it wasn't directly related to science like most of Childs'
other novels. Instead the story is about a terrorist plot against a
state of the art amusement park called Utopia that is situated outside
of Las Vegas. Utopia is run by an AI network that controls just about
everything in the park. When some of the attractions start having
issues the designer of the AI network is called in to shut the network
down until the problems can be found and fixed. The unexpected arrival
of the expert causes the terrorist's plans to have to be accelerated.
Their plan was to hold the park hostage until they are given the
advanced technology that makes the park run and until they can steal
all of the money that normally gets transported from the park in an
armored car. The AI expert becomes the unintentional hero as he
counters the terrorist every move once he understands what is going on.
Of course the bad guys just about pull this off but are stopped when
the AI expert attacks the armored car with fireworks used for the
nightly displays. This wasn't Childs' best book I don't think but it was somewhat entertaining anyway. |
| 9.
Seventh Plague - James Rollins - A new Rollins novel that brings
together Stanley and Livingstone, Mark Twain, Nikola Tesla and the
Sigma Force team to fight a deadly plague that is spreading across the
world. The premise, if the biblical plagues of Egypt truly happened
could they happen again–on a global scale? Two years after vanishing into the Sudanese desert, the leader of a British archaeological expedition, Professor Harold McCabe, comes stumbling out of the sands, frantic and delirious, but he dies before he can tell his story. The mystery deepens when an autopsy uncovers a bizarre corruption: someone had begun to mummify the professor’s body–while he was still alive. His strange remains are returned to London for further study, when alarming news arrives from Egypt. The medical team who had performed the man’s autopsy has fallen ill with an unknown disease, one that is quickly spreading throughout Cairo. Fearing the worst, a colleague of the professor reaches out to a longtime friend Painter Crowe, the director of Sigma Force. The call is urgent, for Professor McCabe had vanished into the desert while searching for proof of the ten plagues of Moses. Before Director Crowe can investigate, a mysterious group of assassins leaves behind a fiery wake of destruction and death, erasing all evidence. With the professor’s body incinerated, his home firebombed, Sigma Force must turn to the archaeologist’s daughter, Jane McCabe, for help. While sifting through what’s left of her father’s work, she discovers a puzzling connection, tying the current threat to a shocking historical mystery, one involving the travels of Mark Twain, the genius of Nikola Tesla, and the adventures of famous explorer, Henry Morgan Stanley. To unravel a secret going back millennia, Director Crowe and Commander Gray Pierce travel to opposite ends of the globe. One will search for the truth, traveling from the plague-ridden streets of Cairo to a vast ancient tomb buried under the burning sands of the Sudan; the other will struggle to stop a mad genius locked within a remote Arctic engineering complex, risking the lives of all those he holds dear. Of course there are evil forces at work in both places trying to kill the Sigma Force teams to capitalize on the plague for both monetary and scientific purposes. In the end they find that the cure for the plague is actually in the brain matter of people who have died from the plague but had been partially mummified using the bark from an obscure African plum tree. This was an OK read but not one of Rollins' best works IMHO. |
| 10.
Innocent Blood - James Rollins with Rebecca
Cantrell - This is a follow on to their book Blood Gospel which I read
last year. Many of the original characters are back including: Sergeant
Jordan
Stone, a military forensic expert; Father Rhun Korza, a Vatican priest;
and Dr. Erin Granger, a brilliant archaeologist. In Blood Gospel a
young boy with cancer is mysteriously cured during an earthquake at
Masada Israel while his parents and many other are killed. Little did
anyone know the boy became an angel at that time and a key player in
the battle to prevent Armageddon. The evil in this story is Judas
Iscariot who betrayed Christ and was made immortal so that he could
bring about the second coming of Christ at the proper time. Stone,
Korza and Erin form a powerful triad that with the help of the cured
boy angel has the power to save the world from the chaos. Battles for
the end of the world are faught between strigoi (unredeemed vampires)
and Sanguines (vampires who have pledged allegiance to Christ). In the
end the boy angel sacrifices himself so that evil can be destroyed. This book started slowly but the tension rose and kept my interest until the end. Now onto the next book in the Sanguines series. |
| 11.
Physics of the Impossible - Michio Kaku - I hadn't read any of
Kaku's books in a while so I thought I would check this one out. It has
an interesting format in that he takes topics from science fiction
(Star Trek and Star Wars mainly), examines the physics involved and
then classifies them as to how impossible they would be to implement.
He talks about four levels of impossible and our science and technology
is current at level 1. None of topics he discusses are possible with
our level 1 sophistication but a level 4 civilization might be able to
utilize many of them. Topics include: force fields, invisibility,
phasers and death stars, tele-portation, telepathy, psychokinesis,
robots, extraterrestrials and UFOs, star ships, antimatter and
anti-universes, faster than light, time travel, parallel universes,
perpetual motion machines and precognition. This book is somewhat dated
(he talks about the building of the upcoming space station) but
interesting never the less. His discussion is targeted towards
non-physicists science (fiction) buffs and he never goes deeper than a
surface discussion. I think I will try to read a modern Kaku book
to see how his discussions have changed. |
| 12.
Physics of the Future - Michio Kaku - This ,I believe, is Kaku's
most recent book. This book has a lot of the same content as the book
above but does make an interesting proposition about how to classify
civilizations as to their energy usage and therefore their ability to
control their environment. He talks about Type 0, 1, 2 and 3
classification with each type consuming a logarithmically increasing
amount of energy. He pegs our society at 0.7 and he also said this is
the most dangerous place to be because we still may parish (annihilate
ourselves) before getting to Type 1. Type 3 societies, as an example,
have to power to manipulate energy at the galactic level. He talks
mainly about technological advances between now and 2100. He talked a
lot about semiconductors, fusion, nano technology, superconductors and
their effect on our lives in the future. This book was written around
2011 so some of the things he has proposed for the future already are
happening. An interesting area of discussion was with assembling
anything an atom at a time. In other words, in the future Star Trek
like replicators may be possible where raw materials go in one end and
whatever we desire comes out the other. He also talks about living much
longer because diseases will be detected by things like our toothbrush
and replacement organs will be grown to replace ours that fail. One
cool invention he talked about was a smart contact lens connected to
the Internet that could connect us to the world with the need for any
other smart devices. Reading this book convinced me that Kaku is very
well read and has the ear of many of the physicists on the leading edge
of technology. He firmly believes that science not religion will lead
us into the future and I agree. |
| 13. Blood Infernal - James Rollins with Rebecca Cantrell - A follow on to Innocent Blood. The crack that opened in the previous book as not completely sealed so evil kept flowing into the world. Because of this the strigoli are getting bolder, stronger and faster so the chosen triad, Stone, Korza and Erin must used the Blood Gospel to close the crack before Lucifer himself is released from hell and the Earth is cleansed of human for all time. They travel all over the world in search of clues to Lucifer's chalice and to find three stones that are needed to defeat evil in the epic battle ahead. The final stone is eventually found in Shambala valley in Nepal where the final battle occurs. With the three stones placed into the three chalices the battle begins but the green stone is destroyed by Legion (a very bad spirit that can control anyone he touched) so evil escapes into the world. Erin is mortally wounded so Rhun Korza turns her into a strigoli to save her life and to allow her to enter the battle with the Blood Gospel and turn Lucifer from a black to a white angel. The jest of the story is that Lucifer who was the snake in the garden o Eden was double crossed by Eve and was never given the knowledge he was promised and therefore knew nothing but evil. When given the gospel by Erin, he now understands good vs. evil and chooses good. He calls back all of the evil that escaped into the world and goes back into the crack at the bottom of the lake and seals it for all time. Before he does, however, he turns Erin back into a human for saving hime. There was only a small hint at a follow on book in that Stone and Erin get married and she was pregnant when the battle occurred so they are not sure if their child will be angelic or not. We shall see. |
| 14. Black Order - James Rollins - A Sigma story involving quantum mechanics and its part in the creation of life and in evolution. Sigma is called to the Himalayas to investigate a mysterious disease that is killing monks and driving villagers mad and while there Painter Crowe is exposed as well and starts to suffer from the same issues. At the same time in Copenhagen an auction is held with the most important item being a family bible of Darwin but everyone who comes into contact with the bible gets killed. Come to find out the bible has some secret runes inscribed in it that supposedly will unlock the secrets of a German weapon from WWII which were used in the eugenics experiments. Sigma follows the clues around the world and discover a bell shaped device that influences evolution at the quantum level and that is what killed the monks and what infected Crowe. The Germans were trying to use it to create the master race at the end of the war and evil people have been experimenting with it ever since. The story ends up in South Africa where an obscenely wealthy but evil family is using the bell to merge human traits with other creatures with the intent to take over the world and rid it of humans, except for them of course. Sigma along with local Zulu's team up to infiltrate the family's compound and re-expose Crowe to the power of the bell and he of course is cured. In the end the family and their compound is completely destroyed and all traces of the bell with it. |
| 15. The Devil's Gold -
Steve Berry - A short story about Hitler, Bormann and Eva Braun and
what happened to them at the end of WWII contrary of course to the
understood history. In this narrative Bormann and Eva Braun escaped
from Germany using a rather clever ruse. Wyatt, a disgraced British
agent, is chasing another agent, Combs, who double crossed him and got
him dismissed from service across South America with the intent to kill
him when the time is right. What Wyatt didn't know is that Combs was in
Chile searching for Nazi treasure smuggled out of Germany at the end of
the war. So as Wyatt is closing in on Combs he unknowingly gets closer
and closer to the treasure which is finally found in the possession of
the son of Hitler and Eva Braun who is tired of life. The son has been
in hiding so as not to stoke Nazi fanaticism because he wants no part
of it. In the end Combs is killed by Hitler's son who lets Wyatt go
because he understands how he was wronged and then kills himself. The
horde of treasure is then left for Chilean people. |
| 16. Blood Brothers - James Rollins with Rebecca Cantrell - This is a short story about two brothers, Arthur and Christian and an orchid which means eminent death. Arthur is a reporter from San Francisco who is tracking a story about a series of killings each marked with an orchid. Then one day he wakes in the morning to find an orchid next to his bed and he knows what it means. He also receives a mystery phone call from someone who can shed light on his brothers disappearance which happened years ago. When he meets with the mystery man he finds out he is a Belial, a secret society of strigoli (vampire like creatures) that exist in the world without many knowing it. This Belial tears out his throat to kill him because the secret must remain secret but before he dies his long lost brother Christian shows up and cuts the head off of the Belial and bites into Arthur's neck in order to give him a chance to live as a Sanguine; a strigoi for Christ. Hence this starts the Blood series by these two authors. |
| 17.
Transference - Kate Jonuska - This is the first published novel
by my niece which shows her potential as a writer. The story is about a
woman, Janet, who becomes telepathic and her interaction with a washed
up psychologist named Verbenk. Janet is loosing her mind because she
can read the minds of everyone around her so she hooks up with Verbenk
who lives in her neighborhood so that she can keep her consultations
secret which is important since she is the wife of a Colorado senator.
Janet sees through all of the dogma that Verbenk uses on his clients to
find a deeply troubled man with not much of a future. Their
interactions are not friendly though Verbenk is intrigued by Janet's
superpower and Janet needs someone desperately to talk to. Janet
finally steps over a line and causes Verbenk's facade to completely
crumble at which time he holds up in his house and tries to ignore
Janet's attempts at further communication while becoming a complete
drunken slob. Finally when Janet perceives that a neighbor of Verbenk's
is going to commit sucide, she convinces him to intervene and both he
and Janet have a break through and become collaborators in Janet's
causes. This is a decent story but it really points out to me that my niece as mastered the art of writing and that her future in this field is bright. I wish her the best of luck with her new career. Go Kate. |
| 18.
The Covenant of Genesis - Andy McDermott - Another adventure
with Eddie Chase, Dr. Nina Wilde and Lady Sophia
Blackwell. Off a remote stretch of the Indonesian coast, Nina has made
an astounding discovery: a dive site containing evidence of a
settlement that existed over a hundred thousand years before any
previously known culture. Could a completely undiscovered civilisation
have once ruled the earth? Before Nina can consider the evidence
further, her research boat is attacked and her proof stolen. Determined
to solve the mystery, Nina and embarked on a quest for answers. But at
every step they are hunted by a clandestine religious group, the
Covenant of Genesis. The Covenant, representatives from three of the
world's most powerful religions, will stop at nothing to keep Nina's
discovery secret because such a discovery would contradict the creation
mythology they share. It would prove that a non homo sapian race
experienced the story told in Genesis and that the Abrahamic based
religions who came much later took their myths from them. From the depths of the ocean to the Australian outback, to Antarctica, to the Sudan to the halls of the United Nations, Nina and Eddie embark on a quest to stop the all-powerful Covenant of Genesis. |
| 19.
Origin - Dan Brown - This is the newest page turner from Dan
Brown. The story takes place entirely in Spain this time instead of
Rome like many of his other books. It is a story of a brilliant,
multi-billionaire computer scientist, Edmond Kirsch, who happens to be
one of Robert Langdon's x students has discovered something amazing
about the human race and something about where the human race is headed
in the future. The phrases "Where did we come from" and "Where are we
going" are recurring themes in the plot. Because of Kirsch's wealth he
has prepared a presentation that he wants the whole world to see but
before he does he contacts the heads of the Christian, Jewish and
Islamic religions and give them a preview of what he has found because
he believes it will invalidate the precepts of all major religions.
During the introductory portion of the worldwide presentation Kirsch is
shot and killed before he can tell the world what he has found. It
becomes Langdon's quest to get access to the discoveries and to let the
world know what his pupil has discovered but he and a beautiful Spanish
model are being chased around Spain by people who want to kill them to
prevent the discovery from being revealed. Of course in the end Langdon
succeeds in his quest and the world hears the discoveries. The answer
to the question of where we came from is answered because Kirsch had
been successful in creating DNA from a primordial soup of chemicals
that were supposedly around when life started. This discovery proves a
God was not necessary for the creation of life which is why all major
religions didn't want the truth known. The question of where we are
going is that humans will be merging with technology to create an
entirely new species. Throughout this story Brown takes the reader through many of the Gaudi buildings around Barcelona where many of this famous architects' buildings reside. He also discusses the science behind Kirsch's discoveries that turns out to be true much to my amazement. Specifically the theories of Jeremey English about life and the dissipation of energy. This was a page turner for sure but not the blockbuster of some of his other books. I actually guessed some of the plot twists in the story before they were explained something I could never have done in his previous books. |
| 20.
Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson - This is the first book I have
read of this author (and probably the last). It is story that takes
place in a dystopian future in the LA area where everything has been
bought up and converted into businesses; the CIA, the Mafia and federal
government included. Its two main characters are Hero Protagonist (an
Asian/Black person who sees himself as a Samurai and always carries two
swords on his body at all times for protection) and Y.T. (a 15 year old
girl (a fox by the description) who is a skateboard messenger who moves
about by (har)pooning cars on the freeway). In this future most people
live in squalor but spend most all of their time jacked into the
Metaverse (a vitual world). One of the biggest and most important
issues in this world is the on time delivery of pizza and if yours is
late you can take the pizza company to court to get a free one. During
this story Da5id, a programmer, like Hero becomes a vegetable after
watching a screen full of what looked like random noise and Hero and
Y.T. set out to find out why. The author weaves stories of ancient
religion surrounding Babel and Suma into this story including one about
an ancient virus that caused humans to develop different languages and
thus not be able to talk to each other. Turns out this is the basis of
the Snow Crash virus which fried Da5id brain and the bad guys are
trying to do the same to all programmers. But never fear, Hero and Y.T.
stop this plot at the last second so their screwed up world can remain
the same. This was a bizarre story which most of the time made little
sense but was somewhat interesting in that it took place on the west
coast and mainly in LA and mentioned places I was familiar with. |