What a strange book. Not since [b:The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer|827|The Diamond Age Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer|Neal Stephenson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388180931l/827.SY75.jpg|2181158] has a Stephenson novel felt so mythic. It is the type of book I like, character driven legendary. The viewpoint and characters kept shifting though. I would have preferred to spend more time with fewer characters. Perhaps if the narrative had been more episodic with less connection between the sections then I might not have minded as much. Making more of the time jumps in both the "real" world (is it really?) and "virtual" world would have helped.

I strongly suspect that I will be reading this one again. After failing to finish [b:Seveneves|22816087|Seveneves|Neal Stephenson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1449142000l/22816087.SY75.jpg|42299347] I had wondered whether I would be able to get in to this book. I had no similar problems with [b:Anathem|2845024|Anathem|Neal Stephenson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1488349209l/2845024.SX50.jpg|6163095], which a lot of people struggled with continuing.