I didn't enjoy this at all and I'm kind of surprised that so many people have.

The plot seems to have been constructed by rolling many-sided dice to determine characters and complications for each chapter [7 = Spy: 12 = Trolls (mythological); 4 = Mercenary: 1 = Computer Virus; 6 = Tech Tycoon: 10 = BEARS!] The result is less of a narrative arc, more of a narrative EKG.

Character genders, at least, were not randomly assigned so that everyone to live through the adventure could land in a nice heteronormative relationship with another character, despite have endured horribly stilted dialogue with one another for more than 1,000 pages.

Stephenson seems to have thoroughly researched weapons, MMORPGs, massive chunks of geography foreign and domestic, inner workings of Russian organized crime and several intelligence agencies, navigation at sea, Internet security, and laws of international airspace. None of that research goes to waste whenever the dice landed on a given topic.

Despite ALL OF THAT, I'm adding one star because Reamde moves well. I can't believe how many times I accidentally scoffed aloud and still continued on. All eye strain was from rolling my eyes, not reading, and still I didn't put it down. That must mean something.

If Stephenson had rolled whatever combination required for 'CONCLUSION' 500 pages earlier, I might have gone as high as 3 stars.