There are books that, while they're long, don't feel long. This isn't one of those.

After I'd read the last page, I sat for a while and reviewed in my head the vast sweep of things that had happened. There are ideas and settings in this book that are interesting enough to support an entire novel, but are introduced and abandoned in a few chapters. Some of those are great, some less so.

Full disclosure: I'm a fan of Neal Stephenson's writing. When I tell people that, they usually respond with some variation of, "But all of his characters are stick figures who spend pages and pages lecturing each other about whatever Stephenson has been researching lately!" To which I reply, "Yeah, and I love it!"

In this case, the worst aspect of this book is that there aren't enough of those lectures. The chapters of the book revolving around the rights of the dead to be preserved and the technical processes being developed to do so are fascinating, well researched and detailed. The social and political groups that enact and react to the simulation of the dead (in "Bitworld") are surreal yet plausible.

But as the action moves to Bitworld and takes on a more biblical and eventually high fantasy tone, the book increasingly drags. I love high fantasy, but this stuff is mediocre. There's still some fun to be had reading about the weird ways Meatspace interacts with Bitworld, and there are some interesting ontological points made, but it's weak, and it makes up about half the book, and this book is not short.

The problem is how derivative the fantasy themes are. Given a chance to literally create a new world from nothing, the simulated post-death characters in Bitworld recapitulate (slightly tweaked) myths and stories from Meatspace. It's a depressing failure of imagination on their part, and seemingly on Stephenson's.

It's not all boring though, not by a long shot. Stephenson retains his ability to present complicated issues clearly and his ever improving ability to write action and drama (without the benefit of much character depth) has reached a new height. This book is also funnier than his books often are. The character of Corvus was a delight, and brightened up the lamer later chapters.

So, if you like Stephenson's writing (especially his later tomes) then I give this one-and-a-half thumbs up (or 4 stars, in the land of Goodreads). If you're iffy on him, then pick it up but be ready to skim chapters when necessary. If you're here for the fantasy, then pass it by.