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Until a man is twenty-five, he still thinks, every so often, that under the right circumstances he could be the baddest motherfucker in the world... Hiro used to feel this way, too, but then he ran into Raven. In a way, this was liberating. He no longer has to worry about being the baddest motherfucker in the world. The position is taken.
Possibly the best-known book by Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash is basically the tale of a sword-slinging hacker who teams up with a badass courier in a Post Cyber Punk disincorporated USA to fight " Snow Crash" - a computer virus for the brain. Oh, and there's a badass biker with glass knives and a nuclear bomb strapped to his motorbike, too.
Apart from its frenetic action sequences and overt use of the Rule Of Cool, the book is surprisingly deep, with a substantial portion of the plot given over to exploring metaphysical interpretations of the Tower of Babel myth. Typical for a Stephenson novel, the plot juxtaposes action sequences, lengthy humorous digressions, and extremely detailed Infodumps seemingly at random. The book is also notable for its uncanny prediction of future internet trends. While holographic web terminals have not yet come to pass, we do have heavily populated 3D virtual worlds, satellite photograph software, and a massive user-created online library.
This book provides examples of:
- Absurdly Sharp Blade: Raven's glass knives. Chipped down to having a blade a molecule wide, and passes through body armor like tissue paper.
- Awesome Mc Coolname: Yours Truly (Y.T.), Da5id, and Hiro Protagonist.
- Bad Ass: Between Hiro, Raven, Y.T., and even Uncle Enzo, the book has more badassness than most books should be allowed to have.
- Badass Biker: How badass? No other biker drives around with a nuclear bomb wired to explode if they die.
- Badass Bookworm: Hiro can be writing computer code one second, and kicking ass the next.
- Chekhovs Gun: At least two: Uncle Enzo having the skateboard, which has a glass-shattering charge, right before being attacked by Raven, and Y.T.'s dentata, mentioned several times before... well... you'll know the moment when you read it. SnowScan might also count, if it weren't such an obvious setup.
- Subverted Chekhovs Gun: L Bob Rife is not impressed by Uncle Enzo's dogtags.
- Chekhovs Gunman: Fido, a dog once kept by Y.T. and now a cybernetic Rat-Thing, ends up saving the day at the end.
- Church Of Happyology: L. Bob Rife's organization, Reverend Wayne's Pearly Gates franchise, fits this to an extent. Worshipers pay for religious doctrine and services. However, the franchise itself is not the means of control/coercion.
- The Computer Is A Cheating Bastard: Slightly subverted. As mentioned below, Hiro wrote the code for virtual sword fights, and as a result he just happens to be the best sword fighter in the whole virtual universe. Ditto with avatars and several other key components of the Metaverse, all of which he uses to his advantage.
- Cool Boat: A raft shanty town the size of a large city, built around the aircraft carrier that used to be the USS Enterprise.
- Cool Car: "The Deliverator" is far, far cooler than any pizza delivery car ever deserves to be. Also, Ng's "wheelchair", which is an airport fire engine with a lot of modifications.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: L. Bob Rife. Uncle Enzo probably counts, too, but he ends up working with the heroes.
- Cyberpunk: If this isn't cyberpunk, nothing is. Unless you consider it Post Cyberpunk.
- Deconstruction: Snow Crash does this in regards to the Cyberpunk genre.
- Determinator: The Deliverators, the greatest pizza delivery service of all time.
- As Hiro explains, this standard of excellence is not a matter of competition but pride; Costra Nostra is a monopolist.
- A corporation did it, at least for the skateboard wheels.
- Defictionalised: For a brief period, Four Chan had a problem where people would be instructed to save an image, change the extension, and run it for their "free sample of Snow Crash". Fortunately all it did was use your computer to post more such images back to 4chan instead of frying your brain, considering the apparently sizable number of people stupid enough to do it.
- Digital Avatar: Trope Codifier and Trope Namer - While the word 'avatar' dates back to Hindu mythology, this was the first time it was used in this sense.
- Divided States Of America: The US government now consists of just the FBI and the Post Office. The rest of the country is now a patchwork of autonomous corporate franchises and "Burbclaves."
- The Don: Uncle Enzo.
- Engrish: Mr. Lee's Greater Hong Kong uses Engrish as part of its marketing campaign to make its founder Mr. Lee seem cute. In reality, he speaks perfect English and is all business.
It is my pleasure to welcome all quality folks to visiting of Hong Kong. Whether seriously in business or on a fun-loving hijink, make yourself totally homely in this meager environment. If any aspect is not utterly harmonious, gratefully bring it to my notice and I shall strive to earn your satisfaction.
- Gatling Good: The ultimate BFG of the book is "Reason", a nuclear powered rotary rail gun that shoots needles of depleted uranium and can carry close to half-a-ton of ammo.
- Hollywood Cyborg: Thoroughly averted with Ng, the creator of the Rat Things. Having lost most of his mobility in a helicopter attack, he tried prosthetics and use of a powerchair. He ultimately adopted his upgraded van and lives as a torso suspended in an elaborate harness.
- I Call It Vera: Reason.
- Incredibly Lame Pun: "I'm sure they'll listen to Reason."
- Info Dump: Many of them, as is usual for Stephenson. Quite justified too, given how much of the book is spent in a digital library complete with dumb AI librarian.
- Japan Takes Over The World: Not quite, but it's a major player in a world where no one government seems to have gotten the upper hand.
- Katanas Are Just Better: Hiro fights with katanas, and even went so far as to hard-code a katana simulator into the virtual universe he helped write. Partially justified, in that his upbringing meant he learnt to use the katana at a young age. He was half Korean, half African-American. He idolized Japanese culture, possibly because of his father's trophy Katana taken during WW 2.
- Law Enforcement Inc: Franchises that don't handle their own security will generally subcontract it out to one of these.
- Lemony Narrator: And how!
- The Mafia: Now trading freely and making the best pizzas in America.
- Meaningful Name: Hiroaki "Hiro" Protagonist. Hiro chose his own nickname and then changed his last name to Protagonist, just to drive the point home.
Y.T.: Stupid name.
Hiro: But you'll never forget it.
- Metaverse: The trope namer.
- More Dakka: "Reason", yet again.
- Names To Run Away From Really Fast: Raven.
- No Name Given: Considering "Y.T." stands for "Yours Truly", does anybody know Y.T.'s real name?
- Obstructive Bureaucracy: The FBI even goes so far as to send out 10-page memos about toilet paper use, one of which is printed in full in the book.
- Plucky Girl: Y.T. - a 15-year-old skateboarding courier that doesn't take an ounce of crap from anyone and is loaded with enough self-defense gear to break out of an FBI building.
- Portmanteau: "Burbclave" is a contraction of "suburb" + "enclave."
- Pretentious Latin Motto: Reason. Named for, and marked with, what Louis XIV put on his cannons: Ultima Ratio Regum, "The last argument of kings."
- Privately Owned Society: As an example, the CIA has converted into the publicly traded CIC.
- Psycho For Hire: Raven.
- Retired Badass: Uncle Enzo, who served in Vietnam and is able to fight Raven to a standstill with just a straight razor (and a skateboard that conveniently disables all his cute glass knives).
- Ridiculous Future Inflation: It's cheaper to use million dollar bills as toilet paper than just go out and buy some. Justified in that the US economy actually DID collapse. Most people use other, more stable forms of currency if they can.
- Rule Of Cool: It might not make sense for there to be a biker with a nuclear bomb in his sidecar, or cyborg dogs that can run faster than the speed of sound, or couriers who skateboard down highways at 100 mph, but damned if it's not cool!
- Salvage Pirates: When Hiro and the Mafia goons get a boat shot out from under them, they drift for a while in the North Pacific in a life raft, fighting off the occasional gang of pirates who want to kidnap them and
sell them into slavery sodomize them all (most likely before killing them) rather than rescue the castaways.
- Screw The Rules I Have A Nuke: Raven.
- Shown Their Work: Stephenson goes a tad overboard on his Sumerian mythology.
- Stalker With A Crush (Raven, briefly, to Y.T. near the end. He's not all that persistent, but the creepiness does take its toll when you remember that she's half his age, and he's Raven)
- Steven Ulysses Perhero: It's awfully convenient how easily Hiroaki condenses to Hiro. Ditto Ravinoff > Raven. Of course, both Hiro and Raven chose those nicknames for themselves, so it's hardly unexpected.
- Thirty Minutes Or Its Free and Serious Business: Your pizza in 30 minutes, or you're set for life, and you don't want to know what happens to the delivery boy.
- Tower Of Babel: Not the exact trope, but the Babel myth plays a key role in the story.
- Truce Zone: Weapons are not allowed in Mr. Lee's Greater Hong Kong, and they have enough weapons of their own to make sure the rule is followed. Hiro goes here to avoid people who are chasing him, but is able to keep his swords, as he's a citizen.
- Twenty Minutes Into The Future: If you check the historical events mentioned in the book, it had to be happening around the Turn Of The Millennium (Hiro was said to be 30 years old and born in the 1970s).
- Vagina Dentata: There is an anti-rape device Y.T. has, called, unsurprisingly, a Dentata. Too bad she forgot to take it out before consensual sex. Oops. Then again, considering her partner...
- Vestigial Empire: Every single nation-state, including the U.S. government. There are no countries anymore, only corporations.
- The Virus: Snow Crash itself, an STD that makes you Brainwashed And Crazy
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