I only read The Diamond Age. It's setting is grand, immaginative and full of detail. I was specially enamored with the concept of "ractors".
But the last 100 pages left me extremelly dissapointed. Some plot threads go nowhere, others intersect "just because". The whole ending sequence was weird and happened too fast. I guess there was some moral or meaning to the end, but if there was i just didn't get it).
And there was a disgusting thing that happened that left me really disturbed. (I'm usually NOT disturbed by that kind of situation. I guess I was just really attached to the character. And the way it was written was tactless and too casual).
But I loved the rest of the book. I think of it as a great meal with a crappy desert :)
EDIT: About "Ractors": After VR sets in, I can totally see "racting" being the next big thing for entertainment!
I understand where people are coming from when they say Stephenson's endings aren't up to snuff, but I disagree. His endings are usually like the ending of the first Matrix movie. Things are about to get very different for almost everyone; the story was about how that transformation happened, not what that transformation is. Saying anything further would feel, at best, extraneous. At worst, it would undermine the story that was just told.
I've read a few of his books, and what they seem to have in common are the badly written endings. He doesn't seem to be able to properly wrap up a book (although I haven't read the last couple of his).
This is definitely a common flaw. If I recall correctly, he gives up on endings altogether in Anathem, with the narrator literally writing something along the lines of "there's much more left to tell, but this is enough." Seveneves skirts the issue by basically slapping together two rather disjoint stories, ending one "book" by abruptly beginning another.
Not the worst flaw in an author, once you know to expect it.
I've read a few as well, and I totally agree. It seems everyone else whose read his books says the same thing. His ending just never compare to the fantastic worlds and stories he creates in the first 2/3's.
But the last 100 pages left me extremelly dissapointed. Some plot threads go nowhere, others intersect "just because". The whole ending sequence was weird and happened too fast. I guess there was some moral or meaning to the end, but if there was i just didn't get it).
And there was a disgusting thing that happened that left me really disturbed. (I'm usually NOT disturbed by that kind of situation. I guess I was just really attached to the character. And the way it was written was tactless and too casual).
But I loved the rest of the book. I think of it as a great meal with a crappy desert :)
EDIT: About "Ractors": After VR sets in, I can totally see "racting" being the next big thing for entertainment!
EDIT 2: Forgot a "not" in there.