Top 3 Dystopian Novels Neal Stephenson
If only more of us could have been blessed with the unbelievable imagination of one of the best writers to grace this earth. It is seldom that a writer comes along that completely defies comparison, a writer that redefine how we look at each other and the world around us. I am talking about Neal Stephenson, a writer that brings us some of the best dystopian novels which I highly recommend you read as well.
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Top Dystopian Novels Neal Stephenson
1. Snow Crash
Snow Crash belongs at the top of the list of Neal Stephenson’s novels as it is frighteningly accurate in many regards how he nearly “predicted” the future. Take into consideration that this is his third novel which he published back in 1992 and many things that are written in the book is rather disturbingly real to our current world as far as technology is concerned.
He writes in detail about hackers, something we didn’t have in 1992, computers were only the large “box” type and not what we now know as tablets and laptops that go wherever we go, neither did we have 3D glasses or Google Earth. He writes about similar things in his novel, which is a very great reading material.
The protagonist is Hiro Protagonist and no, it is not a typing or spelling error, it is his first and last name! He is a pizza deliveryman and freelance hacker while also a sword fighter in a metaverse world. The metaverse world takes on a life of its own which is a computer virus called Snow Crash that affects the brains of hackers.
Hiro is accompanied by a fifteen-year-old skateboarder who is another computer whiz and they live in a future America that has no law and order or government. In this world, the Mafia rules as a franchise chain, Pizza.
Snow Crash turns infected people into mindless minions while Hiro manages to de-program infected people and the world remains in a dystopian state but at least Snow Crash gets disabled.
Buy Now : Snow Crash
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2. Seveneves
The way that Seveneves starts is frightening, to say the least. The moon explodes and earth becomes a time bomb that ticks for two years. Around the world all nations are against each other in a feverish race to devise a plan to ensure that humanity survives.
The only conclusion is outer space, far beyond the atmosphere. But the unpredictability and complexities of human nature resulted in a dystopian world filled with dangers and unforeseen challenges. The survivors are only a handful and only seven women survive as well as males while frozen embryos are also sent with the survivors into space.
The book evolves to five thousand years into the future. At that time the survivors have grown to be three billion strong with seven distinct races. These races are embarking to a world unknown to them since they only know space. They are travelling to an utterly transformed and alien world, Earth.
Buy Now : Seveneves
3. The Diamond Age
The Diamond Age tells another story that is decades into the future where a nanotechnologist living close to Shanghai broke his tribe’s strict moral code. The tribe is neo-Victorians and very powerful and also the home of an eccentric duke.
The nanotechnologist, John Hackworth was ordered to design an interactive device that raises and educate a girl that can think for herself. The device is called a young lady’s illustrated primer and while he designed it, he illicitly designed one for his own daughter too.
Unfortunately, his illegal copy went missing. Aside from the neo-Victorians who a rich and powerful, there is also a tribeless, poor class called thetes. Harv and Nell are thetes and Harv looks after his young sister since their mother left them. Harv and his gang robbed John Hackworth, the neo-Victorian one night and stole the Primer, which Harv gives to his sister.
Hackworth expelled from his paradise life and he is squeezed from all sides, a Mandarin underworld crime boss and agents of the Protocol Enforcement while he himself is searching for an Alchemist. His fate, that of Nell and another seeker are bound with the Primer when another figure enters their world, a woman who has the power to a subversive, vast network that can reprogram and decode humanity’s future.
Buy Now : The Diamond Age
Reflection on Stephenson ’s Best 3 Dystopian Novels
I assure you, if you are a lover of dystopia, sci-fi and the supernatural universe that Neal Stephenson create in his books, do not neglect these three top choices I picked for you.
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