Rating: 
Summary: Wordy but provocative
Review: Right. By now you know that he could have cut out several of the Stephen-King-reminiscent verbosity, but for idea generation it's a gem. The way he deconstructs academia is worth the read alone. I agree that it will appeal only to certain types (the scientifically inclined and hackers, nerds and literati) but for those it will thrill. Stephenson is showing real signs of improvement; this exceeds Snow Crash or Diamond Age by leagues.
Rating: 
Summary: Shallow, poorly imagined and for over 900 pages, thin soup.
Review: This over-hyped genre piece will no doubt appeal to net heads and cyberrats, who have no knowledge of literature and it's antecedents, save Tom Clancy and his ilk, and could care less. Comparisons to Gravity's Rainbow may make good copy, but the idea is laughable and absurd. Pynchon is a serious artist and novelist. Stephenson is a word-drunk, abeit clever, pretender. True art should teach, not simply flaunt itself on the back of the latest "hot-button" techno-craze. Unfortunately, a serious waste of time and space. Relentlessly unoriginal.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding!
Review: I just completed reading this amazing novel. I just couldn't put it down! This is Stephenson at his finest yet, and without a doubt this will be a book talked about for quite a while to come. Very strongly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: completely and utterly engrossing
Review: This is a monster book- almost a 1,000 pages but I couldn't put it down! It's a post-cyberpunk, Clive Cussler/Tom Clancy action adventure. It skips from WWII crypto plots to modern day darwinian business dealings, culminating in a climatic treasure hunt! This is Stephenson's best yet- Snow Crash was brilliant for it's pure vision but it was like reading an MTV video- Diamond Age refined the vision and Stephenson's skill as a writer improved- but Cryptonomicon puts the whole package together!
Rating:
Summary: Rather Dissapointing
Review: Stephenson may compare and even surpass Clancy, but in a literary sense Clancy, stephenson, and other writers who only write novels about stories and not about several themes as well are not those that we remember as great writers in the grand scheme of things. In fact, in his own words, Stephenson says this: " I think that if you write a novel or create any work of art in the pursuit of a specific end, a specific goal--reaching a particular audience or having a particular impact on the world--the art tends to suffer. And so I kind of avoid doing that. I try to start with some impression or some scenario that I can't get out of my head, and to kind of build on that."This obviously shows his lack of vision, he may be GREAT with Prose, as many writers are, but GREAT writers do not write stories for only the sake of entertaintment (like Stephenson does), Great writers Are entertaining and enriching (by presenting much symbolism and Fig. language as well as theme). That is why I believe this book should not become a classic, for only great writers can create such classics (An example is Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game).
Rating: 
Summary: Cryptonomicon is a great read
Review: Fast-paced and funny, Cryptonomicon deftly zips through multiple generations and subplots. The storylines are vast and intricate, and the synchronicities are resolved even more neatly than in NS's previous novels (which I loved). While Cryptonomicon isn't science fiction (it's more like Zodiac than Snow Crash or Diamond Age), it does have a high geek quotient; the main characters break into elaborate mathematical expressions as if they were songs in a Broadway musical. Equations and graphs are used to develop funny and endearing characters (really!). If NS wrote textbooks, I'd have looked forward to my 8am calculus class. I missed the clever gadgetry and stunning imagery of Snow Crash and The Diamond Age, but I think Cryptonomicon is probably the best whole work yet from NS. The story sustains itself consistently, and it's a great read all the way through; as complex as the plot got, I never found myself floundering in the story's wake. Definitely recommended!
Rating:
Summary: Not for everyone, but for those it is, Wow!
Review: This book reads like a narrated version of Bruce Schneier's Applied Cryptography. As a whole it is a truely great book and will surely end up on the Great Science Fiction book list, not near the top, but on the list none the less. Stephenson tries to explain many of the details and points of cryptography in this book for the uninitiated yet he does leave out small gaps where one who isn't in the know won't get the point. The plot is there yet it, like many scifi books trying to bring a point across, gets diluted between pages and pages of explination. If the reader of this review is a student of Mathematics or Logic or even occasionally watches The Discovery Channel he or she will enjoy this one. Otherwise, I doubt the reader will remain awake throughout all 910 pages.
Rating: 
Summary: where the hell was his editor?
Review: This is a good book. It could have been great, if someone had reminded the author that clever one-liners and facile "set pieces" do not a story make. I wish he had spent more time on the characters, and less on a three page exposition about how to eat Captain Crunch cereal.
Rating:
Summary: Haven't finished yet, but...
Review: ... I am quite pleased with how it's coming together - and disappointed in the physical quality of the book. The pages are untrimmed, the paper itself feels cheap, and there is at least one run of 30-some pages with matching tears in the edge. Also, the dust jacket is creased in a few places. The content could probably stand some editing, but every sentance is so pleasant to read that I can imagine the author's reluctance to trim it down. I particularly enjoyed Shaftoe's advice to Lt. Reagan, "Shoot the one with the sword first."
Rating:
Summary: Indulgence
Review: C is worth the wait, it is a work of genuine inspiration. I arranged to receive a pre-release copy (no mean feet for a non-publisher) and feel my substantial efforts were well spent thereon. It is cool, hip, and laugh-out-loud funny. * * * * Indulgence is what we give our trusted friends. When they stumble, we recall the commitments they've made and honored in the past. Neal's editor could've (should've?) trimmed this book. He could've (should've?) been less capricious about various plot twists. He could've (should've?) made some of the characters less ubiquitous and, thereby, more authentic. But Neal has brought us great joy and insight (TDA and SC, with Z forgiven). We owe him the doubt's benefit. He teaches well, always proceeding from first principles to their full flower. His insights in this book can largely be seen as an extension of the ideas behind The Great Simoleon Caper (any search engine should be able to find it for you). Neal understands the waterfall our society is about to ride down. And you will too, after reading C, because the rationales and methods thereof are elucidated clearly. I hope that one day Neal will get an editor who's a real son of a b---- who will threaten him with dismemberment if his work remains uncondensed. Until that day happens, I'll enjoy his work, learn from him, and wonder how much more fabulous he could be. BTW - there are many typos in C. I was initially tempted to see whether these typos constitute a code - but my time for such projects is finite. Is yours?
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