Snow Crash has the best opening of any science fiction novel I've read since The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. After a few pages, it drops in quality (the prose becomes much less witty and original) but maintains a decent level. The novel keeps up a break-neck action-packed pace, with some rather interesting views of early (Sumerian, mucho B.C.) religion and neurolinguistics. Snow Crash is good, but it's not as amazing as it's cracked up to be.