Despite loose ends and frayed tangents, this immersive hacker saga rewards the perservering reader with two intriguing plots and a heroic resolution. Cryptonomicon gives homage to the unsung crypto-warriors of World War II and their offspring, the unsung Unix wizards of the nineties. Stephenson brings coherence and insight to ideas both timely and timeless -- love, loyalty, gnosis, secrecy, paranoia, greed -- and in the process, spins a ripping good yarn for net grrls and boys.

Havi Hoffman