In this book, the MC is named Hiro Protagonist, but if it weren’t for the two badass women in the story, YT and Juanita, would probably lose the plot and/or dead five times over by the end. 

This book, published in 1993, coined the term “metaverse”, but not necessarily the concept of the alternate reality via internet. In a hyper-capitalist world, governments have fallen, leading to privatized neighbourhoods and citizenships. Hiro, a hacker, makes a living finding information and selling it on a bidding site (formerly the Library of Congress). As an early adopter of the metaverse, he partially owns a very elite club in a desirable part of the virtual world, and for some reason is also the best swordsperson (virtually and in real life). He more or less bumbles around and is guided along by others (especially the aforementioned women) to keep up with the story.

YT is a teenaged courier who delivers packages using a high tech skateboard and a magnetic cable that she connects to vehicles on freeways. This is supremely hardcore. She ends up in all the worst parts of town, fends for herself, and makes friends with a mafia mob boss with an expert pizza delivery. I loved YT, and she ends up crossing paths with Hiro and they end up in a weird professional partnership, and she does him a lot of solids.

Juanita is an ex-lover of Hiro who ends up following the money to a mysterious story that may be at the root of a weird virtual drug/virus called Snow Crash which not only crashes your computer but your human brain as well. She gives Hiro the hint of the story which he then follows. 

This is a book of its time. YT ends up having sex with a character a lot older than her under dubious circumstances and that was seriously ick. There is a ridiculous amount of infodumping. It probably could have been half as long and twice as interesting with some plot changes. I can’t say I’d recommend it to anybody except those who like to read stuff like this for the archaeology of it, but not for the story itself.