If you read neuromancer and like it, then I think you're required to read this book? I don't know - I don't make the rules - but I'm pretty certain that one is a hard and fast law.
This is the second book I've read of Stephenson's (the first being Seveneves) and his writing is great. He find a way of immersing you in a world. His characters are punchy and likable. In both books, however, you get the idea that he is really writing the book to get a couple core ideas across from you. In Seveneves, that concept to me was epigenetics, and the rest of the story was scaffolding to set up a few core ideas around that concept.
Most countries are static, all they need to do is keep having babies. But America's like this big old clanking smoking machine that just lumbers across the landscape scooping up and eating everything in sight.
In this book, you have a handful anthropological and technical facts and ideas that Stephenson weave masterfully into a compelling narrative. And he places it all in a world of complete chaos which allows for the supervillain like antagonist to operate. My only real complaint is that the book contains such an insane amount of facts, delivered for a while in almost continuous exposition that it really started dragging for me about 3/4 of the way through.
Despite this, it delivers on most fronts. It can be a little to follow what's going on sometimes due to the bizarre nature of the universe in which it is set. But by grounding the story in two interesting main characters, it is easy to ignore the complexity of the world behind it.
Also Neal Stephenson wrote this sentence in 2003 which puts him about a decade ahead of his time:
It was, of course, nothing more than sexism, the especially virulent type espoused by male techies who sincerely believe that they are too smart to be sexists.