It felt like Stephenson had a committee of editors, and they told him certain things would make the book sell better, and they promised to fund his VR sword game.

One of the men sacrificing his life is described in a way to tick off a diversity checkbox, for example.

I stuck around because the cosmological ramblings reminded me of Anathem, and while the ending became Animorphs, I couldn't follow him into REAMDE.

I just keep Anathem and Diamond Age in mind when folks discuss Stephenson. Those have my favorite moments. Someday, I may venture into his past works.