Seveneves

Even though I liked the book a lot, it was ultimately somewhat anticlimactic and unsatisfying.

Much of the book is spent in describing the technological, biographical and other expository information. Even though it didn't feel entirely like the story was at a standstill at those moments, I felt like the exposition and the scenes (dialogue, action etc.) were too often separated where they might better have been combined.

In the end, the book creates an extremely rich world, and describes so much, that I feel like picking up a non-existent encyclopedia about it, just so that I can satisfy my curiosity on many of the subjects which were only touched on very briefly, but which nonetheless seem extremely interesting in their own right. ( )

Emersive and well developed sci fi story from Stephenson (as always). Exploring what it might look like if humans had to escape earth on short notice.
( )

I picked this book from the Amazon bookstore in Seattle. A spontaneous purchase for the most part, justified in a way by my experience with Cryptonomicon.

Overall, I think that Neal is great at helping the reader visualize complex systems in intricate detail. This book had the advantage of a familiar setup (end of the world and such..) to explore some big moral and philosophical issues which lie at the core of each human; questions about identity, survival and community. The book did a great job setting up these questions in a gorgeously described universe and then failed to explore them.

More notes:
1. I rather enjoy Stephenson's forays into technological domains. For the most part these are grounded in valid science, a pre-requisite in my opinion for good science fiction. The details enhance the environment in which the story flows and the characters live. It is almost as if an understanding of the techno-background is required to appreciate the magnitude of challenges the characters face.

2. My biggest issue with the story and the characters was that it was for the most part black-and-white. People and factions were either good or bad (unusual, unless the story is told from the point of view of the people belonging to one of the factions). This strategy almost defeats the purpose of creating a rich environment with complex moral dilemmas with allusions to philosophical implications which by any reading of the human condition do not have easy answers. Take for example, the situation faced by the disconnected swarm. Since the overarching narrative focusses on the members of Izzy, we did not get to see the mental and physical challenges they faced. This continued into the Red-vs-Blue cold war.

3. Several reviewers have pointed this out and I'll say it again. The last chapter seemed a bit rushed and incomplete. If you remove the description of the technology and the phenotypes, there's not much left, in the story and the characters.

4. By the way, I'm sure that I was not the only one who could see the plot surprises coming up from quite a distance. ( )

The first part is some solid hard SF and I adored it. We have the apocalypse, space politics, orbital mechanics, and a big old exciting quest to save the human race with comets and stuff. So far, so awesome. After the time-jump (2/3 through), the storytelling falls flat and I found myself skimming a little. The overall narrative is still pretty satisfying but I'm not feeling more than 3-stars. Maybe I'm just annoyed about the unnecessary loose ends introduced in the last part and the interminable exposition about glider technology.

I also vaguely remember Stephenson having a sense of humor I liked but I didn't see it much here. Maybe the plot (end of the world and all) was too dark to pull off the light-hearted stuff.

If you're not into the excruciatingly detailed technological stuff, steer clear and just read Snow Crash again. Man, Snow Crash was a cool book. ( )

Ok, so I got as far as page 167, and decided a couple of things since the book is due back at the library.

I don't think I want to finish it. I also don't think I want to rate it. And none of that is because of any fault on the book's part -- in fact, it is a very very good book, well-written, good characters, compelling. Unfortunately, even though I love post-apocalyptic novels, I can't handle this level of realism, or this level of apocalypse. Too sad, too scary, and the idea of being trapped in space gives me the heebie jeebies.

At this point in the book the story is really just warming up -- the cataclysm is known but not yet occurred, and Stephenson is doing a bang-up job conveying sorrow and fear. At some point my need to know what happens may over-ride my unhappy feelings about this reality, but for now I'm setting it down. I'm walking away.