Master of the Revels: A Return to Neal Stephenson's D.O.D.O.

This is a truly terribly-written book. I came to it expecting a light entertainment built on the flimsy ground of its prequel. What I got was a baggy mess that got nowhere at all despite spending a few hundred pages groping for a plot.

If you read the first one, you might be curious about the attempted Irish accent that was inflicted on Grainne. This has not been repaired, and Grainne's dialog, which was just about the worst part of the original, is just as bad. This, unfortunately, is in no way the worst thing about this book.

It's actually pretty impressive just how bad this book manages to be. While the first was able to careen from one implausibility to the next fast enough to keep you from really thinking too much about just how show more ridiculous it was, this one lingers over its mistakes, like a dog over its vomit.

Trying to catalog those mistakes would be tedious. They all add up to one thing: Galland doesn't trust the plot she's concocted to carry the reader through from one end of the book to the other, and justifiably so. Instead of repairing the plot, she resorts to killing off characters or subjecting them to sexual assault or graphically-described torture when she's afraid the reader's attention might be flagging. The fact that the first of these incidents comes in the opening pages of the book should give you a pretty clear indication that this writer does not believe you're in good hands here.

And, gentle reader, on that she is perfectly correct. If you read and enjoyed The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O, it's probably best to leave this one unread.

Personally, having read this sequel I've consigned both volumes to my local Little Free Library. show less

I liked it, but didn't love it. First off, the elephant in the room, the main characters from book 1 were barely here, and some of them were done wrong. For example, how dare you treat Frank that way? It was a good hook though, but didn't pay off in this book. Maybe book 3 but who knows. Also, Tristan is barely here, and I had less of a problem with that because I found him to be a little too straitlaced and uptight. We did get a few Mel POVs but otherwise we spent time with a new character, Robin, who was not bad, but was written as an excuse so that the author could seriously geek out about her Shakespearean knowledge. Which, if you got it, flaunt it. The story was interesting, but somehow felt smaller in scale than book 1. We barely show more got hints of what the other secret organizations around the world were up to, or what the other ramifications of these events were around the world. There could have been more explored here. I will still probably read book 3 if it is published. show less

Not nearly as good as the first book, which was excellent and highly recommended.

The format of letters, action reports, and transcripts made sense in the context of charting the burgeoning government bureaucracy as D.O.D.O. was founded and grew, but is much less compelling for a ragtag bunch of volunteers acting on their own. It just makes the storytelling seem disjointed and strained. That would have been forgivable, but the story itself plods along. Shakespeare or theatre fans might enjoy it more than I did, but I found the whole 1606 sub-plot boring and repetitive.

The sudden introduction of Robin was also a bit jarring. She'd been living 2 hrs away for the past 5 years and never once visited, and out of every possible time period show more and subject matter just happens to be a trained expert in the exact field in which she is needed to save her brother? Convenient coincidence much?

And finally, with the exception of his wife, the team seems completely unconcerned with trying to save Frank, and the explanations for why they aren't even attempting to rescue him sound contrived. show less

In this brilliant sequel to The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. by Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland, a daring young time traveler must return to Jacobean England to save the modern world. Master of the Revels is an enthralling, history-bending adventure traversing time and space, fact and fiction, magic and science.

Didn't enjoy this one, and I think the editor might be to blame. Telling the story through after-action reports is a nice idea, but the execution poor - nobody would write their after-action report so prosaically, and the attempt to give different characters a distinctive written "voice" felt forced, especially Robin. The other real irritation was the constant reminder of what characters were trying to achieve - every seven or eight pages, the author would make sure you're still following along, which - yes thanks, I was, but also now grinding my teeth. Many of the plot devices felt seriously forced - the Fuggers' "influence"(?) as the reason why characters are somehow unable to interfere with one another in the present day, but fine to show more be at each others' throats in other eras (wouldn't an investor be much more concerned about the past changing from under their feet?). I think the missions chosen were also a bit odd - if Leonardo is a problem, for example, why not just go and kill him - with the spell that we learn (right at the end) wipes someone from all strands - before he came up with whatever invention; why go after his ancestors? Why wasn't that spell ever used on Robin? Meanwhile, why does Tristan just turn up to the okay at the end, how, and without prior contact with W.S.? show less

I enjoyed this return to the world of D.O.D.O. very much, and recommend it! It's another good rollicking time-traveling thriller.

TBC