Reviews

The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. by Nicole Galland, Neal Stephenson

lorendia's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

All the fun of Neal Stephenson without the long didactics about random bits of technology: it was fantastic!

Fun, curious, and mind-bending. 

codergrl's review against another edition

5.0

This book was absolutely superb. A really well created mixture of science, magic, time travel and well developed characters. I wish it was possible to go back in time to when I started reading it so I can read it again.

ciaracat's review against another edition

adventurous funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

robrogan's review against another edition

5.0

I read this on Kindle and Audible. I think the Audible cast did a great job and it was nice to have multiple narrators for this. Having said that, I read most of the book without the audio.

Overall, the book was a tad different than what I normally get out of Stephenson, but perhaps that's due to being co-authored. I usually enjoy (except when I don't) his long and detailed tangents into a topic I usually know nothing about. In Sevenenves, or Anathem, I find myself delighted with some actual real knowledge on a subject despite the books fictional plot. This book has a little bit of the explainer-tangent that often comes with Sci-Fi, but I would say it's more like a TV show explainer than the usual Stephenson mini-lecture. For some people, that extra layer of detail is what they love or hate about Stephenson, so that makes this book either better or worse than his others - depending where you stand on that.

I think I prefer the more detailed explainers, but I wasn't disappointed by this book. It was a truly interesting mix of science and magic, as well as his typically huge scope of time.

noirverse's review against another edition

4.0

It should be no secret that I was immediately interested in this book from the moment of reading the blurb. I'm a very big fan of fantasy and science fiction and the mingling of the two is one of my favorite things to read about if done well. And this was a book that was done well.

This is a brick of a novel but don't let that hold you back on giving this book a chance. I went into it uncertain what the concept would be but was very pleased that it was taken in a direction that I found highly engaging and exciting. It does have its humor to it which sparked a grin from me several times. My favorite parts were the characters getting right to it with time travel and dealing with subsequent mess that it brought. It was the characters interacting with the world that I liked the most.

However, it did have some flaws. The book felt like it was plagued by an undercurrent of sexism that the authors simply didn't notice. I highly doubt that they intentionally meant it and it shows through in the book.

Spoiler

The one specific thing that I was particularly bothered by was the fact that Belvin, Stokes' former superior, was mentioned to have sexually harassed Melisande. Nothing comes of this. Instead, Belvin more or less fades away into irrelevance to the plot altogether near the end. Here I was thinking that Melisande would be able to have her moment of glory against Belvin but, to my great disappointment, that didn't happen.

This is just one example of several that other readers might pick up on. It brought down my enjoyment of the story and felt like a flaw that could've easily been done away with. Make of that what you will.

There was also some lingering problems with pacing and giving detail to things that I honestly didn't care about and less so towards things I did, such as actual adventures on going time traveling. It dragged in some places but was made up for by when the characters took over the action.

I liked the ending which for the most part, neatly tied up any lingering questions and would eagerly look forward to a sequel. All in all, this was a greatly enjoyable read that I sped through in the course of two days. It brought in fresh and new concepts that I have not seen done before. I would highly recommend at least giving this a chance if you are at all interested in a fresh spin on Time Travel and Science Fantasy.

peytonsimmons's review against another edition

adventurous challenging funny reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

amgbskate26's review against another edition

funny mysterious slow-paced

3.0

cdoors's review against another edition

adventurous funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

klparmley's review against another edition

3.0

This was fun. If you liked Connie Willis' Oxford Time Travel books, you will probably enjoy this. And vice versa.

helloiammikki's review

3.0

I guess it was just something other than what I expected, and I had a hard time really getting into it. I didn't care much for all the cloaks and dagger mystery stuff; I just wanted to read about witches and time travel. You also reeeaaally need to suspend your disbelief in order for the story to make sense. I know there are people who feel like scifi and fantasy don't need to 'be realistic', but if you're going to set something in a real world setting, it does. The science obviously doesn't have to be infallible, but stuff about procedure, communication and security was very unrealistic here, in my opinion. I also felt the story was very drawn out, and there was a part in the middle where it dragged so much I almost gave up. And the ending was a tad unsatisfying to me too. Giving it three stars because the idea is fun, and the writing is decent, but the reading experience was closer to two stars for me.