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3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
A truly fun read. With books by Neal Stephenson, I either love them (Anathem, Reamde) or hate them (Cryptonomicon). I'm glad to say that this is in the first category.
Characters: 4.8*
Universe: 5*
Plot: 4.8*
This is a fun book that has a lot of twists and turns (as do many of Neal's books), but it also has a lot of heart and even (gasp!) a sense of humor! The characters are enjoyable and reasonably complex (and I even enjoyed the antagonist).
The universe is fascinating and you can truly suspend disbelief to imagine a world where magic is actually real as you read through it.
My only quibble (as I have with a few other books by Neal) is the ending. If you need to have every loose thread cleanly handled by the end of the book, this may not be the book for you. It is a satisfying ending, but it leaves things in such a state that there might just be a sequel in store someday.
Characters: 4.8*
Universe: 5*
Plot: 4.8*
This is a fun book that has a lot of twists and turns (as do many of Neal's books), but it also has a lot of heart and even (gasp!) a sense of humor! The characters are enjoyable and reasonably complex (and I even enjoyed the antagonist).
The universe is fascinating and you can truly suspend disbelief to imagine a world where magic is actually real as you read through it.
My only quibble (as I have with a few other books by Neal) is the ending. If you need to have every loose thread cleanly handled by the end of the book, this may not be the book for you. It is a satisfying ending, but it leaves things in such a state that there might just be a sequel in store someday.
adventurous
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I was cautiously optimistic going into this, and I was very happy with how enjoyable this book was. The team author approach really paid off, from what I can tell, and the thoughtfulness of the time-travel logic was really delightful to see unfold.
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
The combination of witchy sci-fi/fantasy and dry humor made this so much fun to read. I haven’t laughed out loud this much while reading a book since…I don’t remember. It’s also a great example of a solid, well-thought out time travel system!
It's more than three stars but I had to warn readers that it's a bit of a slog in the middle, partly because of its report-style writing. But you'll appreciate it once you get to the last quarter of the book. It's like a 300 hundred page setup for a good joke (and story) You know how Neil does ;)
This is a historical romance novel consulted on by Neal Stephenson about military bureaucracy with a thin, unsatisfying sheen of time travel and magick. Did not finish.
Really fucking disappointing since the first couple of chapters were really exciting and the overall premise is a terrific scifi conceit: magick is the manipulation of 'strands' of the multiverse. But just as it gets going, it morphs into an insufferably tedious historical romance novel. Now, I mean, I LIKE a good naked dagger fight between hot dudes (who doesn't?), but jesus this became boring as fuck.
Sigh.
Really fucking disappointing since the first couple of chapters were really exciting and the overall premise is a terrific scifi conceit: magick is the manipulation of 'strands' of the multiverse. But just as it gets going, it morphs into an insufferably tedious historical romance novel. Now, I mean, I LIKE a good naked dagger fight between hot dudes (who doesn't?), but jesus this became boring as fuck.
Sigh.
adventurous
medium-paced
This has to be one of the most Neal Stephenson books I've read in some time. Nicole Galland (the co-author) has a hand in it, which is appreciated, but it seems at times that no amount of traditional storytelling can overpower Stephenson's desire to brainstorm strange scenarios.
I've always had a love/hate relationship with Stephenson's books. He more or less abandons standard plot development in order to build out wild and often obscure settings that are usually overly obsessed with some certain aspect of science or math. This trend continues as we are placed in a version of our current world where quantum physics, linguistics, and historic references to witchcraft are all pivotal plot points. The scenario is interesting enough, via cool-sounding physics theorems we can use witches (who are real) to time travel and alter the world as we know it today.
The hate portion of this relationship arises once this strange plan starts coming to fruition. Where a traditional story may slowly introduce world building through off-handed mentions or some light exposition, D.O.D.O. goes the way of a literal data dump at times. Since this book takes place within a fictional government agency, what better way to build a world then through office memos, internal wiki sites, and corporate meetings related to acronym usage? If this sounds like it could wear a reader thin, you have found the heart of my reasoning for rating this book as so. As clever as some of the jokes and drama of office life are, this book is too long to carry it. At least 20% of this book is written in office style writing, which means you are reading a small book of emails and memos. This device isn't clever or enjoyable enough for me to forgive it for going that long.
As far as the love part of the relationship, this has some major ups and downs. Bringing in a co-author greatly helps in making some of the characters more interesting, which is usually a struggle in these books. The two primary characters are the best I've read in a Stephenson book in some time, and there is good chemistry between them and the side characters. Despite this, the story is still an absolute train wreck. Some of this I think is an intentional play on the absurdity of time travel plots, but at the end of the book I found myself asking if anything I read mattered.
Ultimately, I feel that I've read nearly 800 page campaign setting for an RPG. The world created is richly detailed, to the point of ridiculousness. However, the story in-between the details is so lacking that I found myself struggling to give it attention.
I've always had a love/hate relationship with Stephenson's books. He more or less abandons standard plot development in order to build out wild and often obscure settings that are usually overly obsessed with some certain aspect of science or math. This trend continues as we are placed in a version of our current world where quantum physics, linguistics, and historic references to witchcraft are all pivotal plot points. The scenario is interesting enough, via cool-sounding physics theorems we can use witches (who are real) to time travel and alter the world as we know it today.
The hate portion of this relationship arises once this strange plan starts coming to fruition. Where a traditional story may slowly introduce world building through off-handed mentions or some light exposition, D.O.D.O. goes the way of a literal data dump at times. Since this book takes place within a fictional government agency, what better way to build a world then through office memos, internal wiki sites, and corporate meetings related to acronym usage? If this sounds like it could wear a reader thin, you have found the heart of my reasoning for rating this book as so. As clever as some of the jokes and drama of office life are, this book is too long to carry it. At least 20% of this book is written in office style writing, which means you are reading a small book of emails and memos. This device isn't clever or enjoyable enough for me to forgive it for going that long.
As far as the love part of the relationship, this has some major ups and downs. Bringing in a co-author greatly helps in making some of the characters more interesting, which is usually a struggle in these books. The two primary characters are the best I've read in a Stephenson book in some time, and there is good chemistry between them and the side characters. Despite this, the story is still an absolute train wreck. Some of this I think is an intentional play on the absurdity of time travel plots, but at the end of the book I found myself asking if anything I read mattered.
Ultimately, I feel that I've read nearly 800 page campaign setting for an RPG. The world created is richly detailed, to the point of ridiculousness. However, the story in-between the details is so lacking that I found myself struggling to give it attention.
