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3.88 AVERAGE
3.88 AVERAGE
An impressive epic that could've been better executed
With 2 parts "hard science" space exploration and 1 part "science fiction", "Seveneves" probably is too expansive to please anyone. Either people like the first two parts and don't care for the third, or like me, find the first two parts dull and unimaginative, and the only actual story and interesting plot is the third. It's not that I don't mind hard science, but if I feel like it was Stephenson wanting to show his research off. I never knew the end of the world could be so boring; with almost no dramatic impetus to continue and pain-staking descriptions that were difficult and uneventful to understand, I almost cut my losses after around 400 pages of rather dull sequences of events that for all reason should have been much more exciting.
Thus I think this could've been remedied by better framing. I understand what Stephenson was going for in how the sequences of events transform into something of a legendary character, but breaking things up also gives the reader an enjoyable task of piecing things together. Rather than laying it all out in normal order, interspersing the two portions between each other, and letting the reader see the corollaries, can be much more rewarding (think like the film "Memento").
Overall, I did almost put this book down because I found so much hard science so dull, but I struggled through to be rewarded in the third part with finally some imagination, some plot, some real characters, and a whole world-building that finally deserved the effort and scope being demanded.
3 stars for what was obviously a lot of work and a great after-glow of sheer scale, but wish the execution could've made it more of a page-turner story.
With 2 parts "hard science" space exploration and 1 part "science fiction", "Seveneves" probably is too expansive to please anyone. Either people like the first two parts and don't care for the third, or like me, find the first two parts dull and unimaginative, and the only actual story and interesting plot is the third. It's not that I don't mind hard science, but if I feel like it was Stephenson wanting to show his research off. I never knew the end of the world could be so boring; with almost no dramatic impetus to continue and pain-staking descriptions that were difficult and uneventful to understand, I almost cut my losses after around 400 pages of rather dull sequences of events that for all reason should have been much more exciting.
Thus I think this could've been remedied by better framing. I understand what Stephenson was going for in how the sequences of events transform into something of a legendary character, but breaking things up also gives the reader an enjoyable task of piecing things together. Rather than laying it all out in normal order, interspersing the two portions between each other, and letting the reader see the corollaries, can be much more rewarding (think like the film "Memento").
Overall, I did almost put this book down because I found so much hard science so dull, but I struggled through to be rewarded in the third part with finally some imagination, some plot, some real characters, and a whole world-building that finally deserved the effort and scope being demanded.
3 stars for what was obviously a lot of work and a great after-glow of sheer scale, but wish the execution could've made it more of a page-turner story.
dark
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Loveable characters:
Complicated
I started this book with very high expectations. However, halfway of it it became more of a burden than a pleasure to read. At the end, I just wanted it to be finished. Here are my top reasons with this book barely deserves 3 stars:
- This book could have been reduced to 500-600 pages and still be good. Instead, it provided tons of technical details. I for one welcome technical explanations, but still in many times it was annoying in a Tolkien-describing-vegetation kind of way.
- This book could actually be divided in one novel and one novella. This, and the reduction of some of the technical explanations could have given more space to describe how they survived, the social interactions after they arrived to Cleft, etc... I wasn't expecting a NASA technical handbook, I think the social part was way more interesting!
- For me, it would have been way more interesting some description of the following centuries rather than jumping 5K years without any other information. I would suppose that other events occurred during those millennia that were as relevan or more than meeting the Diggers and Pingers.
- The Agent. WTF is the Agent? What did cause the destruction of the moon? Was it natural? Some aliens? Would it occur again, say with planet Earth? All these questions were really important for this society, but apparently, nobody cared about the Agent anymore, which is lame IMHO.
- For me it is kind of weird to imagine such a separation among races, when they started in such a populated, reduced space. I would expect way more mixing (voluntary or not). The reason there are different groups of people on Earth is because we live separated by great distances. If everybody lived in the same place for centuries, I doubt we wouldn't mix almost completely.
- Why Sonar Taxlaw simply decides to join a party of aliens that was engaged in a fight with her group/clan/family a few minutes earlier? Seriously?
- Why Einstein has to hold the picture? Would the Pingers really recognize an Ivyan? I doubt it.
- What is the role of Ty? The purpose? Some brief explanations at the end but nothing really clarifying. It didn't seem like a resource to keep the mystery, but more like "I'm running out of pages" issue.
- The ending was absolutely anticlimactic, which is probably the most disappointing part of the book. I was expecting some Great Revelation® or other type of exciting end, but the end was really disappointing.
I'll be happy to read another book from Stephenson, but I'll probably will try to play it safe next time.
- This book could have been reduced to 500-600 pages and still be good. Instead, it provided tons of technical details. I for one welcome technical explanations, but still in many times it was annoying in a Tolkien-describing-vegetation kind of way.
Spoiler
- This book could actually be divided in one novel and one novella. This, and the reduction of some of the technical explanations could have given more space to describe how they survived, the social interactions after they arrived to Cleft, etc... I wasn't expecting a NASA technical handbook, I think the social part was way more interesting!
- For me, it would have been way more interesting some description of the following centuries rather than jumping 5K years without any other information. I would suppose that other events occurred during those millennia that were as relevan or more than meeting the Diggers and Pingers.
- The Agent. WTF is the Agent? What did cause the destruction of the moon? Was it natural? Some aliens? Would it occur again, say with planet Earth? All these questions were really important for this society, but apparently, nobody cared about the Agent anymore, which is lame IMHO.
- For me it is kind of weird to imagine such a separation among races, when they started in such a populated, reduced space. I would expect way more mixing (voluntary or not). The reason there are different groups of people on Earth is because we live separated by great distances. If everybody lived in the same place for centuries, I doubt we wouldn't mix almost completely.
- Why Sonar Taxlaw simply decides to join a party of aliens that was engaged in a fight with her group/clan/family a few minutes earlier? Seriously?
- Why Einstein has to hold the picture? Would the Pingers really recognize an Ivyan? I doubt it.
- What is the role of Ty? The purpose? Some brief explanations at the end but nothing really clarifying. It didn't seem like a resource to keep the mystery, but more like "I'm running out of pages" issue.
- The ending was absolutely anticlimactic, which is probably the most disappointing part of the book. I was expecting some Great Revelation® or other type of exciting end, but the end was really disappointing.
I'll be happy to read another book from Stephenson, but I'll probably will try to play it safe next time.
Really enjoyable scifi- a bit in the long side- but it’s really 2 books in one, in a way. Some interesting things to consider- but it didn’t quite make it to my ‘love’ list.
I'm conflicted. I really enjoyed the first two-thirds of this book, which had everything I look for in a Neal Stephenson novel: a unique and creative premise, interesting characters (though not well developed in every case), and cool science-y stuff. I'd rate it alone 4 stars. There was even a perfect ending at the conclusion of that two-thirds. What Stephenson does next -- namely, to continue the story past this point -- is a poor choice in my opinion. Trying to avoid spoilers, I'll just say that *everything* changes and the last third of the book feels like an entirely different book. It's a fascinating if jarring shift, but unfortunately it was not fleshed out enough and felt hurried. I'd much rather have waited for a full-length sequel to Seveneves, following in greater detail the back stories of each of the four main groups. Maybe we'll still get that someday -- I'll look forward to it. Meanwhile I'll pretend that Seveneves was one-third shorter.
I absolutely loved the premise of this book. I absolutely loved the attention to detail this book employed. I loved the overwrought political drama.
However, I almost rated this book 3 stars. After 300 pages, I wanted to rate it 5 stars. What changed?
Unfortunately, the author spends 500 pages on setting up the story and then seems to realize that the book is supposed to be 900 pages long. He then decides, ok, let's wrap up the entire first section in 10 pages. I then turned the page and see this:
OK I finally get over my annoyance at the suddenness of the ending of the first half the story, get into the next 300 pages and BOOM, he does it again. I can almost see the thought process. "This book is approaching 900 pages and I need to wrap things up. Oh who cares. Let's just throw some stuff in the last 20 pages and call it a day so I can cash the royalty checks."
So, why did I give this 4* after those complaints? Despite my intense dislike of the last 20 pages of each half of the book, the rest of the writing was excellent. It was crisp. The characters were well defined. The science was impeccable. The setup was intriguing. After the first 500 pages, I was prepared to add it to my Books Everyone Should Read shelf. If only Neal could learn how to wrap up his thoughts a bit better :(
However, I almost rated this book 3 stars. After 300 pages, I wanted to rate it 5 stars. What changed?
Unfortunately, the author spends 500 pages on setting up the story and then seems to realize that the book is supposed to be 900 pages long. He then decides, ok, let's wrap up the entire first section in 10 pages. I then turned the page and see this:
OK I finally get over my annoyance at the suddenness of the ending of the first half the story, get into the next 300 pages and BOOM, he does it again. I can almost see the thought process. "This book is approaching 900 pages and I need to wrap things up. Oh who cares. Let's just throw some stuff in the last 20 pages and call it a day so I can cash the royalty checks."
So, why did I give this 4* after those complaints? Despite my intense dislike of the last 20 pages of each half of the book, the rest of the writing was excellent. It was crisp. The characters were well defined. The science was impeccable. The setup was intriguing. After the first 500 pages, I was prepared to add it to my Books Everyone Should Read shelf. If only Neal could learn how to wrap up his thoughts a bit better :(
adventurous
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes