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This book [0] was quite enjoyable to read. I realize the article is about far beyond the book, but in case anyone has not read it yet, I highly recommend it as

by ajr0 9y ago

This book [0] was quite enjoyable to read. I realize the article is about far beyond the book, but in case anyone has not read it yet, I highly recommend it as some good grade Sci-Fi. [0] https://www.amazon.com/Seveneves-Neal-Stephenson/dp/0062334514/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1506006374&sr=8-1&keywords=seveneves+Neal+Stephenson https://www.amazon.com/Seveneves-Neal-Stephenson/dp/00623345...

spapas82 9y ago
I really liked the book, probably my favourite from Neal Stephenson. Great hard scifi, fantastic solutions to problems without any deus ex machina (of course the agent that splits the moon can be thought as one) - will definitely make you think and satisfy your hunger for this kind of thing. The book can be thought of two big parts (the first is about 3/4 of the book), I don't really want to spoil, but the second part is much inferior to the first one and you won't miss much if you skip it. I know you won't but in any case...
- barkingcat 9y ago
  The 2nd part is terrible. Should have been cut by an editor. Or the editor should have made him rewrite that whole 2nd part, perhaps make it into Book 2.
  - davidw 9y ago
    I thought the first 2/3's of it were too depressing, and thought the last bit was decent sci-fi, which is what I actually like to read.
    - barkingcat 9y ago
      There is a good story in the last bit, but it's horribly written and deserves to be better. Despite there being some interesting elements, it is still pretty much unpublishable (in terms of coherence in characterization and setting, plot, etc - basic elements of good writing). I think a fanfic writer can come up with something better given the same material. I think Stephenson could also do that material justice, IF he rewrote it.
      - davidw 9y ago
        Yeah, it's not great, but it's at least back to being kind of uplifting sci-fi. I would have been happier with a book that was a more developed 'future world' with a few flashbacks to the big disaster, rather than dwelling on it. If I want to contemplate death and destruction, there's plenty of that in the real world.
      - kbenson 9y ago
        It did feel like the last part was Stephenson deciding that he had far too many ideas about how this would all turn out in the end to leave it that way, or even with a short epilogue, so he expanded it into an extended epilogue, which is what it feels like in the end. Add in him wanting to throw in what he thinks are some cool technologies, or how weapons would develop when carried through an arc that largely bypasses gunpowder, or when satellites are ubiquitous, and you get the filler segments we ended up with. I largely enjoyed that part, but not as much as the first two parts. I would have been supremely annoyed if he didn't give some explanation of what happened after the first two parts, since he didn't really resolve humanity's problems as much as trade one problem for another. Some sort of extended epilogue was warranted, and I can see how deciding just the right length for it could be hard to get right when it needs to relay a lot of information to satisfy the readers. What we got was the third act which doled out the history sparingly but consistently over its length, but the story was lacking.
  - zimpenfish 9y ago
    > The good news: Stephenson has learned how to write a good 600-page book. The bad news: Seveneves is 900 pages long. https://blog.plover.com/book/Seveneves.html https://blog.plover.com/book/Seveneves.html
  - maxxxxx 9y ago
    The second part is weird. First he spends a lot of time on describing that world in very little detail but then he rushes through the story without giving much background. And the end just comes out of nowhere without closing the story,
yoodenvranx 9y ago
He should have made at least 2 or 3 books out of Seveneves. The last quarter of the book feels so rushed and it left me quite disappointed.
- jowiar 9y ago
  This is every Stephenson book. Snowcrash, Cryptonomicon, Anathem, and The Diamond Age also fall victim to similar problems. He is a fantastic world-builder, but eventually he runs out of paper and needs to make things resolve, and the pacing falls apart. Incidentally, GoT is suffering badly from the same problem.
- bredren 9y ago
  I think this would have "fixed" this book. I actually liked the major concept shift for the second half. It was totally different and unexpected. But it also felt rushed and really heavy on some of the "sciencey" type descriptions of how various things were possible. If it had been split into two releases, both would probably have done better, but I bet they would have sold less as well. :)
clavalle 9y ago
I really hope Stephenson writes a sequel. He left it open for one but he tends to do that.
robbiep 9y ago
I love the first half but the second half is predictable and formulaic with stock characters that annoy you more than inform you. And then the sea people come back? Jesus. <Former Spoiler regarding my frustration with some DNA stuff here> Still, i'll probably read it a third time one of these days.
- TomK32 9y ago
  Gosh, the whole DNS stuff was a constant WTF for me.
  - ghaff 9y ago
    DNS is often like that for me as well :-) But, yes, the DNA in Seveneves involved a huge amount of handwaving to arrive at the story that Stephenson apparently wanted to close on.
    - hackeraccount 9y ago
      That. Right at the end of the first part of the book - when some of the DNA Stuff (put that way to avoid spoiling) is when I sort of mentally check out. It was especially annoying because it could have gone somewhere more fun if less... I don't know what the term would be, mythic, maybe? I think he was going for some giant over arching plot that spanned the book and that desire created the need for a bit more hand waving then I could handle.
felipesabino 9y ago
Oh, Seveneves! I once listed it as the book that disappointed me the most [1] and seeing cool stuff like this simulation reminded me why again. I think my explanation still reflects my opinions on the book and might be relevant here: > I didn't know it before I started reading it, but the book plot is divided in 2 (very different) acts. > The first one just captivates you in a way that makes it very hard to stop reading or even thinking about it when you are reading. > Little did I know when the second act started and oh man, it was a complete struggle. It seems that the pace changes completely to an almost stall and the book just became complete unreadable for me. > While the first act took me days, the second took me weeks and weeks to go further in the book and even with my kindle saying I still had 15% to finish, I got so frustrated that I just quit and never even had the curiosity to know how it ends. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/65z04t/what_book_disappointed_you_the_most/dgg7nts/?utm_content=permalink&utm_medium=user&utm_source=reddit&utm_name=frontpage https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/65z04t/what_book_dis...
- magic_beans 9y ago
  What was so different between the two acts?
  - eric_h 9y ago
    The first act is about how the present day human race survives the moon being destroyed. The second takes place 5000 years in the future and is essentially about the return to earth. I don’t share GP’s opinion, I quite enjoyed both acts. I do agree that the pace of the two is quite different - the first being a bit more sci-fi thriller pace and the second is a bit more contemplative.
    - Jemaclus 9y ago
      There's actually three acts: Earth, Space, Moon. It's really a trilogy smushed up into one book. I agree, though. The first two acts were great, and the third fell flatter than the earlier two. But I enjoyed it nonetheless. It's nice to imagine what would happen, and it's pretty hard scifi throughout, albeit greatly accelerated.
pklausler 9y ago
Stephenson is my absolute favorite living author (RIP, DFW) when he's good (Anathem, Cryptonomicon, Snow Crash), but appallingly bad when he's bad (The Rise and Fall of DODO, REAMDE). You can safely give Seveneves a miss, and should go read the really good stuff first in any case.
- RandallBrown 9y ago
  Oh man, I loved REAMDE. It was just a fun book to read. It was absolutely absurd with how much was going on, but I loved reading it.
Florin_Andrei 9y ago
So, in the first part, I was able to identify characters that are thinly veiled allusions to famous people in the real world. Elon Musk, and Neil deGrasse Tyson, were the ones I've found. Anyone else missing from the list?
- maxcan 9y ago
  This is definitely controversial, but Julia Bliss Flaherty / Hilary Rodham Clinton
  - Florin_Andrei 9y ago
    It did cross my mind, but it doesn't seem to rhyme with what I (think I) know about the author.
  - TeMPOraL 9y ago
    With the little knowledge of US politics that I have, I imagined the JBF as Sarah Palin.
reubenswartz 9y ago
I love Stephenson as a storyteller, but hate him as a writer, if that makes any sense. There were parts of Seveneves that I thought were spectacular, and a lot that I thought was silly, and most of which I hated reading. ;-)

by ajr0 9y ago

spapas82 9y ago

I really liked the book, probably my favourite from Neal Stephenson. Great hard scifi, fantastic solutions to problems without any deus ex machina (of course the agent that splits the moon can be thought as one) - will definitely make you think and satisfy your hunger for this kind of thing. The book can be thought of two big parts (the first is about 3/4 of the book), I don't really want to spoil, but the second part is much inferior to the first one and you won't miss much if you skip it. I know you won't but in any case...

barkingcat 9y ago
The 2nd part is terrible. Should have been cut by an editor. Or the editor should have made him rewrite that whole 2nd part, perhaps make it into Book 2.
- davidw 9y ago
  I thought the first 2/3's of it were too depressing, and thought the last bit was decent sci-fi, which is what I actually like to read.
  - barkingcat 9y ago
    There is a good story in the last bit, but it's horribly written and deserves to be better. Despite there being some interesting elements, it is still pretty much unpublishable (in terms of coherence in characterization and setting, plot, etc - basic elements of good writing). I think a fanfic writer can come up with something better given the same material. I think Stephenson could also do that material justice, IF he rewrote it.
    - davidw 9y ago
      Yeah, it's not great, but it's at least back to being kind of uplifting sci-fi. I would have been happier with a book that was a more developed 'future world' with a few flashbacks to the big disaster, rather than dwelling on it. If I want to contemplate death and destruction, there's plenty of that in the real world.
    - kbenson 9y ago
      It did feel like the last part was Stephenson deciding that he had far too many ideas about how this would all turn out in the end to leave it that way, or even with a short epilogue, so he expanded it into an extended epilogue, which is what it feels like in the end. Add in him wanting to throw in what he thinks are some cool technologies, or how weapons would develop when carried through an arc that largely bypasses gunpowder, or when satellites are ubiquitous, and you get the filler segments we ended up with. I largely enjoyed that part, but not as much as the first two parts. I would have been supremely annoyed if he didn't give some explanation of what happened after the first two parts, since he didn't really resolve humanity's problems as much as trade one problem for another. Some sort of extended epilogue was warranted, and I can see how deciding just the right length for it could be hard to get right when it needs to relay a lot of information to satisfy the readers. What we got was the third act which doled out the history sparingly but consistently over its length, but the story was lacking.
- zimpenfish 9y ago
  > The good news: Stephenson has learned how to write a good 600-page book. The bad news: Seveneves is 900 pages long. https://blog.plover.com/book/Seveneves.html https://blog.plover.com/book/Seveneves.html
- maxxxxx 9y ago
  The second part is weird. First he spends a lot of time on describing that world in very little detail but then he rushes through the story without giving much background. And the end just comes out of nowhere without closing the story,

yoodenvranx 9y ago

He should have made at least 2 or 3 books out of Seveneves. The last quarter of the book feels so rushed and it left me quite disappointed.

jowiar 9y ago
This is every Stephenson book. Snowcrash, Cryptonomicon, Anathem, and The Diamond Age also fall victim to similar problems. He is a fantastic world-builder, but eventually he runs out of paper and needs to make things resolve, and the pacing falls apart. Incidentally, GoT is suffering badly from the same problem.
bredren 9y ago
I think this would have "fixed" this book. I actually liked the major concept shift for the second half. It was totally different and unexpected. But it also felt rushed and really heavy on some of the "sciencey" type descriptions of how various things were possible. If it had been split into two releases, both would probably have done better, but I bet they would have sold less as well. :)

clavalle 9y ago

I really hope Stephenson writes a sequel. He left it open for one but he tends to do that.

robbiep 9y ago

I love the first half but the second half is predictable and formulaic with stock characters that annoy you more than inform you. And then the sea people come back? Jesus. <Former Spoiler regarding my frustration with some DNA stuff here> Still, i'll probably read it a third time one of these days.

TomK32 9y ago
Gosh, the whole DNS stuff was a constant WTF for me.
- ghaff 9y ago
  DNS is often like that for me as well :-) But, yes, the DNA in Seveneves involved a huge amount of handwaving to arrive at the story that Stephenson apparently wanted to close on.
  - hackeraccount 9y ago
    That. Right at the end of the first part of the book - when some of the DNA Stuff (put that way to avoid spoiling) is when I sort of mentally check out. It was especially annoying because it could have gone somewhere more fun if less... I don't know what the term would be, mythic, maybe? I think he was going for some giant over arching plot that spanned the book and that desire created the need for a bit more hand waving then I could handle.

felipesabino 9y ago

Oh, Seveneves! I once listed it as the book that disappointed me the most [1] and seeing cool stuff like this simulation reminded me why again. I think my explanation still reflects my opinions on the book and might be relevant here: > I didn't know it before I started reading it, but the book plot is divided in 2 (very different) acts. > The first one just captivates you in a way that makes it very hard to stop reading or even thinking about it when you are reading. > Little did I know when the second act started and oh man, it was a complete struggle. It seems that the pace changes completely to an almost stall and the book just became complete unreadable for me. > While the first act took me days, the second took me weeks and weeks to go further in the book and even with my kindle saying I still had 15% to finish, I got so frustrated that I just quit and never even had the curiosity to know how it ends. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/65z04t/what_book_disappointed_you_the_most/dgg7nts/?utm_content=permalink&utm_medium=user&utm_source=reddit&utm_name=frontpage https://www.reddit.com/r/books/comments/65z04t/what_book_dis...

magic_beans 9y ago
What was so different between the two acts?
- eric_h 9y ago
  The first act is about how the present day human race survives the moon being destroyed. The second takes place 5000 years in the future and is essentially about the return to earth. I don’t share GP’s opinion, I quite enjoyed both acts. I do agree that the pace of the two is quite different - the first being a bit more sci-fi thriller pace and the second is a bit more contemplative.
  - Jemaclus 9y ago
    There's actually three acts: Earth, Space, Moon. It's really a trilogy smushed up into one book. I agree, though. The first two acts were great, and the third fell flatter than the earlier two. But I enjoyed it nonetheless. It's nice to imagine what would happen, and it's pretty hard scifi throughout, albeit greatly accelerated.

pklausler 9y ago

Stephenson is my absolute favorite living author (RIP, DFW) when he's good (Anathem, Cryptonomicon, Snow Crash), but appallingly bad when he's bad (The Rise and Fall of DODO, REAMDE). You can safely give Seveneves a miss, and should go read the really good stuff first in any case.

RandallBrown 9y ago
Oh man, I loved REAMDE. It was just a fun book to read. It was absolutely absurd with how much was going on, but I loved reading it.

Florin_Andrei 9y ago

So, in the first part, I was able to identify characters that are thinly veiled allusions to famous people in the real world. Elon Musk, and Neil deGrasse Tyson, were the ones I've found. Anyone else missing from the list?

maxcan 9y ago
This is definitely controversial, but Julia Bliss Flaherty / Hilary Rodham Clinton
- Florin_Andrei 9y ago
  It did cross my mind, but it doesn't seem to rhyme with what I (think I) know about the author.
- TeMPOraL 9y ago
  With the little knowledge of US politics that I have, I imagined the JBF as Sarah Palin.

reubenswartz 9y ago

I love Stephenson as a storyteller, but hate him as a writer, if that makes any sense. There were parts of Seveneves that I thought were spectacular, and a lot that I thought was silly, and most of which I hated reading. ;-)