6 ms·

Save yourself 17000 hours of tedium and don't read "Fall, or Dodge in Hell". I'm a Stephenson fan from way back and have read everything, and loved a lot of it,

Save yourself 17000 hours of tedium and don't read "Fall, or Dodge in Hell". I'm a Stephenson fan from way back and have read everything, and loved a lot of it, but Fall is lukewarm garbage. Seven Eves and D.O.D.O. were not great, but Fall is really 1400ish pages of everything wrong with Stephenson's writing. Dude seriously needs an editor. The first 300 or so pages of Fall are not terrible and there are some interesting ideas and characters -- who are all abandoned in favor of several hundred pages of retelling the biblical Genesis legend from first principles and a new cast of characters who are actually processes in a computer simulated universe who are derived from the original characters but have total amnesia including about basics like identity, body form and function, and language. If a hundred pages of the interior monologue of a head injury patient in a coma sounds like a good time, this may be for you. For instance, it takes a couple dozen pages for the new characters to discover shit. I mean, literally, discover shit. First they percieve that they want to eat, then they discover how to eat, then they tell us how great it felt to eat, then they sleep and in the morning they discover they have to shit. Then they tell us shit smells bad. Once the new universe is up and running and all the characters have rediscovered everything so they can talk and walk and wipe themselves, they organize a society which is just as bad as anything they left behind. We suffer along with them. This takes hundreds of pages. And then ... oh yes ... we jump way into the future with all new characters and new settings for the final battle against the final boss. I can't even. Stephenson has never been good at endings, but this new method of just wandering away and then gluing another vaguely related book onto the back a few times is not working for him.

ackbar03 7y ago
That's a shame, I quite liked reamde and was excited there was a followup
- veggieburglar 7y ago
  You could read it yourself and form an opinion. I quite liked it. I know lots of people disparage Stephenson for going on tangents, but I read quickly and don’t mind them. Anathem and the Baroque Cycle are my favorites.
voz_ 7y ago
I am surprised you kept on with it despite how much you hated it. Did you finish the book?
- davidgould 7y ago
  Yes I did. I rarely abandon books, and I like Stephensons work generally, I kept hoping it would get better.
arethuza 7y ago
Well, I really enjoyed "Fall, or Dodge in Hell" - though I didn't think Reamde was very good, I don't think you need to have read the former to enjoy the latter. I listened to the audiobook version twice now - I really enjoyed the links to Stephenson's other books (Not Reamde).
bluenose69 7y ago
I cannot disagree with any of this, really. The man seems to get into a mode sometimes, and forgets where the ESC key is. Still, I mostly enjoyed reading "Fall, or Dodge n Hell". Not as much as Cryptonomicon, mind you, and less than Seveneves; Anathem is stronger than any of these. Although I have to work to get past the 100-page chunks that fill his book, it does not put me off reading about a book a year. Quicksilver is on my list, for example. All of this is to say that he is a flawed writer, but that there is much to be gained by reading his work.
- davidgould 7y ago
  Anathem is probably my favorite with The Diamond Age or Snow Crash second. The Baroque Cycle was very rewarding to read, it really made vivid the invention of the modern world in a way that most history doesn't, but they were not great novels. He really needs an editor who could force him to cut a lot, almost all his books would be improved by being 20% shorter.
veggieburglar 7y ago
Well that’s just like, your opinion, man. For what it’s worth, it’s not my favorite of his books. But I did think the discussion of anti-facial recognition clothing and personally curated news/data streams was interesting and germane to the topic. Plus I enjoyed the book on the whole.

ackbar03 7y ago

That's a shame, I quite liked reamde and was excited there was a followup

veggieburglar 7y ago
You could read it yourself and form an opinion. I quite liked it. I know lots of people disparage Stephenson for going on tangents, but I read quickly and don’t mind them. Anathem and the Baroque Cycle are my favorites.

voz_ 7y ago

I am surprised you kept on with it despite how much you hated it. Did you finish the book?

davidgould 7y ago
Yes I did. I rarely abandon books, and I like Stephensons work generally, I kept hoping it would get better.

arethuza 7y ago

Well, I really enjoyed "Fall, or Dodge in Hell" - though I didn't think Reamde was very good, I don't think you need to have read the former to enjoy the latter. I listened to the audiobook version twice now - I really enjoyed the links to Stephenson's other books (Not Reamde).

bluenose69 7y ago

I cannot disagree with any of this, really. The man seems to get into a mode sometimes, and forgets where the ESC key is. Still, I mostly enjoyed reading "Fall, or Dodge n Hell". Not as much as Cryptonomicon, mind you, and less than Seveneves; Anathem is stronger than any of these. Although I have to work to get past the 100-page chunks that fill his book, it does not put me off reading about a book a year. Quicksilver is on my list, for example. All of this is to say that he is a flawed writer, but that there is much to be gained by reading his work.

davidgould 7y ago
Anathem is probably my favorite with The Diamond Age or Snow Crash second. The Baroque Cycle was very rewarding to read, it really made vivid the invention of the modern world in a way that most history doesn't, but they were not great novels. He really needs an editor who could force him to cut a lot, almost all his books would be improved by being 20% shorter.

veggieburglar 7y ago

Well that’s just like, your opinion, man. For what it’s worth, it’s not my favorite of his books. But I did think the discussion of anti-facial recognition clothing and personally curated news/data streams was interesting and germane to the topic. Plus I enjoyed the book on the whole.