Review: Seveneves

Seveneves by Neal Stephenson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Neal sometimes manages to tie his wonderful asides into a story - Snow Crash, REAMDE - and sometimes he doesn't. This one really doesn't manage it. The asides are here, and as wonderful as usual (though some of the science seems dodgy) but they don't go anywhere.

It starts with a ludicrous premise and unbelievable setting which is the backdrop for some great characters... who don't really get much of a plot to speak of. Then it jumps to a middle section that has more plot but muddles all the characters around before discarding them altogether. Then we jump ahead several millennia to 150 pages of travelogue / tech porn with no point before wrapping up with a big ole lack-of-conclusion perched precariously atop some premises even more absurd than the ones we started with.

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