Seveneves: A Novel

· Harper Collins
4.4
1.05K reviews
eBook
880
Pages
Eligible
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About this eBook

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Anathem, Reamde, and Cryptonomicon comes an exciting and thought-provoking science fiction epic—a grand story of annihilation and survival spanning five thousand years.

What would happen if the world were ending?

A catastrophic event renders the earth a ticking time bomb. In a feverish race against the inevitable, nations around the globe band together to devise an ambitious plan to ensure the survival of humanity far beyond our atmosphere, in outer space.

But the complexities and unpredictability of human nature coupled with unforeseen challenges and dangers threaten the intrepid pioneers, until only a handful of survivors remain . . .

Five thousand years later, their progeny—seven distinct races now three billion strong—embark on yet another audacious journey into the unknown . . . to an alien world utterly transformed by cataclysm and time: Earth.

A writer of dazzling genius and imaginative vision, Neal Stephenson combines science, philosophy, technology, psychology, and literature in a magnificent work of speculative fiction that offers a portrait of a future that is both extraordinary and eerily recognizable. As he did in Anathem, Cryptonomicon, the Baroque Cycle, and Reamde, Stephenson explores some of our biggest ideas and perplexing challenges in a breathtaking saga that is daring, engrossing, and altogether brilliant.

Ratings and reviews

4.4
1.05K reviews
Kermit Woodall
1 June 2016
This is basically two books inelegantly stitched together. In the first, the moon blows up then various scenarios play out with varying degrees of believability. I can't remember who stated this originally, but it fits here, "I don't know if he got the science right - but he relates it so poorly it seems unbelievable" His characters are forced to hit certain plot points in defiance of how people really behave. The second 'book' takes place in a completely implausible world following the first after many thousands of years. Again, people have behaved in ways contrary to their nature, and the entire thing comes off as a fantasy. In the end Stephenson also fails the 'Chekhov's Gun' test. He introduces something in the first page of the book which becomes an obvious question throughout and never addresses it. Worse, he does this at least twice more in other sections of the book overall. Possibly the worst book he's ever written. I reread Zodiac and Snowcrash again after this to cleanse my mind.
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A Google user
22 August 2017
Some very peculiar ideas, and some of the unrealistic elements pulled me out of the story hard. The last arc didn't really come to a satisfactory conclusion, and should have been it's own novel. There was some decent characterization in the first segment, but overall, not the best book ever written. I am also very confused about comparisons to The Martian, which had a much more cooperative tone and much less scientific absurdity.
1 person found this review helpful
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A Google user
31 May 2017
Two thirds is okay. Not spectacular, but not terrible. The third act decides to just devolve into a technical manual describing a far away future that includes none of the characters that you just spent two thirds of the book reading about. If that new story was at least compelling, it would have at least been acceptable. But, as I said, that third part was really just page after page of describing every little nook and crevasse of the technology of this "new" world without ever bothering to get to know any new characters. I don't "regret" reading the book. But it's far from my mountain.
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About the author

Neal Stephenson is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the novels Termination Shock, Fall; or, Dodge in Hell, The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. (with Nicole Galland), Seveneves, Reamde, Anathem, The System of the World, The Confusion, Quicksilver, Cryptonomicon, The Diamond Age, Snow Crash, Zodiac, and the groundbreaking nonfiction work In the Beginning...Was the Command Line. He lives in Seattle, Washington.

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