Polostan

Mja, meer dan 3* is het niet, het boek komt te langzaam op gang? Er komen nog twee delen, en uiteindelijk maakt deze wel nieuwsgierig naar wat nog komen gaat.

Dochter van een communist en een hippie, Dawn Rae, reist tussen Amerika en de Sovjet-Unie in de eerste helft van de 20e eeuw, waarbij ze wordt “opgeleid” tot KGB-spion.

““But after she died, it felt right to stay there with Papa for a time. Which is how I got caught up in the Bonus Army stuff.” “Rekindling the revolutionary fervor that had lain dormant during your exile as an impressionable youth surrounded by charismatic revanchists,” Dr. Stasova corrected her, writing the words down. “Exactly.”“

Stephenson is altijd goed ingelezen op zijn onderwerpen, en je wordt in elk geval altijd goed bijgepraat over de uiteenlopendste onderwerpen - in dit geval onder meer de Bonus Army in de jaren 30, waar 43000 demonstranten zich rondom Washington DC hadden verschanst, polo, het ontstaan van de atoombom, en Sovjet politiek gekonkel.

“His eyes fixed on the purple glow of a germicidal lamp. “Thing is that when transitions happen, energy gets emitted, or absorbed,” he said. He slid off his stool and moved to one farther down the bar. “I just soaked up energy, now I'm in a higher state.” The soda jerk, squirming a towel around the inside of a parfait glass, eyed Dick curiously, then looked at Dawn. “Your date soaks up any more energy, I'll buy you a Pepsi.” “Won't happen,” Dick said, “'cause I can emit radiation and jump back down to the lower orbital.” He sat next to Dawn and glared at the soda jerk, who was twice his size. “The Bohr atom,” Dawn said, “that's what you're getting at.”“

Misschien moet ik de Quicksilver trilogie maar eens herlezen - die blijft in mijn hoofd een van beste historische romans die ik gelezen heb - was die in het begin ook zo lastig in te komen?

“Aurora wondered if Zhirkin knew about Shpak. If Zhirkin was afraid of her. Because that was how it worked. Beria was at the center of a web of people who were all afraid, for good reason, of being killed by the others.”

I love Neal Stephenson. I love spy novels. I am curious about all things Soviet era. This book should have been a slam dunk ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ for me. I excitedly bought the hardcover and chose to start the series before it was completed. 

My faith in Neal was not rewarded. This is the shortest Stephenson work I've read and it was the longest slog. 

• The setup is a great idea. The backdrop of the World's Fair is promising.
• The execution doesn't work for me. It all fell flat and I'm not going to finish the trilogy. 
• The book meandered. I expected it was the beginning of a trilogy but I didn't walk away caring about any of the characters or what would happen next.

Polostan is really intriguing, weaving a complex tale of revolution and espionage. It could use some work in the pacing department, but overall, it sets a solid foundation. I'm curious to see where the second installment goes.

Well, it's one third of a Stephenson novel. I'm guessing his publisher decided to split this one up to make 3 times the revenue from it.

It's really not a story at all, but a setup. There's not even a lazy version of “hero's first adventure” really. We know one character at the end of it and she hasn't yet done anything.

But I like his novels and I'm sure the full novel (series) will tell a fun story!

Read it on my kindle so I had no idea how much was left of it, felt short for a Stephenson book but I enjoyed it nonetheless, though it does repeat itself a few more times than I needed. Looking forwards to the rest of the series.