Seveneves
Ratings483
Average rating3.9
So, so great. My only complaint is that it's only 880 pages long, when I would have preferred 3000–5000 pages. Stephenson's prose is, per usual, skillfully crafted, and his vision is expansive. The world-building in this one is especially fun, and his research and technical underpinnings are of course top notch. Stop what you're doing and read this.
Fantastisk bok som tyvärr är alldeles för lång. Stora delar består i princip bara av att Stephenson vill säga “Titta vad smart jag är!”. Ändå lyckas “Seveneves” på något sätt vara en sjujävla läsupplevelse.
When a novel has the premise that everyone on Earth is going to die in two years, it's strange to feel that it's somehow timely. Yet I certainly thought it was apt for current affairs when reading the rapid reaction, or sometimes failure to react well, of the characters in this book when confronted with an all consuming crisis. At least for someone who loves detailed descriptions of propellant use, the most exciting and heartening parts of the novel are the technical challenges in keeping people alive. The most disconcerting are the political dynamics that threaten to upend the entire project. At a time when I'd love to think that we can exert some collective, coordinated action to address pressing problems, it's a reminder that there's a lot of potential and a lot of challenges remaining.
As a story, Seveneves benefits from tremendous imagination and beautiful description of the unfamiliar environments and the ways that characters navigate them. The characters themselves are sometimes hard to follow (there are many!) but it's compelling enough to keep you page-turning. I think if there was one weakness, it'd be that the neatness is just a bit overdone. By the end, it feels like everything tied together in a way that could be amazing, but feels a little bit forced. I take it as a reminder that while plotlines can resolve themselves in an elegant way in fiction, it rarely will in reality.
DNF. After every brief plot advancement expect pages of technical descriptions that don't really add to the story. I actually liked the characters, but just couldn't do it.
The most depressing book I have ever read. Although there is some hope for humanity, it is through a very difficult lens.
For fans of Stephenson this is a must read! My boy other Neal has a penchant for trying to communicate where in IRL science and history he’s drawing concepts and also for what I lovingly call academic ADHD where you can practically feel the passion he has for any number of oddly specific subjects or ideas. I absolutely love that about him, but go in to this story with that in mind and just get lost in the musings of someone with something to say and a genuine love for scientific history, “the Great Ideas” found therein, and the sometimes bizarre conclusions that can come from dwelling on those ideas.
enjoyed in fits and starts. As a “hard” SF very satisfying. Ideas concepts portrayed well. But at cost to story pace. Felt like the characterisations and the history of what happened to the key ones was also
an engineered story in order to produce the “Seven Eves” of the title. Great idea, but felt contrived, heavy hand of God [the author] and hardly invisible. Last part of the story line felt rushed to me. Perhaps deserved a book of its own covering the same timeline . Overall though an enjoyable read.
DNF
I'm bored, really really bored, I like a little fiction with my science, and this is probably 80% science and 20% fiction (and I'm being generous) . When the world ends in a fiery rain, here's about 4 pages dedicated to the death of 7 billion souls, and yet there are 25 pages on the complete history of hermetically sealed body condoms.
I will not insult the author by giving it a one star because I know some people love this stuff, just not for me.
First book of 2023 done, and I spent the first 75% of it thinking it was another book and waiting for a particular plot point to happen. Given it's almost 900 pages and I was still hooked even though that wrong plot was “taking forever” to develop, I'd say that speaks volumes for the book. I really enjoyed it. Great way to start off the year!
“The moon blew up without warning and for no apparent reason”
This captivating opening line sets the stage for what I believed would be yet another exceptional 5-star book by Stephenson.
The book consists of three parts. The first part reveals that the world has only two years left until the complete annihilation of humanity. The central question is: How do we ensure the survival of humanity?
Part 2 begins with the apocalypse and the aftermath, while Part 3 presents Stephenson's vision of humanity's development after 5000 years.
I love speculative fiction, especially when it delves into profound philosophical questions. It's okay if you don't grasp everything immediately; in fact, I enjoy nerdy elements. “Anathem” is one of my favorite books because of these aspects.
So, what's the issue with this book? Ensuring the continuation of humanity does indeed pose a grand question.
The first part covers about a quarter, and the last part around one-third of the book. That leaves roughly half (a bit less) for the second part. In the initial part, Stephenson explains potential solutions for humanity's survival. It has a good pace and provides ample food for thought: how does humanity confront an impending end? Of course, in Stephenson's signature style, he delves into technical and scientific topics. However, as the story progresses, there's an excessive focus on engineering-like solutions, with every “solution” being over-analyzed. This begins bothering me somewhere in the latter part of the first section and doesn't stop.
There are explanations about orbits, orbital plane changes, apogee, perigee, Newtonian physics in weightlessness (very important for matial arts in space), solar flares and Stephenson's endless obsession with chains, chain links, and bullwhips (I wonder what Freud would have thought about that). While it's all quite interesting, the middle section of the book suffers from an overload of “instruction manual”-like technical explanations. Perhaps it would have been better to dedicate more pages to the first part and further explore the social and political consequences of the impending disaster. Also, a few extra pages for the third part could have given it more substance. Alternatively, about 250 pages could have been trimmed.
On the other hand, the end of the second part was fascinating, though it left me feeling like I emerged from a sort of IKEA-desert.
The third part was more speculative. Despite its 300 pages, which could have been a book on its own, the storyline felt thin and one-dimensional. It seemed more like an appendix than the culmination of an epic tale.
What began as a 5-star book gradually dwindled to 3.5 stars in my view. It's by no means a bad book, but given my high expectations, it was somewhat disappointing.
Seveneves took me a long time to complete, and only after two false starts. I'm glad I endured though, because for as long as the ride was, the destination was worth it. It's a tantalizing, thought provoking, harrowing story of the end of civilization as we know it, and it's beautifully executed.
I do with Neal was better at writing character. I feel like his characters are not as fully illustrated as I wish they were, and I have a hard time relating to them. As a result, I often don't care for the characters as much as I probably should, or as much as Neal probably hopes I would. Despite this, the world building and storytelling is so perfectly done, I can excuse a lack of dimensionality in our characters.
I feel like Seveneves would make a terrific limited series on some streaming service - or a film series. It's split up nicely into three sizable acts already. Act 1: Day Zero until the Hard Rain. Act 2: Hard Rain until the Council of the Seven Eves. Act 3: 5,000 years later.
In a lot of ways, I feel like this novel harkens back to the classic sci-fi of the 50's and 60's. Isaac Asimov. Frank Herbert. Arthur C. Clarke. There's a real sense of the core idea here, and Stephenson explores it thoroughly.
In this epic sci-fi novel, we follow present day Earth as the moon explodes due to some unknown force. However, the various pieces all loosely keep their same assembly and their same orbit around Earth. Scientists quickly realize that in about 2 years time, all of those pieces will start slamming into each other at such a high velocity that they will start raining down on Earth, raising the temperature and wiping out all life. Therefore, they have 2 years to get as many people into and around the ISS with the proper equipment to survive for thousands of years as they can. The first half of the book follows this 2 year span, as well as about 5 years after the Hard Rain. The second half of the book has a huge, 5000 year time jump, showing what has become of humanity and their endeavor to reinhabit Earth.
I absolutely loved the first half of this book. It is definitely a hard sci-fi, with so much science involved. It was so fascinating to see how Stephenson showcased the human fight for survival, as well as the psyche as they watch their entire home demolished. It was masterfully written. This premise could become incredibly impersonal because of the scale, but Stephenson does a great job of making the characters that have made it into space feel very relatable and human.
However, after the time jump, I felt like the story took a very strange turn. Without going into too many details, there ends up being distinct human races with very different characteristics and mannerisms. To me, this seemed very strange because of the tight quarters they had to live in for thousands of years. I also felt like the plot got boring in this second half. There were obviously all new characters that I had a hard time connecting with. It just didn't work as well for me.
Overall, I felt like this book was a very ambitious story to tell, and Stephenson did a commendable job with it. The second half just fell short for me.
The book is definitely not a masterpiece from beginning to end, but it does achieve moments of greatness at times, especially in the second of the three parts. The science is not overbearing and the story is epic and powerful. Having said that, the writing style is a little dry so some of the more descriptive parts lose some steam. Overall a fantastic achievement from the author!
Really wanted to give this a full five stars — the overall premise is absolutely my jam — but the third act had a tricky gear shift, with a lot of technical descriptions of engineering and travel that went a bit over my head. Plus it ends right when it’s getting good!
As strong as the first two thirds are, I’d have loved a more even split between the two halves.
The plot was great! I'd always wondered what major transitions, of any kind, would look like. And being a fan of science, this hit the mark.
I'm a science fan who doesn't want the nitty-gritty details of the sciences involved, nor do I want to spend time making sure the science is accurate or viable. I want it to be thought provoking and support the plot. Interestingly, this book was all over the place in this area for me.
It seemed the author was thinking out loud, walking thru the situations to solve the various issues of what it would take to make all the transitions necessary. I liked some of the detail but not paragraphs and paragraphs that stalled plot over and over. I'm sure someone who likes to deep dive will really enjoy this aspect of the book.
3.5*. From one point of view this book is truly fascinating. An amazing study of ‘what if moon blows up' studied from so many angles it is really mind boggling how the author processed it. From a different perspective the narrative is rather dull being more of a chronicle of humanity at the brink than a novel. This created a weird mix of feelings for me. I was very interested how they can tackle different problems, what kind of issue can arise, etc. but I was not really entertained by the writing itself. The third part of the book changed into more of a pure sci-fi/fantasy story 5k years later. This brings some freshness to the writing, but then, imho loses the hard sci-fi part and believability. Nevertheless, I truly enjoyed going through this chronicle as a whole. It could make into a good TV show.
First two thirds of this were surprisingly compelling, as I'm not really a fan of ‘hard sci-fi'. Unfortunately, the final section tipped over from space-thriller into techno-masturbation, and I was intensely bored with page long engineering blueprints describing exactly how the habitats were designed. Yawn.
Also: mermen? Really?!
I have a whole family of feelings about this book. I guess overall my rating of a 4 suggests mostly satisfaction. My 5th form English teacher Mrs Brown used to wear a tee shirt that read “I may not be perfect but parts of me are excellent”. This book is a bit like that, although Mrs Brown was a 5 stars. Lots of great ideas but missing the finesse to make them all sing together, and yet mostly satisfying but not completely. I think the thing the author does best is imagine a 5,000 year future that feels real and he tells a story that makes it mostly come alive. Thanks for the recommendation Jonah.
I almost gave up about 300p then again about 600p but I finished the book , from cover to cover.
I do not have any problem with expositions in any book (I actually like it ) but I honestly find that Kim Stanley Robinson does a better job on this than Neal Stephenson (taking Seveneves as a starting point) as I think that KSR when describing Space, ships, planets, etc is way more interesting, compelling and clear. I find the expositions on Seveneves almost boring and with too many ramifications that at the end were not even important to the plot.
On the other spectrum when the plot is actually happening and there is an argument Neal does an amazing job. I would say this book could be like 300p shorter.
For the last third that got so much criticism I do not think it is bad but I sympathize with those who say that it could be just another book.
Loved it! Takes you through the entire apocalypse; impending doom to apocalypse to surviving to rebuilding. It felt a little like two books in one to me.
The first 3/4 of the book are very hard sci-fi. Lots of technical jargon and descriptions for astronomy and spaceflight theory that will leave a lot of people turned off. Personally I loved it, I can say that I learned a lot of interesting things reading this book that I never knew the first thing about.
The last 1/4 of the book falls more in line with your traditional sci-fi. It's been 5000 years since the apocalypse and a lot has changed. I thought it was a great ending for the book and really can't imagine it having ended any other way.
Stephenson has said in interviews that a sequel could be forthcoming and I really hope it is. There is so much more that can be done in this story. Just one off the top of my head is the Mars diaspora. Their expedition is never mentioned again afterwards. So, that would be a great place to take it.
TL;DR Excellent book that covers the entire spectrum of an apocalypse. Stephenson is the absolute man!!
Not dissimilar from The Martian, but for the everyone on Earth instead of Mark Watney/Matt Damon. If you liked the scene from Apollo 13 where they threw a bunch of stuff on a table and said, “how do we work with just this to not die” you'll probably like this.