Seveneves, by Neal Stephenson

I have liked Mr. Stephenson's novels. Cryptonomicon is one of my favorite books. In fact, this is the first of his books that I did not much enjoy.

All of Mr. Stephenson's books are lengthy.  The problem here is that only about 300 of the 880 pages in this book interested me.

The story line is good: the moon is broken apart and within a short time will rain destruction on the earth. It won't be safe on the surface for thousands of years. Add ons to the International Space Station become a hope for mankind's long term future. Drama ensues initially, and later in the book, as we fast forward 5,000 years, drama ensues again.

Overall too much detail about uninteresting things.

This could have been a multi-volume work, with shorter and more interesting discussion of mine- and submarine -based survivalists, along with the first parts of the story about the space station, and a dedicated book about the far future situation that better develops the human interest aspects of the political structure that evolved.

But it is what it is, and that is, the first of Mr. Stephenson's books that I actively recommend against reading.


Seveneves: A Novel