Seveneves in Around the Year in 52 Books

Jun 04, 2016 Trish rated it it was amazing

Shelves: zsrc-2016-2-summer, science-fiction, dystopia-apocalyptic

Wow. I usually only read hard Science Fiction in the run up to the Hugo Awards, when I try to read the nominees in the major categories, which is why I ended up reading Seveneves (nominated for “best novel”). Prior to this, the only Neal Stephenson book I’d read was Snow Crash, which I really liked, but was a very different kind of book, so I had no idea what to expect from Seveneves.

The first line, however, pretty much reached out and grabbed me: “The moon blew up without warning and for no ap Wow. I usually only read hard Science Fiction in the run up to the Hugo Awards, when I try to read the nominees in the major categories, which is why I ended up reading Seveneves (nominated for “best novel”). Prior to this, the only Neal Stephenson book I’d read was Snow Crash, which I really liked, but was a very different kind of book, so I had no idea what to expect from Seveneves.

The first line, however, pretty much reached out and grabbed me: “The moon blew up without warning and for no apparent reason. It was waxing, only one day short of full. The time was 05:03:12 UTC. Later it would be designated A+0.0.0, or simply Zero.”

First thought. Had Stephenson had been reading Douglas Adams, given the The HHGTTG description of plutonium rock band Disaster Area’s music catalogue and decided to run with it. After all, the first few chapters really do follow the pattern of “Their songs are on the whole very simple and mostly follow the familiar theme of boy-being meets girl-being beneath silvery moon, which then explodes for no adequately explored reason.”

Whether or not that’s really what happened (I’d like to think it was!), he ran with it very well. From that first line onwards, I was hooked.

Seveneves is huge in scope. It is split into three main parts. The first two cover the lead up to the end of the world as we know it and the fate of the survivors who managed to get off-planet, both of which explore the pioneer spirit and the struggle for survival, often in spite of human nature. The third is very much a ‘first contact’ story about what happens when their descendants finally return to Earth, five thousand years later.

However, at the same time, it focuses on a handful of characters throughout (albeit it’s a different handful in part three), and draws you into their story. So much so that despite knowing from very early in the book that that the world is doomed, it’s still gut-wrenching when it actually happens, which I believe is a testament to Stephenson’s ability to weave a story. An added bonus is that the high proportion of major female characters also means that it passes the Bechdel Test with flying colours.

There was also a nice touch that in the third part, the story of the first two is looked back on as an Epic, akin to the Iliad or the Odyssey, and that the first set of characters become heroes (and villains) for their descendants.

On the downside, it does suffer slightly from stereotype villains (scheming politicians, inevitable traitors and a space borne version of the Donner Party). Also, the ‘bad’ guys ending up being called Reds, and quite how the ‘good’ guy Blues didn’t figure out what the Reds in the third part were doing is a bit of a suspension of disbelief moment. I also sometimes stumbled over the astrophysics, which got a little tricky in places for a non-scientist like myself. However, the ‘downsides’ certainly didn’t lessen my enjoyment of the novel, although, I will admit, I would have liked to find out why the moon actually did explode. Perhaps that just furthered the homage to Disaster Area.

It’s a big book at 880pg, but it didn’t feel like it. What it did do was take up most of my free time over the course of the four days it took me to read it. It also left me hoping that Stephenson revisits the world he’s created in Seveneves in the future. While the novel is it is complete in itself, there’s certainly scope to do so, given the five-thousand year jump in the middle, as well as the two alternative survival scenarios that you learn about in the final part of the novel.

In the meantime, I’d recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good, meaty novel with a lot of ambitious scope.

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Dec 11, 2015 Cait rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Too heavy on some details and too light on others, but I was deeply invested in both the characters and the story.

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May 09, 2021 Jesse rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, 20-word-reviews, 2021-around-the-year, 2021-booklist-queen

My favorite space novel since The Martian. Breathtaking in scope but still very readable and enjoyable. Will definitely read again!

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Dec 27, 2015 Liz rated it it was ok

Shelves: 2016-book-list

2.75-3* I read 2/3 of this book. I liked aspects of it, while at the same time feeling bogged down by all of the technical science explained throughout. This book is LONG! I think it would be much better if it had been edited down significantly. I really wanted to love this, but I just could not get myself to spend the necessary time to finish it.

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