Neal Stephenson - Seveneves

Overview

Neal Stephenson is a well-regarded author of science fiction, dating back to the early 1990s. I own several of his books, and was challenged to read this one by a friend before the end of the year. The work I commonly associate with Stephenson is Snow Crash, something that has been on my to-read list for a few years, but I figured I'd give this one a go first.

Plot

The back of the book plot is essentially that the moon, for unknown reasons, breaks up into several pieces, shocking the world. It is discovered that within a couple years, the various parts of the moon will collide with one another, eventually bombarding the earth and completely annihilating the surface. A mad rush ensues to get a sufficient number of humans into orbit on various craft and space stations in order to preserve the human race. It follows the perspectives of several different characters, primarily astronauts and scientists.

Review

This was an incredibly interesting story, divided into two parts that are distinctly different from each other. I would give the first part, which occupies the first 2/3rds or so, an easy 5/5. The struggle of the human race to work together to preserve all of humanity along with the technical challenges faced by the scientists and astronauts who are working so hard to make it happen was highly engrossing. I also found it interesting seeing the perspectives of people who knew that they would either be dead within 2 years, or knowing that they'd be one of a tiny fraction of people who had been chosen to live, leaving all their loved ones behind. It was a great what-if to see how the characters grappled with these unavoidable apocalyptic events on the calendar.

The second part starts off as being interesting and then kind of devolves into a vague and peculiar story that never ends up going much of anywhere, but is still worth reading (maybe a speed reading if you get bored). It is hard to describe much of what I mean without going into heavy spoiler territory, but suffice it to say that it is very much its own thing and is challenging to "start over" with the story once you're nearly 600 pages into the book. The ending fell flat for me, not for lack of content or interesting ideas, but because of the lack of explanation given to major revelations right in the last few pages.

I really liked Seveneves, and I would highly recommend it to someone wanting to read a lengthy standalone sci-fi novel. It's highly technical at parts; it turns out that astrophysics is challenging stuff. I enjoyed this but did end up skimming a little occasionally. If you enjoy books like The Martian then you'll know what I mean. I know Stephenson did a lot of research to make all the science as accurate as possible and it shows. This is especially true in the first part, whereas in the second he had more freedom to invent something of his own choosing that wasn't bound so much by modern human space-faring abilities. The story itself, when he sticks to it, is a non-stop thrill ride of what-ifs. I look forward to reading more of his books in the future.