Seveneves Book Reviews

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Not all there…it hits and misses. There were some parts about this book I found fascinating, but others were incredibly dry and just boring technical jargon. Also some huge stretches of imagination towards the end and ideas thrown in just threw me off and made me shake my head. All in all, it’s an ok read, but I can’t help but be discouraged by the total lack of finality upon concluding it.

Drop the price please. This book has been out more than two years. How about dropping the price.

Most boring end of the world ever. This book went nowhere. I expected fear, excitement, and suspense, I mean the moon exploded, but what I got was and architectural manual that ends in Cold Waresq race war. I learned more about the robots and how they worked than I did about main characters, I learned more about their habitats than their personalities or motivations. It went on forever, and nothing was wrapped up in the end. It both felt too long and too short.

Not worth the time. This is a terribly long book that is not well written. I love sci-fi, but this just crossed me as a long string of contrived technobabble that failed to explore the interesting parts of a great premise... I spent way too much time reading about an imaginary pop-culture and awkward romantic encounters.

You like sci fy encyclopedia's? No thanks. Was looking for a nice big epic scify story last week. Just finished this book and I'm....well I'm angry. 700+ pages I was really excited. I hate short stories that tease you to buy the next book. I wanted something complete or at least a book with a clear end to an arc. Well boy did you guys get me a with the 5 star reviews. I was so excited. Something smart and interesting.....and incredibly dullllllllll. I won't spoil this but let's just say I can sum up the story of this book in about 2 paragraphs. And I probably could condense ALL of the dialogue in this 700+ page book to.....1 page maybe 2. The rest of it is all freaking descriptions of where they are of the history of the particular tool they are using in this scene. I kid you not even what company manufactured the thing is described. A character may be casually walking from point A to B. And the author uses page after page to describe the lighting the foliage the buildings the HISTORY of the place she is passing thru.and there MAY be 2 or 3 lines of dialogue in the whole scene. There was a point in the book where 2 characters era are having a "conversation" they greet each other....followed by 2 PAGES of descriptions of what was going thru one of their minds. And THEN another line, followed by 2 more pages describing what was on the other persons mind. It was exhausting. You are constantly told what happened. Past tense, instead of what IS happening. And with all the needless explications of how they did this or that by the time you get to the plot, you've forgotten what you've read or worse what was happening. I am not some dumb teenager who can only read for 2 minutes before SOMETHING must happen. But this book took explanations and descriptions to a whole new level that in the end didn't service the plot or the characters enough to justify it. I am shock d at all the 5 star reviews. To give perspective my favorite book is The Count of Monty Cristo. I am not a light reader and I love scify. And the only reason I finished this book was pure stubbornness. He have been warned

First two parts good. Third part ok.. First two parts good. Third part ok.

FANTASTIC. Love this author and this is one of his best works!

The best book I have read in years. Amazing. He best book I have read in years. Thank you Bill Gates for featuring it in your blog. The only down side is I am sad to be leaving the world Neal has created.

A Most Amazing Novel of Preservation of The Human Race. I find myself relating to many of the conflicted and gifted characters in this Earth to Space and Back Again tale. The first two chapters are an amazing story of how we come together to save the human species from an Earth Changing event that will keep you on the edge of your seat while providing you with NASA like science. To be part of this fascinating adventure is a gift from the author, who has brilliantly puppeteered a highly detailed scenario of humanities greatest catastrophe.

SevenEves. Another Stephenson epic tale. An implausible lunar event puts humanities future in question. Survival is in the hands of several thousands of randomly selected humans placed into orbit in makeshift spacecraft, who over the span of a few years dwindle to 8 due to accidents, calamity and political machination. After living in space for 5,000 years the planet becomes habitable again and the story picks up again. Conflict between some survivors and two quasiwaring factions ensues of space people sets the stage for the conclusion. A well thought out story which explores some fantastic ideas about human ingenious solutions to very complex engineering problems, as well as human nature.

Tough read. Cryptonomicon wants its author back. Honestly can't believe the two were written by the same person. I rarely struggle to complete a book and did with Seveneves. I kept thinking eventually there would be a point but there never was. I wish I could give zero stars but I guess the concept is worth one.

Outstanding. I couldn't put this book down. Loved the epic tale, the characters, the surprises, the science and the style. There are doors left open for possible sequels and/or related tales, and I hope the author revisits this universe again some time soon!

Wow. Great "hard" sci-fi.. What a wonderful book. It's good to see some hard sci-fi that shows some hope for humanity... or what remains. Portions are very intense, some from the physical action and the associated emotional repercussions, and occasionally from the politics that ensues and shows our worst side. I found myself having to take short breaks to let myself settle down once in a while; I got that invested in the story! While the narrative occasionally wanders and bogs a bit, this was a wonderful book and well worth full price. Loved it.

Sevennses. A great book until old, tired, politics took charge. Same story that we have read over and over. I deleted the book halfway through.

Outstanding. Not quite as engaging as Anathem on first read, but truly great science fiction - interesting characters, believable technology, coherent story

Not a lot of story. 80% science project and 20% story. Some of the details were far too deep even for a sci fi book. They seemed better suited as movie screenplay details to build a set.

One of the best books in a long time. As a scientist, specifically a molecular biologist I found the book compelling and very difficult to put down. I am amazed at the level of biological scientific detail and surmise that the physics is as carefully researched. Although improbable, the biological scenarios may be possible. A novel a thoroughly enjoyed reading and better than anything I have read in a long time.

Fascinating and frustrating. Ok, this was my first foray into this author, and it was fascinating and frustrating! I love the idea. (I’ve since read The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. Written with another author, and I feel the same about that book - you can tell when one takes over the writing. All of a sudden, I went from fun and entertaining to slogging through details that meant nothing. Oh look, here’s where Stephenson took over...) The concept is awesome. The detail and minutiae are overwhelming. The character development is cool and then the characters fall off the story. People and ideas are introduced and then are never spoken of again. (Did they make it to Mars?) The book is twice as long as it needs to be and then the final twenty pages crescendo with new information and characters and then simply, “The End.” I want to like it. I really do. But I just can’t get lost in the story when I’m forced to creat an organization chart and refer back to diagrams in the book. Reading his stuff require studying, but it’s not fun studying like “The Martian,” for example. It just slogging through for the sake of understanding every nuance of the author’s creation. Here’s the thing, I guess. There’s no room left for my imagination to fill in the blanks. He literally won’t let the reader go there.

Loved it. Restarted my love of sci fi

Great read. Only 5 star I have given for a sci-fi ever. Lost a fair amount of sleep turning the pages. The story line did not let me drift off as most book tend too. Thanks for the great entertainment!

Good until about halfway. I really enjoyed the first two parts of this book and had a hard time putting it down. Unfortunately, the third part was quite a slog and I just couldn't really get into it. I can appreciate what the author was trying to do, but it went sci fi to the extreme and did not seem to follow on very well from the first two parts. Still an interesting read but it could have been better.

Too much lost sleep. Another excellent mindblower. This book is not quite as rich in fascinating and charismatic characters as the Quicksilver trilogy, but as a hard sf novel it is superb. Unlike Cryptonomicon for example, where I thought he didn't have very satisfying ending to the book, in this one the conclusion seems just right. As usual it is full of big ideas beautifully fleshed out. The primary idea, the destruction of the earth by the "hard rain", is a pretty big idea by itself. His speculation about the fate of humanity in the face of that is just exceptional. Well done.

Too long. Way way too much math. If i wanted a lesson in astrophysics i will buy a textbook

The ending!!!. There has got to be a sequel with that kinda ending!

I want more. I’ve read the book twice now and want to hear more about human life after Zero

Hope They Make a Lot of Changes for the Movie. The movie rights for SEVENEVES have already been optioned, which strikes me as odd. The book has a great set up, with the destruction of the moon and the pending devastation of the Earth. But once the author jumps 5000 years into the future, he has no way to come up with a pay off to match the first chapters. Some of the technology is cool but that wad is blown in the early chapters: nothing that comes later compares. There is a similarity to OBLIVION, the Tom Cruise film, where you get to the end of a decent journey only to ask, "Really? That's it?" The problem with this book is that point comes once the second half starts.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzz. Started out good… then by page 700 or so i stopped reqding. Just couldn’t finish. Completely lost interest.

Don’t bother. Meaningless infinite detail of minor scenes and characters, “science” that seems absolutely implausible if not impossible to me as an engineer, and 10% through the book no real progress on the story? No thanks - finally quit punishing myself and just stopped reading.

Best I’ve read in a while. No hints, no spoilers. Fantastic novel and there better be a sequel because I want to find out what happened to… we’ll see later…

Seven eves. Imagine that, SCIENCE Fiction. How refreshing!

What a ride!. Stayed up way to late a few times turning pages. Very entertaining and thought provoking.

One of the Great Ones!. This novel has the sweep and scope of the best sci-fi epics of the last 30 to 40 years, like the creations of Larry Niven and of John Varley. I felt pain as the "white sky" rained death and destruction on Earth and its peoples. The desperate attempts to survive in rickety contraptions beyond cis-lunar space, and the ultimate emergence of a powerful and complex but all-too-human society was triumphal. Should the author's sequel(s) reveal intelligent purpose behind the shattering of our moon, I could almost feel sorry for the b*stards who perpetrated that catastrophe.

Tedious. Long-winded on science details and anorexic on plot, the book had me flipping page after page to get to the end of an satisfying story.

Seveneves. An excellent read. Will make for an awesome movie!!

Seven eves. Far to much description and not enough about the main characters discussing what they are going to have to accomplish to survive. The book could have been half as long and been a much better read. Would not recommend.

Seveneves. I stopped on page 1001. An incredibly boring book. Ripoff. I'll never read Neil Stephenson again' ever.

Technical but enjoyable. Overall good . Great story. Lots of physics and engineering speak but not having much knowledge about such things i could understand enough to enjoy reading on. I hope it’s even more interesting if you are knowledgeable about the science.

Took some time!. Absolutely loved this book, I’m not a technically minded person so it took me a long time to work through and be able to imagine the machines and situations presented in the book. But it’s an absolute banger and was worth every minute of my time.

Ok read. The book has a good story line. But the Author seems to enjoy jumping ahead in time and then doing flashbacks to tell what happened during the jump. I find this annoying.

Decent and inventive, with only a couple forced plot points. For the longest time I would rate this 5 stars. However, during my latest read through I realized a problem or two. The big one is that the seven eves act like once someone dies their DNA becomes useless, yet they also have the means to make genetic alterations. This means they have multiple copies of the Y chromosome, so no need to create it out of whole cloth. The other problem I have is that Markus/Dinah/Ivy would not have bothered with a risky operation of docking with Julia’s unauthorized ship. They would have gone over, attached the device and de-orbited the contraption with the least risk to their fuel and oxygen supplies.

Great story, but too long. This is a captivating tale, with well drawn characters to care about and epic in its scope. That said, it would've been better told in about half the length. Way too much repetition about deeply technical issues of orbital mechanics and other realities of space.

A Stunning Story.. A compelling saga and a daring scenario!

If you love extreme detail... You’ll like this book. Overwhelming detail about every tiny minutiae of informantion. Unfortunately, the characters suffer tremendously because of it. I never connected with any of them, nor did I really even like them. They’re just there to further the plot and allow for more pages of detail on extremely specific inter workings of aspects of the ark. You forget where and who’s point of view you’re supposed to be following because the author spent the last two pages talking about the way a pipe heats. I understand wanting to give a realistic approach on how these things might work, but it reads almost like a thesis paper rather than a novel.

Outstanding Sci-fi epic. This is one of those reads where you have to trust in the author a little bit. I was reminded many times of Arthur C. Clark’s writings on space exploration and colonization. There’s a lot of technical description that can get a bit dry at times. However, when that got tiresome I just sped through it no harm done. But there came a point, and I won't describe too much so I don’t spoil it, when he introduces a political element that is so dark and disappointing I actually hated some of the characters in the book. I mean I had a visceral reaction. THAT’S great writing. The last chapter, which is several hundred pages long, would make a great novel on it’s own. I thought the payoff in this book was wonderful. I was truly disapointed when this nearly 900 page book was done. I really hope Stephenson returns to this wonderful world he has created.

Superb!. Like two books, read it.

Great story. Plenty of science, plenty of interesting speculation on human adaptations, positive and negative. I would like to read a couple of sequels.

It's ok, I guess.... The science is good, and the fiction is entertaining. But it does go on and on and on a bit. Takes forever to get to the next part of the story, and is a long dry read in parts. Overall, a decent book.

Good read, a little drawn out sometimes. You will enjoy this book if you like having scientific principles explained as part of the narrative. It is similar in a way to Crighton books like Jurassic Park. I learned a little about orbital mechanics by reading this book. So maybe it will come in handy during a game of trivial pursuit some day.

A bit dissatisfied. The first 2/3 of the book kept me turning pages. Then I got to 5000 Years Later (the last 1/3) and it took a big snooze fest. I’m forcing myself to read it just so I can finish it. The reviews, that I have now read, are spot on.

Rebuilding humanity after a grand scale earth disaster. The mix of large scale earth disaster, large time frame, genetics, swarm robotics, large space machines with culture and human evolution leads to a good read. I believe the second part could be enhanced as many parts are left dangling, maybe start of a series...

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Spectacularly raw, real, apocalyptic and yet joyful!. First book in the last 10 years I couldn’t put down. And the first book I read in one day because of how good it was. Wake up, coffee, read, more coffee, move to couch, read, beg my children to bring me snacks, briefly nap, drink more coffee, read, throw money at children to go the bakery and the store to get simple supper food. Eat. Chat with kids to let them know I still acknowledge their presence. Give kids money to go get candy/snacks from the store for dessert and to keep them busy eating it for a couple hours. Me reading all the time. Eventually get kids to bed. Lay down in my bed, read until I’m done. Best. Day. Ever!!! Read it. :-)

Great story!!. Wow!! Great epic, hard to put down

Great until end. Well written sci-fi. The detail on science actually adds to the story. Parts 1 and 2 develop the characters well. Part 3 feels like it was a rushed so the author could go do something else. Too bad.

Very good and entertaining…for the most part. I am a fan of Neal Stephenson and I have read many of his books. I enjoy his prose style as well as meticulous approach to describing environment, characters and the way he sets up situations. The first two parts of the book do an excellent job of weaving into the story a primer on the orbital mechanics involved in launching people into space, moving them around around the solar system, space station technology, human in space issues as well as the process through which the exploded moon would eventually rain down fragments on earth. He manages to do that while developing his main characters and telling a compelling story from individual human perspective as well as humanity. The last part of the bok (the 5,000 year jump) has a good story to tell about humanity’s resilience and some of its less admirable flaws. However, I feel that the story takes second seat to some times excessively long winded and elaborate descriptions of space habitats or means of moving people around or back down to earth. I have noted and annoying tendency of Stephenson to repeat certain phrases (eg. « in another words » or « that meant » ). In fact this part reminds me of the last section of Anathem (another of his otherwise excellent novels). Despite a last section that is not as strong as the first two (in my opinion), The overall product is excellent and I highly recommend it.

Great story and characters!. I loved this sci-fi novel. For someone with absolutely no scientific background, the last part about how things were built was difficult to understand. I should have taken a break but I couldn't stop reading. Definitely will read more books from this author.

An End of the World Tale with a Twist!. Seveneves has quite possibly the best opening line of any novel ever: “The moon blew up without warning and for no apparent reason.” And there you go, the impetus that powers an epic story that spans 5000 years, the destruction of all life on Earth, the reduction of the human species to just 7 final individuals, all female (the seven “eves” of the title), and the subsequent rebuilding of humanity, and repopulation of our obliterated planet. At each step, Neal Stephenson makes it clear that every decision could be humanity’s last, and makes the science understandable. It’s a tour de force, alternately startling and achingly real.