Seveneves

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Neal Stephenson: Seveneves (2015)

880 pages

Published 2015

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3 stars (3 reviews)

"What would happen if the world were ending? A catastrophic event renders the earth a ticking time bomb. In a feverish race against the inevitable, nations around the globe band together to devise an ambitious plan to ensure the survival of humanity far beyond our atmosphere, in outer space. But the complexities and unpredictability of human nature coupled with unforeseen challenges and dangers threaten the intrepid pioneers, until only a handful of survivors remain . . . Five thousand years later, their progeny--seven distinct races now three billion strong--embark on yet another audacious journey into the unknown . . . to an alien world utterly transformed by cataclysm and time: Earth" --

13 editions

Review of 'Seveneves' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Not nearly as good as I hoped. I really liked the premise, and it started off so strong, but the book struggled finding it's own identity.

Is it a political story about creating a society from scratch? Is it a survival story about logistics and planning? Or is it a science book about orbital physics—really, do we need so much on orbital physics?

Stephenson couldn't decide what kind of book it was supposed to be, so included all three and didn't do much justice to any of them. The Martian by Andy Weir did a great job focusing on just one aspect survival, whereas in Seveneves it tries to cover it, but doesn't go deep enough to be the core of the story, and just raises more questions than explanations.

It could've used more focus, pick the main focus and gloss over the others, you don't need all the details …

avatar for jakedonham

rated it

3 stars
avatar for Mignon

rated it

4 stars