If you've been following this blog, you know that I love Neal Stephenson. The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. continues that trend. He teams up with Nicole Galland to deliver a sci-fi novel unlike anything I've read before. They tell the story through personal diary entries and incident reports. Melisande Stokes and Tristan Lyons build a new black-budget government agency. Without giving too much away, they fight enemies known and unknown through time and space.
Key Takeaways
Memorable Quotes
Rating: 8/10
Another enjoyable Stephenson novel, with the welcome addition of Galland's talents as well. It's less tech-centric than most of his novels, which at times makes it more about the characters. That's a great shift for his work. The arc of conflict and resolution disappointed a little though. There was no clear, decisive climax. I will still read anything Mr. Stephenson writes though, so expect to see more reviews of his work on this blog.
Key Takeaways
- Time travel is hard
- Quantum physics and the multi-verse is also hard
- Government bureaucracy (as depicted in here) is 100x worse than the tech world I come from
- If time travel exists in the future, would travelers already be among us? Would we be able to tell?
Memorable Quotes
- The kind of woman who could pleasantly instruct you to fuck off, dear, and you immediately would because you’d just hate to disappoint her.
- When you just wing it, you are aware of the risk and the uncertainty, and inclined to be more cautious. When you have a high-tech tool giving you an illusion of omniscience, I am concerned that it will lead to greater risk-taking.
- While that thing was on, we ran a ridiculous amount of data through our servers.” “How much?” I asked. He looked exasperated. “Enough that I could make up some kind of strained analogy involving the contents of the Library of Congress and the number of pixels in all of the Lord of the Rings movies put together and how many phone calls the NSA intercepts in a single day and you would be like, ‘Holy shit, that’s a lot.’” “Holy shit, that’s a lot!” I exclaimed dutifully.
- What destroys it? Is it the Inquisition? Those idiot priests go chasing after innocent women, as if real witches would let themselves be caught and tortured and killed! Almost by definition, anyone who is caught and tortured, and doesn’t free themselves by magic, has no magic powers.
- GENERAL FRINK: Madame Chairwoman, if I may? ATKINSON: Proceed. FRINK: With all due respect, Senator Villesca, it’s not like taxpayer money has never been used to hire prostitutes before. I know you’re aware of that.
- The Fourth Crusade was an epic clusterfuck a comic-opera misadventure a tragic saga with farcical elements.
- This is not a Nora Roberts novel.
Rating: 8/10
Another enjoyable Stephenson novel, with the welcome addition of Galland's talents as well. It's less tech-centric than most of his novels, which at times makes it more about the characters. That's a great shift for his work. The arc of conflict and resolution disappointed a little though. There was no clear, decisive climax. I will still read anything Mr. Stephenson writes though, so expect to see more reviews of his work on this blog.