Status
Available
Call number
Series
Publication
New York, NY : William Morrow, [2017]
Description
Fantasy. Fiction. Science Fiction. HTML: From bestselling author Neal Stephenson and critically acclaimed historical and contemporary commercial novelist Nicole Galland comes a captivating and complex near-future thriller combining history, science, magic, mystery, intrigue, and adventure that questions the very foundations of the modern world. When Melisande Stokes, an expert in linguistics and languages, accidently meets military intelligence operator Tristan Lyons in a hallway at Harvard University, it is the beginning of a chain of events that will alter their lives and human history itself. The young man from a shadowy government entity approaches Mel, a low-level faculty member, with an incredible offer. The only condition: she must sign a nondisclosure agreement in return for the rather large sum of money. Tristan needs Mel to translate some very old documents, which, if authentic, are earth-shattering. They prove that magic actually existed and was practiced for centuries. But the arrival of the scientific revolution and the Age of Enlightenment weakened its power and endangered its practitioners. Magic stopped working altogether in 1851, at the time of the Great Exhibition at London's Crystal Palace�??the world's fair celebrating the rise of industrial technology and commerce. Something about the modern world "jams" the "frequencies" used by magic, and it's up to Tristan to find out why. And so the Department of Diachronic Operations�??D.O.D.O. �??gets cracking on its real mission: to develop a device that can bring magic back, and send Diachronic Operatives back in time to keep it alive . . . and meddle with a little history at the same time. But while Tristan and his expanding operation master the science and build the technology, they overlook the mercurial�??and treacherous�??nature of the human heart. Written with the genius, complexity, and innovation that characterize all of Neal Stephenson's work and steeped with the down-to-earth warmth and humor of Nicole Galland's storytelling style, this exciting and vividly realized work of science fiction will make you believe in the impossible, and take you to places�??and times�??b… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member ehines
I've been pretty down on Stephenson since Cryptonomicon as characters, story and plausibility seem to radically diminish in importance next to his ideas . . . which aren't really *that* good.
I had high hopes of his working beside a single collaborator, especially one who shown a keen interest in
There's also, I think, an element of hommage/parody of Kage Baker's company series here. Which is worth half a star from me.
Not great, by any means, but eminently readable even by folks who aren't absolutely convinced of the need to hear what Neal Stephenson thinks about whatever he's thinking about at the moment, even at the cost of pointless verbosity, characters who are mere puppets and awful, tone-deaf mixtures of contemporary slang and period English. (All of which are mostly absent here. Thank you, Nicole)
I had high hopes of his working beside a single collaborator, especially one who shown a keen interest in
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things like character development and motivation (see I, Iago). And for the most part I got what I'd hoped for. The tone is different than old Stephenson, and the nature of a lot of the whimsical bits is different, but we get a story and characters that exist as something other than a vehicle for concept.There's also, I think, an element of hommage/parody of Kage Baker's company series here. Which is worth half a star from me.
Not great, by any means, but eminently readable even by folks who aren't absolutely convinced of the need to hear what Neal Stephenson thinks about whatever he's thinking about at the moment, even at the cost of pointless verbosity, characters who are mere puppets and awful, tone-deaf mixtures of contemporary slang and period English. (All of which are mostly absent here. Thank you, Nicole)
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LibraryThing member majackson
After reading several reviews of this book I’m convinced I can make a useful contribution. Even allowing for ‘suspension of disbelief’, in all my many years of reading sci-fi/fantasy I can’t remember ever coming across time traveling as being associated with magic—longevity, yes—but not
The book contains 5 parts:
Part 1. Magic used to be real and disappeared over time; the question is how/why? This Part solves that riddle by blaming science, in general, and photography in particular. The authors’ logic almost made sense—until they absolutely blamed photography. Of all the causes for the disappearance of magic, what has taking pictures got to do with anything? Is it somehow connected to the fear of having your soul captured on paper? Anyway, this Part is mediocre, but not bad.
Part 2. Now they have to find a way to construct an environment that will block out the effects of science and allow magic to function again, inside this restricted zone. Now we’re talking heavy science: quantum theory, super magnets, near absolute zero temperatures, etc. And they do it…all by themselves. And this is where the authors assume that we enjoy watching really powerful bureaucrats strut their stuff and demonstrate stupidity in action. I’ve been in the military and I accept the premise that there are stupid people there—but not in charge! When they’re killed off in this story, not only I, but all other characters seem to accept the situation with a savoir faire that verges on insouciance. I also was not entertained by the authors’ assumption that bureaucrats love catchy acronyms. There are plenty of words available for nicknaming the people traveling from one source time to another without making up confusingly un-cute acronyms. I tried ignoring them, but found that the authors were determined to force the issue on almost “every” page.
Meanwhile, the only exploit that they conceive of attempting for proof of concept is to go back in time, steal a book and bury it to be found several hundred years later in someone’s backyard in order to make enough money—from the sale of a literary artifact—to self-finance their projects.
In sum, this Part reads like the old TV series, “Get Smart”, “McHale’s Navy” and “Hogan’s Heroes”, with slapstick, smart aleck, pseudo erudite politicians and generals dictating who does what, when and how in order to maintain some statutory concept of government/military(?) “discipline”. I almost gave up the book here. And, with all this cumbersome (and silly) give-and-take as they try to create an organization to employ magic, all they can think and do with magic centers around time travel.
Part 3. We continue with the construction, and improvement, of the “magic” environment—scientifically constructed to be free of the influences of science—we see the “time police” being formed. This perked my interest some. Not so much dwelling on what these stereotypes do here, so much as realizing that, in all the really good sci-fi “time patrol” stories, the construction/formation of the time police is never described [check out Andre Norton’s various episodics, like the “Russ Murdock/Time Traders” series; or Fritz Leiber's truly outstanding "Change War" saga ].
I can see this book being made into a Netflix sit-com.
Part 4. We see the organization falling into place; and we watch the anti-hero villains growing their plans, and manipulating their dupes, in preparation for a) making their own fortunes; b) stopping science in its track to maintain magic “in the air”.
We might note here, that references are scattered throughout the book concerning other countries experimenting with this magical time travelling…but we never actually encounter them. Which makes me wonder if they really exist—or if the authors just conveniently ignored them in order to set up the current list of bad guys, who will surely return in further books.
Part 5. Here we see all the action come to fruition: all the bad guys masterfully execute their plans and appear to succeed enough to apparently destroy D.O.D.O. ----but don’t. And yet, they’re not caught. In fact, the only people left standing are the bad guys, and the small coterie of the original D.O.D.O. personnel who vow to stop the bad guys “whenever” they appear, and without the help of the government or its funds.
In summation, there are some exciting scenes that are well worth the reading—but only a few. My guess is that, if you’re under 20 you’ll really like this book. But if you’re over 50, you will easily find it unsatisfying. It’s all too silly for me.
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time travel. And the rules are obviously tinkered to aid the story line: you can’t send yourself in either direction, so someone else has to do it for you….and there are more such ad hoc rules to the game to further the plot. The book contains 5 parts:
Part 1. Magic used to be real and disappeared over time; the question is how/why? This Part solves that riddle by blaming science, in general, and photography in particular. The authors’ logic almost made sense—until they absolutely blamed photography. Of all the causes for the disappearance of magic, what has taking pictures got to do with anything? Is it somehow connected to the fear of having your soul captured on paper? Anyway, this Part is mediocre, but not bad.
Part 2. Now they have to find a way to construct an environment that will block out the effects of science and allow magic to function again, inside this restricted zone. Now we’re talking heavy science: quantum theory, super magnets, near absolute zero temperatures, etc. And they do it…all by themselves. And this is where the authors assume that we enjoy watching really powerful bureaucrats strut their stuff and demonstrate stupidity in action. I’ve been in the military and I accept the premise that there are stupid people there—but not in charge! When they’re killed off in this story, not only I, but all other characters seem to accept the situation with a savoir faire that verges on insouciance. I also was not entertained by the authors’ assumption that bureaucrats love catchy acronyms. There are plenty of words available for nicknaming the people traveling from one source time to another without making up confusingly un-cute acronyms. I tried ignoring them, but found that the authors were determined to force the issue on almost “every” page.
Meanwhile, the only exploit that they conceive of attempting for proof of concept is to go back in time, steal a book and bury it to be found several hundred years later in someone’s backyard in order to make enough money—from the sale of a literary artifact—to self-finance their projects.
In sum, this Part reads like the old TV series, “Get Smart”, “McHale’s Navy” and “Hogan’s Heroes”, with slapstick, smart aleck, pseudo erudite politicians and generals dictating who does what, when and how in order to maintain some statutory concept of government/military(?) “discipline”. I almost gave up the book here. And, with all this cumbersome (and silly) give-and-take as they try to create an organization to employ magic, all they can think and do with magic centers around time travel.
Part 3. We continue with the construction, and improvement, of the “magic” environment—scientifically constructed to be free of the influences of science—we see the “time police” being formed. This perked my interest some. Not so much dwelling on what these stereotypes do here, so much as realizing that, in all the really good sci-fi “time patrol” stories, the construction/formation of the time police is never described [check out Andre Norton’s various episodics, like the “Russ Murdock/Time Traders” series; or Fritz Leiber's truly outstanding "Change War" saga ].
I can see this book being made into a Netflix sit-com.
Part 4. We see the organization falling into place; and we watch the anti-hero villains growing their plans, and manipulating their dupes, in preparation for a) making their own fortunes; b) stopping science in its track to maintain magic “in the air”.
We might note here, that references are scattered throughout the book concerning other countries experimenting with this magical time travelling…but we never actually encounter them. Which makes me wonder if they really exist—or if the authors just conveniently ignored them in order to set up the current list of bad guys, who will surely return in further books.
Part 5. Here we see all the action come to fruition: all the bad guys masterfully execute their plans and appear to succeed enough to apparently destroy D.O.D.O. ----but don’t. And yet, they’re not caught. In fact, the only people left standing are the bad guys, and the small coterie of the original D.O.D.O. personnel who vow to stop the bad guys “whenever” they appear, and without the help of the government or its funds.
In summation, there are some exciting scenes that are well worth the reading—but only a few. My guess is that, if you’re under 20 you’ll really like this book. But if you’re over 50, you will easily find it unsatisfying. It’s all too silly for me.
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LibraryThing member TadAD
Tried waaaaayyyyy too hard to be funny and cute. I normally enjoy Stephenson but this just didn't do it for me. It has all the hallmarks of a series and I definitely will not be continuing.
LibraryThing member setnahkt
Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland combine to author The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O, a science fiction/fantasy novel. The basic premise (spoiler, but you find it out in the first few pages) is that through history, witchcraft has waned as science advanced. A government research agency finds a way to
The story is told as a series of journal entries, memos, letters, meeting minutes, etc. This style works for the science fiction part, but isn’t very effective at conveying romance, and the romance is such a minor part of things that it almost seems like an afterthought – hey, let’s put some love interesting in here just in case somebody wants to buy the movie rights. The descriptions of bureaucracy ring very true, though – having worked for various bureaucratic organizations I recognized many of the characters. The villains, such as they are, are old white men who are so convinced of their rightness that they don’t recognize disaster until it’s too late.
Funny in most spots, tragic in a few. A quick read. Like almost all Neal Stephenson novels, it has an abundance of interesting ideas and an unsatisfying ending. I don’t know anything about the second author (Galland) but I didn’t see anything that was obviously her contribution.
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restore power to witches, and is soon using them to alter history. There’s an underlying romance between two of the characters.The story is told as a series of journal entries, memos, letters, meeting minutes, etc. This style works for the science fiction part, but isn’t very effective at conveying romance, and the romance is such a minor part of things that it almost seems like an afterthought – hey, let’s put some love interesting in here just in case somebody wants to buy the movie rights. The descriptions of bureaucracy ring very true, though – having worked for various bureaucratic organizations I recognized many of the characters. The villains, such as they are, are old white men who are so convinced of their rightness that they don’t recognize disaster until it’s too late.
Funny in most spots, tragic in a few. A quick read. Like almost all Neal Stephenson novels, it has an abundance of interesting ideas and an unsatisfying ending. I don’t know anything about the second author (Galland) but I didn’t see anything that was obviously her contribution.
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LibraryThing member kerns222
I want to change my tag to "Certain I'll never finish."
A juvenile, downright silly, paper-doll charactered attempt to Harry Potterize the CIA or some black-money cousin. A peppy heroine and her dull, sidekick West Point grad find a centuries-old witch and exploit her, or is it the other way
Good for recycling into paper bags, at least.
A juvenile, downright silly, paper-doll charactered attempt to Harry Potterize the CIA or some black-money cousin. A peppy heroine and her dull, sidekick West Point grad find a centuries-old witch and exploit her, or is it the other way
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around. A definite teenage adventure, except for all the struck-thru "fucking." in the text. Good for recycling into paper bags, at least.
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LibraryThing member rosechimera
Why do I love hate Stephenson.
I can clearly state the love on and on, and that's what I usually focus on, so I won't bother. But there is something about how he does gender that really puts me off, that I thought Galland's contribution might moderate, but I didn't observe that happening. There is
There is a disconcerting comfort and acceptance with objectification and historic subjugation of women. It isn't just a thing that happened, it seems to be the a significant part of purile entertainment of the story rather than a factual element or a back drop.
One of the maligned characters that is mocked and derided is the HR person and her sexual harassment policy. This artististic choice baffled me given Stephenson's involvement with the tech firm Magic Leap that had harrassment suits filed against it even before the current climate of people coming forward with these complaints.
All these misgivings make me question without throwing in the towel, because you don't get an empathetic or intimate with Stephenson's characters, so when they are flawed, it is superficial. His books, for me, are the literary equivalent of an action movie with good scientific detail. And conversely, his best written characters are usually female. They are dynamic, more complete, not so limited, and more interesting.
I can clearly state the love on and on, and that's what I usually focus on, so I won't bother. But there is something about how he does gender that really puts me off, that I thought Galland's contribution might moderate, but I didn't observe that happening. There is
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always some hypermasculine comic book hero without super powers that just grosses me out. I think because that person in real life usually seems stunted, damaged, and inauthentic, but with a shiny veneer. There is usually some broad, simplistic statement or allusion to masculinity. I can't say anything is ever overtly egregious or bad, there is just something about the big picture in his books that is simplistic and lacking. There is a disconcerting comfort and acceptance with objectification and historic subjugation of women. It isn't just a thing that happened, it seems to be the a significant part of purile entertainment of the story rather than a factual element or a back drop.
One of the maligned characters that is mocked and derided is the HR person and her sexual harassment policy. This artististic choice baffled me given Stephenson's involvement with the tech firm Magic Leap that had harrassment suits filed against it even before the current climate of people coming forward with these complaints.
All these misgivings make me question without throwing in the towel, because you don't get an empathetic or intimate with Stephenson's characters, so when they are flawed, it is superficial. His books, for me, are the literary equivalent of an action movie with good scientific detail. And conversely, his best written characters are usually female. They are dynamic, more complete, not so limited, and more interesting.
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LibraryThing member silentq
I got this book when I went to see Stephenson and Galland do a reading in Harvard Sq last June and it took me way too long to get into it. Part of it is that it's a 750 page hardcover so I wasn't going to be bringing it around with me to read when I had a moment, it lived at home. :-) It was
I know part of it was a satire on bureaucracy, but it was infuriating reading the communications from Blevins, he was such a sexist oblivious asshole. The plot was still ascendant over the characters, but the balance was better than in most of Stephenson's prior work. I'm curious to check out some of Galland's books now.
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interesting having read a fair amount of Stephenson before picking out the parts that Galland influenced. I have a feeling that she did most of Dr. Melisand Stokes' parts and she seemed to embody that author's quirks. We don't get much insight into Major Tristan Lyons' point of view, seeing him mostly through others eyes. It's an epistolary novel where the military is trying to develop time travel to bring magic back for "national security" reasons, told through diaries, letters, intranet posts and email. Stokes is a linguistics and history expert and does the initial research to pinpoint when magic died and is the one to initially go back in time to make first contact with a historical witch (after a modern one barges into the project). The disgraced professor and his wife who join the team to provide the science backing are also fairly lightly sketched in, we get more about some of the witches and their machinations - the rise of DODO brings in all sorts of people with their own agendas and that leads to their downfall. I know part of it was a satire on bureaucracy, but it was infuriating reading the communications from Blevins, he was such a sexist oblivious asshole. The plot was still ascendant over the characters, but the balance was better than in most of Stephenson's prior work. I'm curious to check out some of Galland's books now.
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LibraryThing member fpagan
Don't be scared off by talk of "magic" (performed by "witches") in and around the book -- this is a work not of soft supernaturalism but of hard SF, involving the many-worlds idea from quantum mechanics. (DODO stands for Dept of Diachronic Operations -- time travel!) Its enjoyability is very high
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indeed. Groundless were my fears that the involvement of a co-author would prevent it from reaching the top-notch standard of the other long Stephenson books I've read (_Reamde_, _Anathem_, _Seveneves_). Show Less
LibraryThing member szarka
D.O.D.O. is an uneven novel that never quite succeeds as any one thing, but it's still fun as a not-too-serious sci-fi romp. I "read" most of the book in its Audible version over a few long car trips, and it was a good companion. If it weren't for the audio version, the book would probably still be
The story starts out as old-school sci-fi meets romance novel, and I almost gave up on it until the witch Gráinne (oddly, the character I found most believable—a low bar, since most of the characters are underdeveloped and I found none of them quite believable) entered the picture. As a Stephenson fan (I don't know Galland's work), I began to feel more at home once some time travel started happening and there was some geeking out over historical details. (Not much geeking out, by Stephenson's standards, though. I found it especially odd that there wasn't more geeking out about language, giving that the main character, Mel, is a linguist. And that character never rang true to me, in part because the treatment of her as a linguist—and as an academic generally—seemed off the mark.)
Later, the authors really start to have fun parodying large bureaucracies like the Pentagon. (At times, there's a whiff of Lem's Memoirs Found in a Bathtub, as seen in a fun-house mirror where bureaucracies are actually funny instead of terrifying, and I wonder what this story could have been if constructed more along those lines.) Large portions of the story are advanced through transcripts of interviews, emails, radio communications, and memos, and for me the best bits of the novel were here. Things do fall part at the end, and the authors seem to struggle to wrap up the plot coherently, but by then I was invested enough to see the story through.
I think most of my fellow Stephenson fans will enjoy D.O.D.O., if they approach it as a fun diversion. There are many better sci-fi books out there. But if, like me, you've already read a large percentage of them and you're just looking for a distraction during a long drive, there's some fun to be found in this story.
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sitting unopened, so the readers (especially Tavia Gilbert and Kate Udall) really deserve one of the four stars I'm giving the book.The story starts out as old-school sci-fi meets romance novel, and I almost gave up on it until the witch Gráinne (oddly, the character I found most believable—a low bar, since most of the characters are underdeveloped and I found none of them quite believable) entered the picture. As a Stephenson fan (I don't know Galland's work), I began to feel more at home once some time travel started happening and there was some geeking out over historical details. (Not much geeking out, by Stephenson's standards, though. I found it especially odd that there wasn't more geeking out about language, giving that the main character, Mel, is a linguist. And that character never rang true to me, in part because the treatment of her as a linguist—and as an academic generally—seemed off the mark.)
Later, the authors really start to have fun parodying large bureaucracies like the Pentagon. (At times, there's a whiff of Lem's Memoirs Found in a Bathtub, as seen in a fun-house mirror where bureaucracies are actually funny instead of terrifying, and I wonder what this story could have been if constructed more along those lines.) Large portions of the story are advanced through transcripts of interviews, emails, radio communications, and memos, and for me the best bits of the novel were here. Things do fall part at the end, and the authors seem to struggle to wrap up the plot coherently, but by then I was invested enough to see the story through.
I think most of my fellow Stephenson fans will enjoy D.O.D.O., if they approach it as a fun diversion. There are many better sci-fi books out there. But if, like me, you've already read a large percentage of them and you're just looking for a distraction during a long drive, there's some fun to be found in this story.
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LibraryThing member JBD1
Enjoyed this one quite well, actually. Some of the various epistolary bits seemed to be in not quite the right voice, and I came across a real howler or two (the Bay Psalm Book printed from "plates"? — no!), but I liked the playfulness of this and the diversion was good fun.
LibraryThing member MickyFine
When linguistics and ancient languages expert Dr. Melisande Stokes literally bumps into Lieutenant Colonel Tristan Lyons, neither of them realize that everything is about to change. After learning of Mel's expertise, Tristan recruits her to join his top-secret black ops government organization,
This is a fun sci-fi and fantasy mash up with a heavy dose of sort of secret government organization thriller wrapped up in it. And I utterly enjoyed it. My only problem was that the book is long. I can't pinpoint any sections that could really be cut down - a vast amount of world building is required to explain the origins of D.O.D.O. and its expansion - but as much as I was enjoying the book the whole time, I slowly got the "this is taking too long to read" itch. Given how quickly the book reads, this may not be a problem for other readers who can devote some dedicated time to this one. Recommended for those who don't mind a slightly more technical time travel romp.
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D.O.D.O., whose goal Mel eventually learns is to discover why magic disappeared from the world in the 1850s and how to bring it back. As Mel and Tristan work to uncover the history of magic and then eventually get it to work for them, it's only then that true insanity starts to break loose. Because not only does magic exist but with the right witch it also makes time travel possible.This is a fun sci-fi and fantasy mash up with a heavy dose of sort of secret government organization thriller wrapped up in it. And I utterly enjoyed it. My only problem was that the book is long. I can't pinpoint any sections that could really be cut down - a vast amount of world building is required to explain the origins of D.O.D.O. and its expansion - but as much as I was enjoying the book the whole time, I slowly got the "this is taking too long to read" itch. Given how quickly the book reads, this may not be a problem for other readers who can devote some dedicated time to this one. Recommended for those who don't mind a slightly more technical time travel romp.
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LibraryThing member quondame
This is a lot of fun to read, but the characters are as given and don’t develop. Scattershot viewpoints via written records. Since magic is fundamental to the plot the usual gaping logic hole in the middle of a Stephemson novel is somewhat obscured, but I bet you can find it. Lively and fun, with
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disasters abounding. Is wacky time travel the new vampire of speculative fiction? I noticed Kage Baker's first company book has been reissued. Show Less
LibraryThing member John_Warner
Milisanda Stokes (Mel), linguist and D.O.D.O. employee, has found herself marooned in 1851, only days before magic dies. Mel was employed five years earlier by a clandestine governmental agency, the Department of Diachronic Operations, to translate early writings and to determine if magic truly
The initial assignments are small, e.g., the location of a rare 1640 prayer book to be hidden and preserved to minimize damage, and “found” later in contemporary times and sold to raise funding for the project. The assignments become more grandiose and D.O.D.O. seeks to influence historical decisions to change contemporary events. D.O.D.O. becomes more heavily staffed and bureaucratic. As the organizations grows in its complexity, unexpected, and often comical consequences occur, including Mel being abandoned in the past, hoping for rescue but resigned to the fact that she will never depart the 19th century.
This epistolary novel is told from the point of view of several characters using journals, interoffice memos, and transcripts of verbal communication to tell the story. The latter two are often “laugh-out” loud funny but typical of the communications often seen within large governmental organizations. I listened to an audiobook edition, which was well produced using a number of actors for the dialogue. If you are a fan of Douglas Adams or Scott Adams’ Dilbert comic strip, you must pick up this book. The manner in which the novel ends appears as if a sequel is planned. I hope so!
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existed. Although she verifies its early existence, magic has disappeared with the rise of the Industrial Revolution, more specifically, photography. Her employer, Tristan, a military intelligence office and physicist, using the Schrödinger's cat thought experiment, believes that there is an equal probability that magic can operate in a closed system. With the assistance of a retired physicist, Dr. Oda and a magically preserved, attractive Hungarian witch, Erzebet Kaparthy, the team develops a Faraday-like cage large enough to hold a few humans. When one of the occupants is a witch, he or she can send the other participants back in time. However, the time travelers, leave their clothes, artificial limbs, etc. behind in the container. And they must locate a witch to return them to the present, also au naturel.The initial assignments are small, e.g., the location of a rare 1640 prayer book to be hidden and preserved to minimize damage, and “found” later in contemporary times and sold to raise funding for the project. The assignments become more grandiose and D.O.D.O. seeks to influence historical decisions to change contemporary events. D.O.D.O. becomes more heavily staffed and bureaucratic. As the organizations grows in its complexity, unexpected, and often comical consequences occur, including Mel being abandoned in the past, hoping for rescue but resigned to the fact that she will never depart the 19th century.
This epistolary novel is told from the point of view of several characters using journals, interoffice memos, and transcripts of verbal communication to tell the story. The latter two are often “laugh-out” loud funny but typical of the communications often seen within large governmental organizations. I listened to an audiobook edition, which was well produced using a number of actors for the dialogue. If you are a fan of Douglas Adams or Scott Adams’ Dilbert comic strip, you must pick up this book. The manner in which the novel ends appears as if a sequel is planned. I hope so!
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LibraryThing member ohernaes
It takes a lot to get time travels to work, and this book does not make it. Too much that is not realistic and indeed fantasylike in my opinion. I quit it about halfway through. Not one of Stephenson's best.
LibraryThing member pierthinker
Neal Stephenson is a phenomenal talent. I would not classify his books as science fiction, more that they are powerful fiction with a strong base in science, both historical/real and speculative. He builds very detailed worlds with broad and complex narratives. Normally writing for adults, with
The basic premiss of the book is strong: magic is the ability to manipulate reality at a quantum level, specifically, witches can interact with and track alternate universes to effect what appears to everyone else as 'magic'. However, the rise of technology in the mid-19th century has caused magic to fade, although witches still exist albeit with their talents lying dormant. A secret government department discovers how to enable magic again (in a limited format) and uses these talents to manipulate past events to counter similar activities by never-specified 'enemies'.
A bizarre sub-text running through the book is a satire/denunciation of government bureaucracy. This includes unfathomable and pedantic policy decisions, gobbledegook procedures, the prioritisation of process over the actual goals of the organisation, and the promotion of idiots ahead of those who actually know what they are doing. All of these represent the reality of both governmental and commercial organisations, but these episodes sit uncomfortably alongside the action
The book is presented as a set of interlaced documents each written from the perspective of different characters in the story, with each source presented in its own font or page layout. An effective way of switching the point of view as the story unfolds, but unnecessarily distracting to my mind.
Although containing some excellent set pieces (the Saga of Walmart is my favourite) the plotting and continuity is little sloppy. For example, at the start of the book there is a specific technology causing magic to disappear, but this changes to be a more generic as-technology-develops-magic-fades approach.
I enjoyed this book and the plot is open-ended leaving the possibility of follow-ups, but not in the first rank of Stephenson's work.
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'The Rise and Fall of DODO' he targets a Young Adult (YA) audience and, I think, fails to meet his usual very high standards.The basic premiss of the book is strong: magic is the ability to manipulate reality at a quantum level, specifically, witches can interact with and track alternate universes to effect what appears to everyone else as 'magic'. However, the rise of technology in the mid-19th century has caused magic to fade, although witches still exist albeit with their talents lying dormant. A secret government department discovers how to enable magic again (in a limited format) and uses these talents to manipulate past events to counter similar activities by never-specified 'enemies'.
A bizarre sub-text running through the book is a satire/denunciation of government bureaucracy. This includes unfathomable and pedantic policy decisions, gobbledegook procedures, the prioritisation of process over the actual goals of the organisation, and the promotion of idiots ahead of those who actually know what they are doing. All of these represent the reality of both governmental and commercial organisations, but these episodes sit uncomfortably alongside the action
The book is presented as a set of interlaced documents each written from the perspective of different characters in the story, with each source presented in its own font or page layout. An effective way of switching the point of view as the story unfolds, but unnecessarily distracting to my mind.
Although containing some excellent set pieces (the Saga of Walmart is my favourite) the plotting and continuity is little sloppy. For example, at the start of the book there is a specific technology causing magic to disappear, but this changes to be a more generic as-technology-develops-magic-fades approach.
I enjoyed this book and the plot is open-ended leaving the possibility of follow-ups, but not in the first rank of Stephenson's work.
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LibraryThing member ouroborosangel
There better be a DODO book 2 in the works. If this is part of a series, I'll raise the rating to 4 stars. Entertaining read about time travel, witches and bureaucracy. BUT angry at the ending after having spent 750 pages engaged in a story with no ending.
LibraryThing member wyvernfriend
Honestly by the end I didn't care. This has taken me ages to finish and if it wasn't for a flu and determination I'd have a sneaking suspicion this would never have been finished.
I've seen a lot of reviews where people either love it or dislike it, very little middle ground on this one (so if
Basic plot is a medieval linguist recruited into a secret government organisation who work with witches to do time travel and when they annoy the wrong person it all goes very pear shaped.
It's clever but I just didn't feel a lot of joy in reading it, more I wanted it to be done.
I've seen a lot of reviews where people either love it or dislike it, very little middle ground on this one (so if
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you're reading it and you're meh about it, just move on)Basic plot is a medieval linguist recruited into a secret government organisation who work with witches to do time travel and when they annoy the wrong person it all goes very pear shaped.
It's clever but I just didn't feel a lot of joy in reading it, more I wanted it to be done.
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LibraryThing member LongDogMom
I really liked this book at first, but over time, as the D.O.D.O. itself expanded, so did all the acronyms and departments until it just became impossible and distracting. Like some other cute and amusing things in the book, I feel like they took it too far and overdid it.
The premise of the book
The premise of the book
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was interesting, but the motivation was a bit of an issue for me, and there's a lot that was just plain left unexplained and seemed random. It reminded me of some other time travel books, but they took it a little farther with the idea of infinite strands of different pasts, which was kind of different... although I still felt that they took the idea of making changes in history far too lightly and that felt, for me, like the most unrealistic part of the whole thing. Going back into history and interacting with people could possibly (likely) change more than just the one thing they were often trying to change, but that really is just kind of ignored unless the changes are so significant that catastrophic annihilation occurs affecting a certain geographical area, wiping things out as if they have never been... but even that left some questions as people who were annihilated in such an event were still remembered in the future by people at the agency, which to me seemed incongruous to the rules of their explanation, but time travel is always somewhat tricky for writers, so maybe I'm nit-picking. It seems set-up for a sequel, and if one does come out, I'll probably give it a try, although I hope that now that they have the foundation backstory set up, it won't be as long as this book, which was huge! Show Less
LibraryThing member DLMorrese
Magic stops working in the early 1850s. A secret U.S. government organization is attempting to discover why it did and if it can be resurrected, controlled, and used to pursue national interests. To do so will require a scaled up version of a Schrodinger box and a witch who learned her craft before
The first person account of the protagonist, Dr. Melisande Stokes, provides the first two of the book's five sections (354 of 742 pages), and it's thoroughly enjoyable. Her narrative is fresh, clever, snarky, and fun. Later sections often take the form of memos, letters, and transcripts, and are more hit or miss. They aren't bad; they just pale a bit in comparison to what came before.
This is the first book I've read by Nicole Galland and easily the best one I've ever read by Neal Stephenson. If they get together again to write a sequel, I'll read it.
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magic died but hasn't died yet herself. It includes misadventures in time, charming culture clashes, and a Viking raid on a Walmart. This adventure, part science fiction and part historical comic drama, is delightfully executed by joint authors Nicole Galland and Neal Stephenson.The first person account of the protagonist, Dr. Melisande Stokes, provides the first two of the book's five sections (354 of 742 pages), and it's thoroughly enjoyable. Her narrative is fresh, clever, snarky, and fun. Later sections often take the form of memos, letters, and transcripts, and are more hit or miss. They aren't bad; they just pale a bit in comparison to what came before.
This is the first book I've read by Nicole Galland and easily the best one I've ever read by Neal Stephenson. If they get together again to write a sequel, I'll read it.
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LibraryThing member Guide2
A time travel story with a slight multiverse twist, mixed in with magic sounds like a weird combo, but it does work in this case. Told through multiple viewpoint chunks off different types by many different characters. The beginning takes a bit too long in my opinion and the ending felt somewhat
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rushed, but still an interesting read Show Less
LibraryThing member ikokai
This was ok. The story was better plotted than the usual Stephenson fare, but it also was less "info-dense" and thought provoking.
What irritated me though as a native Hungarian speaker was the laziness of the writers: it was jarring to read the name Erszebet hundreds of times, because it should
Also the premise requires a big suspension of disbelief (obviously), even more if you understand a bit of physics and quantum mechanics and what the thought experiment of Schrödinger was about :)
What irritated me though as a native Hungarian speaker was the laziness of the writers: it was jarring to read the name Erszebet hundreds of times, because it should
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have been spelled Erzsebet (actually Erzsébet, but the missing accent is less problematic), and than came the point where she spoke hungarian but in the manners of a really bad google translate. I mean come on... Can't you find somebody who can translate two sentences for you???Also the premise requires a big suspension of disbelief (obviously), even more if you understand a bit of physics and quantum mechanics and what the thought experiment of Schrödinger was about :)
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LibraryThing member dbsovereign
Not quite up to what I have come to expect from Stephenson, but still a fun romp into time travel and its complications. I suppose since it is double authored, that we cannot blame it all on him, but the plot is too predictable - something Stephenson alone would not get away with without his fan
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base getting quite preturbed...Three-star amusing. Show Less
LibraryThing member ijustgetbored
D.O.D.O. is a mess. There is way, way too much in this book, and none of it is explored in depth. The novel suffers from a superficial exploration of . . . well, everything. The movement of information, alternative narratives, agency, politics, banking, and more: they all play a part, but there's
As I said, the narrative lacks basic coherence. For lack of a better way of putting it, there's nothing to sink your teeth into. For those familiar with Stephenson's writing, this will come as a surprise.* I certainly didn't expect an ending with a clear-cut resolution and moral of the story, but I also didn't expect complete frustration with careless juggling of concepts, any of which alone, explored more throughly, occupy an entire series of novels.
There's a casual misogyny running through the novel. All of the characters are one-dimensional, and many are stereotypes, but the way female characters are portrayed and discussed stands out as particularly problematic. Just as the novel yields no substantive conclusions about any of the concepts discussed, so I also cannot make a substantive comment about this misogyny. It just is, and I don't know why.
Be prepared for slogging through anything and everything related to bloated bureaucracy. Certainly, it does illustrate one of the novel's major themes. However, it's so heavy-handed that it becomes a (fictitious) example of that which it seeks to lampoon.
The parts of the novel that focused on time travel missions (DEDEs, in the parlance of the book) were my favorite parts by far. I skimmed some of the middle, frustrated with narrative repetition.
I knew I wouldn't be reading a book with a traditional narrative and a tidy ending, and that's not even something I seek out in books. There's a difference in postmodern pastiche (or whatever this is supposed to be) and a book that is just poorly written. It appears to end with a set-up for a sequel: send in the editors before that goes to press!
*Note: I have only read one of Galland's novels and cannot comment on how this work relates to her body of writing.
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no overall sense of how they play against each other to shape the narrative. This is no modern-day epistolatory pastiche; it's a just a mess.As I said, the narrative lacks basic coherence. For lack of a better way of putting it, there's nothing to sink your teeth into. For those familiar with Stephenson's writing, this will come as a surprise.* I certainly didn't expect an ending with a clear-cut resolution and moral of the story, but I also didn't expect complete frustration with careless juggling of concepts, any of which alone, explored more throughly, occupy an entire series of novels.
There's a casual misogyny running through the novel. All of the characters are one-dimensional, and many are stereotypes, but the way female characters are portrayed and discussed stands out as particularly problematic. Just as the novel yields no substantive conclusions about any of the concepts discussed, so I also cannot make a substantive comment about this misogyny. It just is, and I don't know why.
Be prepared for slogging through anything and everything related to bloated bureaucracy. Certainly, it does illustrate one of the novel's major themes. However, it's so heavy-handed that it becomes a (fictitious) example of that which it seeks to lampoon.
The parts of the novel that focused on time travel missions (DEDEs, in the parlance of the book) were my favorite parts by far. I skimmed some of the middle, frustrated with narrative repetition.
I knew I wouldn't be reading a book with a traditional narrative and a tidy ending, and that's not even something I seek out in books. There's a difference in postmodern pastiche (or whatever this is supposed to be) and a book that is just poorly written. It appears to end with a set-up for a sequel: send in the editors before that goes to press!
*Note: I have only read one of Galland's novels and cannot comment on how this work relates to her body of writing.
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LibraryThing member renbedell
A governmental view on time travel and magic centered on a group of people attempting to slowly change the past to benefit the future. It starts off great. It explores time travel and different strands of time while also making a satisfactory way of explaining magic. It is told in a
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memoir/journal/messages format largely from one character, but also has other, shorter POVs. It is not hard science fiction, as the explanations are light and quick. The book is too long. It became very boring in the middle as other plots were brought into view, only to be dropped and seemingly meaningless. The ending gets much better as the plot finally gets interesting, but then it just stops. The book has a good amount of humor that still made it enjoyable throughout though. The audiobook has a full cast of narrators which likely made the book a lot better. Show Less
LibraryThing member 4leschats
Beginning as a diary, this tome uses a variety of voices via letters, wikis, diaries, reports, etc. to weave a story of time travel . Magic and time travel are made obsolete by scientific technology, most specifically photography, but Tristan believes he can create a space that will allow both to
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return in a limited way. Aided by a discredited scientist, Dr. Oda, and a historical linguist, Melisande, the three begin to experiment with the concepts and their potential for national security. Show Less
Subjects
Awards
Dublin Literary Award (Longlist — 2019)
Los Angeles Public Library Best of the Year (Fiction — 2017)
Language
Original publication date
2017-06-13
ISBN
0062409166 / 9780062409164