Seveneves
Neal Stephenson
★★★★★ 4/5
Science Fiction: near future, hard sci-fi
Epic ‘hard’ science fiction, that is mostly satisfying
At nearly 900 pages, Neal Stephenson’s Seveneves is a civilization ending and world building epic that literally starts with a bang:
The Moon blew up without warning and for no apparent reason.
That’s the opening sentence. Humanity is doomed—at least on Earth’s surface—and thus begins a quest for the survival of the species. This quest is the basis of this near-future post apocalyptic hard sci-fi book.
I don’t particularly like the term hard sci-fi for it implies other forms are then easy or easier to write (or maybe read?), but it is the sci-fi sub genre I am partial to. The type that only extrapolates from what we definitively know about science and our universe today. So no hyperspacing humans to another galaxy to build civilization anew, or other hand waving. Consequently, what follows in Seveneves is an oftentimes nerdy but enjoyable description of the scientific challenges the characters, (and by extension humanity), face and their struggles to overcome them. This is true of two thirds or parts of the book. Book three unfortunately wanders into far more speculative territory with not quite the same thoughtfulness and hence, impact and appeal. But this does not take away too much from this excellent book. This book will NOT appeal to you if thoughtful character building and development of relationships between characters is a stipulation of your reading.
Plenty to learn and ponder, but not quite The Martian
Many have criticized the book’s dry page after page descriptions of things like space suits, space pods, robots, orbits and more. Others have compared the book to Andy Weir’s The Martian.
I find the criticism missing the point of the book: it’s the geeky scientific descriptions that give this book’s events the aura of plausibility and it’s only draw, since there is not a whole lot besides that.
The comparison with The Martian is not wholly fair. The Martian was a thought provoking read (for me at least!) that made you feel the isolation of Mark Watney stranded all alone on Mars and his desperation for survival and the ensuing suspense of the eventual outcome of his efforts. Even though Seveneves is also a survival story—one with larger repercussions since it is only all of humanity at stake—the book failed to elicit any real connection with the characters or the enormity of the burden they bear to ensure the survival of humanity. The Martian is a more believable and entertaining read overall, not to mention, much shorter 😀 and so is Artemis.
Where Seveneves gets an A+ for the Science, it barely manages a B– for character development, treatment of the relationships between the main characters, portrayal of the socio-political consequences of the doomsday declaration on Earth, and the speculations of cultural developments in part 3. To be fair to Mr.Stephenson, dwelling on any of those, would likely have added another couple of hundred pages to this tome.
Part 3: A big leap of time and faith (spoilers ahead)
The eminent plausibility of the events of the first two parts of the book is Mr. Stephenson’s impressive achievement. This is somewhat undone in Part 3 which strays considerably in style and effect—with a 5000 year jump into the future when humans have rebuilt civilization, technology and population: in Space. The events of that interregnum that make this possible are left to the reader to speculate. The scenarios described lack believability. To mention just a couple:
- The transformation of a handful of survivors entirely dependent for survival on a limited amount of technology they can never hope to understand, and consequently ever reliably repair, replicate or fix, to a technologically advanced one! Yes, 5000 years is a long time, but the initial conditions are not the stable ecosystem of the Earth, but one of space and the Moon—where they are confined to the limited structures they can breathe in, hostage to the durability of technology that allows them access to oxygen, water and all basic nutrients vs. an ecosystem set for basic survival of life forms.
- Seven distinct human races survive with minimal inter-breeding through 5 millenia. Surely that is rather far fetched, and not a good survival strategy starting with a limited genetic pool?
Overall: Seveneves is quite an accomplishment
It’s shortcomings and size notwithstanding, Seveneves is still quite an accomplishment. And finishing the nearly 900 pages long read feels equally like an achievement (I’m counting this as three books towards my goal of 50 books this year 😀.) It’s a much recommended read for nerdy sci-fi readers: just don’t expect much connection with the characters or great entertainment on every page.
2 thoughts on “Seveneves”
I don’t fully agree viz. The Martian: imo that book failed to realistically convey any of the psychological horror the main character surely had to experience, trapped on another planet for a year. It stays light, entertaining and breezy throughout, even when it describes some of the hardship.
The Martian was definitely entertaining and fast paced. While maybe not conveying the horror of Mark Watney’s situation, I did feel the isolation. More importantly, I was rooting for him and his eventual rescue. I can’t say the same for the characters in Seveneves.