Seveneves Book Review by Kyle Pollard
The Apocalypse is on its way. You have a pretty damn good idea when every living creature on Earth will perish. What will you do? That’s the question answered by Neal Stephenson’s 2015 science fiction novel “Seveneves.” The cataclysm Stephenson imagines for the book is a sudden break-up of the moon into seven large planetary fragments. Other than a few rather large asteroid strikes after the collapse, the Earth is relatively unscathed by the event. School kids even name the moon chunks, and all seems well.
It’s just a matter of time, however, until scientists worldwide conclude the surviving moon pieces will start colliding producing a growing amount of debris that will blanket the atmosphere in what is termed the “White Sky.” In two years’ time, scientists estimate that moon fragments will begin entering the Earth’s atmosphere in the form of a “Hard Rain” that will boil away the oceans and wipe out all living things. Not good for the inhabitants of Earth.
I love how the tale takes place in the near-future. No godlike tech can be employed to save Earth and all its inhabitants from the impending doom and gloom of total annihilation. The story is more of an “if this happened now” postulation and what would we do to ensure the continuation of the species? The central issue of “Seveneves” is a problem that we earthlings could realistically face should a wolf pack of asteroids from deep space take aim at our little blue marble. To escape destruction, we would be forced to find a solution using our intelligence and the tools at hand.
So what actions do the inhabitants of Earth take when faced with the impending hard rain? In “Seveneves” the world’s superpowers with space capabilities choose to build a “Cloud Ark” using the International Space Station (ISS) as the central hub. Remember, the time constraint is two years to get the job done. The plan is to use the ISS as the nexus and construct many smaller ships known as arklets that can connect in small formations and spin up to provide artificial gravity. Approximately 1500 hundred people are chosen to escape the destruction with the goal of repopulating the planet when it’s safe to inhabit again in around 5000 years. Just think about that for a second and let it sink in. That would be a tall order for a planetary species even with technology that doubles the complexity of what we have available today on Earth.
They were running out of things to say to each other. That was ghastly, but it was true. His family members were all preparing to meet their maker in two or three or four weeks. The government had been handing out euthanasia pills to anyone who wanted them; thousands had already swallowed them and bodies overflowed the morgues. Mass graves were being dug with end loaders. Meanwhile, Doob was preparing for – to be blunt, to be honest – the greatest adventure of his life. ~Refering to “Doc” Dubois Jerome Xavier Harris and his family, Seveneves
Seveneves is a massive book weighing in at over 800 pages. It’s dense and full of lengthy expositions on the technical aspects of the Cloud Ark and the science surrounding the move from a planetary species to a spaceborne race. Stephenson grew up in a family of engineers and has an incredible talent for describing complex terms in a way that most people can understand. In the novel, there is much ado about orbital mechanics, gene manipulation, the dangers of space radiation, asteroid impacts, the logistics of space travel, hydroponics, to name but a few topics delved into with gusto. To some readers, this seemingly inexhaustible amount of detail can become taxing and get in the way of the story. To me, the hard-science in the novel added to the adventure and I could not get enough. Stephenson’s prose flows smoothly on every page of the book, and the science added a hyper sense of realism.
The novel’s main characters inhabit the ISS, and without a doubt, my favorite one was “Doc” Dubois Jerome Xavier Harris, a character modeled after Chicago native Neil deGrasse Tyson. I believe Stephenson used a “deGrasse” based character as a believable way to explain complex topics in an easy to digest manner – exactly what Neil deGrasse Tyson excels at in real life. Stephenson’s “Doc” Dubois is just as lovable and fun as the great Neil deGrasse Tyson, and his inclusion in the tale not only made sense a primary mover of the plot but as a way to take an extraordinary book to an even higher level.
The novel does an admirable job of covering a 5000-year time span and delivers huge in the end. Do I recommend the book? Absolutely. I loved “Seveneves” and ranked it up there with my all-time favorite science fiction novels. I will never forget the feeling that grew on me as I neared the end. With about a hundred pages left I got that much loved/hated feeling that takes root inside you when you don’t want a book to end because you are enjoying it so much. If you love hard-science sci-fi novels, you should absolutely read this one.
SEVENEVES
By Neal Stephenson
880 pages. William Morrow/HarperCollins Publishers
ISBN-13: 978-0062334510
Image Credit:
Background Photo Credit: “BENNU’S JOURNEY – Early Earth” by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center licensed under CC-BY 2.0
I am a huge Neal Stephenson fan… but SevenEves, as clever, detailed and well written as it was… it could have ended on page 577 for me…. the 5,000 year jump after that held too many 2017 adages and lingo for the readers benefit. I seriously doubt I could relate to anything 5,000 years ago, let alone in the future at the speed of Moore’s Law. That said, I still liked it.
I both agree and disagree with you. Can I have it both ways? Five thousand years is indeed a considerable amount of time to pass between part two and three. However, I found it fascinating to see the results of the selective genetic reconstruction of the human race and get a glimpse into the society and habitations created after abandoning Earth. And besides, as I mentioned in my review, I was having such a fun time reading the book I wanted to stay in that universe awhile longer and enjoy the view. I also found it interesting to get a glimpse into a society living so close to the stories of its own creation – but yeah – five thousand years is a huge leap between sections. What I want to know is what happens to the splinter group that lights out for Mars? That could be a book in itself.