A review by cheye13
The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. by Nicole Galland, Neal Stephenson

adventurous funny tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This was a very interesting premise, and I loved the nature of the different compiled documents to build this story. That being said, I would've preferred to skip a few of the "joke" entries – the intended humor wasn't successful enough to justify the page space for me.

While the climax was engaging (i.e. when things start to go wrong), I felt the overall book lost steam as it went along. A number of concepts were teased at the beginning but never blossomed into anything significant – truly a feat in a 700pg book. My main annoyance was the sexism, particularly with the context of witches, academia, and the US military. I noticed it early, but because it was realistic rather than egregious, I trusted the story to use it at some point; my faith was unfounded.

Ultimately, while I appreciate the premise and found it a fun read, I wish it did more with the dearth of pages it had to use.
Expand filter menu Content Warnings