A review by smithel
The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. by Neal Stephenson
4.0
I don't often bother to review books, but I won a copy of this as part of a Goodreads giveaway so I thought I would put in my two cents. I was so excited to win this! I've absolutely loved all the books I've read by Neal Stephenson (which is a fair few). When I started The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O., though, I will admit to some disappointment. Melisande felt more than a little Mary Sue to me in the first chapters - an attractive young woman who is equally skilled in making accurate translations in languages that span, as far as I can tell, the whole planet and about twelve millennia. And this is quite aside from the fact that she's a humanities scholar who is perfectly happy to sign up to a secret military organisation without any moral qualms or hesitation about walking away from her existing academic job. Moreover I was slightly uncomfortable about the women throughout the book, not least because they seemed to be separated into the categories of "femme fatale" and "assistant".
That said. After an initial disappointment, I quickly found that I was completely sucked in and frankly couldn't put it down. The ways in which magic and technology flowed back and forth were fun, and the ways in which different strands of possibility played out were intriguing. Thinking through all the possibilities of the characters' actions, once I was nested inside the witchy time travel framework of the book, was endlessly enjoyable and the plot had more than enough twists and turns to keep me feeling pleasantly off balance.
The mix of kinds of material presented was also interesting and worked well. Not only did it give each of the characters their own distinct voice, but the D.O.D.O. ended up being sort of a character in itself, and the universal office-ese gave some grounding to some frankly off the wall plot lines.
On the whole, it is an enjoyable romp of a book! I would certainly recommend it.
That said. After an initial disappointment, I quickly found that I was completely sucked in and frankly couldn't put it down. The ways in which magic and technology flowed back and forth were fun, and the ways in which different strands of possibility played out were intriguing. Thinking through all the possibilities of the characters' actions, once I was nested inside the witchy time travel framework of the book, was endlessly enjoyable and the plot had more than enough twists and turns to keep me feeling pleasantly off balance.
The mix of kinds of material presented was also interesting and worked well. Not only did it give each of the characters their own distinct voice, but the D.O.D.O. ended up being sort of a character in itself, and the universal office-ese gave some grounding to some frankly off the wall plot lines.
On the whole, it is an enjoyable romp of a book! I would certainly recommend it.