The second part of the novel tells the story of what happens when humanity tries to return to the surface 5,000 years later.

The characters were likable enough, but the plot was never particularly compelling-I found it difficult to be invested in what happens. While the author spends a lot of effort going into technical details, I found the story as a whole lacking. Most of this involves the crew of the ISS, who are trying to work out a variety of technical problems while navigating international politics. This had to be accomplished before the 'Hard Rain', a meteor bombardment that would make the earth uninhabitable for the next 5,000 years. The first two thirds of the book describes humanity's mad dash to preserve itself, by sending a select few into space aboard a swarm of independent space pods shepherded by the International Space Station.

Seveneves is a novel that speculates about what would happen if the moon were to suddenly (and unexplainedly) explode. As he did in Anathem, Cryptonomicon, the Baroque Cycle, and Reamde, Stephenson explores some of our biggest ideas and perplexing challenges in a breathtaking saga that is daring, engrossing, and altogether brilliant. to an alien world utterly transformed by cataclysm and time: Earth.Ī writer of dazzling genius and imaginative vision, Neal Stephenson combines science, philosophy, technology, psychology, and literature in a magnificent work of speculative fiction that offers a portrait of a future that is both extraordinary and eerily recognizable. įive thousand years later, their progeny-seven distinct races now three billion strong-embark on yet another audacious journey into the unknown. In a feverish race against the inevitable, nations around the globe band together to devise an ambitious plan to ensure the survival of humanity far beyond our atmosphere, in outer space.īut the complexities and unpredictability of human nature coupled with unforeseen challenges and dangers threaten the intrepid pioneers, until only a handful of survivors remain. What would happen if the world were ending?Ī catastrophic event renders the earth a ticking time bomb. From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Anathem, Reamde, and Cryptonomicon comes an exciting and thought-provoking science fiction epic-a grand story of annihilation and survival spanning five thousand years.

Seveneves audio book