Fall, Or Dodge in Hell by Neal StephensonMy rating: 2 of 5 stars
Neal Stephenson is an author that regularly grabs my attention. There are so many Neal Stephenson books I’m interested in reading, and plan to one day work my way through them. Earlier this year, I started on my mission to devour all Neal Stephenson’s books. I started with The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O., which I loved, and was eager for more goodness. When we were given a new release, I decided to go for that as my next read instead of reading an earlier book.
Although Fall, Or Dodge in Hell is connected to another Neal Stephenson book, it is not necessary to have read it to understand this one. There are references that will be enjoyed more if you have read Reamde, but it is not a necessity. It’s a case of the characters being in both stories, but the stories are separate.
As eager as I was to love this one, I had trouble getting through it. There were some elements I was interested in, but a lot of it dragged. There were times when I felt like skimming the story, times where I wished we would just move forward. It was one of those books where I went into editor mode and found myself deciding what could be cut out without ruining the story. In the end, I found there was a lot that could be cut.
Whilst the story did have me curious to see how it came together, curious about how things would develop, it did feel like a bit of a chore at time. It wasn’t the book I’d imagined after adoring The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O, and it has left me a wee bit worried about other Neal Stephenson books.
I’ll certainly be reading more of the author in the future, but this one didn’t win me over.
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