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Bomb Light #1
Polostan
The first installment in Neal Stephenson’s three-part Bomb Light cycle, Polostan follows the early life of the enigmatic Dawn Rae Bjornberg. Born in the American West to a clan of cowboy anarchists, Dawn is raised in Leningrad after the Russian Revolution by her Russian father, a party line Leninist who re-christens her Aurora. She spends her early years in Russia but then grows up as a teenager in Montana, before being drawn into gunrunning and revolution in the streets of Washington, D.C., during the depths of the Great Depression. When a surprising revelation about her past puts her in the crosshairs of U.S. authorities, Dawn returns to Russia, where she is groomed as a spy by the organization that later becomes the KGB.
368 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 15, 2024
1,525 people are currently reading
19.2k people want to read
About the author
Neal Stephenson
136books28kfollowersNeal Stephenson is the author of Reamde, Anathem, and the three-volume historical epic the Baroque Cycle (Quicksilver, The Confusion, and The System of the World), as well as Cryptonomicon, The Diamond Age, Snow Crash, and Zodiac. He lives in Seattle, Washington.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 535 reviews
October 22, 2024
After enduring the mess that was made of Mr Stephenson’s last multivolume work, The Baroque Cycle, which had its eight parts sold as either seven audio books or three printed volumes (two of which shared their titles with component parts for maximal confusion), it is a definite relief to have his new Bomb Light saga presented as serially published standalone volumes. At the same time, it’s not a little ironic that “Polostan� is actually less viable as a standalone work than was “�, the first part of The Baroque Cycle. It’s impossible to say exactly how many characters encountered here might be protagonists from future Bomb Light stories (or at least more significant players in future parts of Aurora’s story), but it’s notable that non‐Russian‐speaking Bob Overstreet is left without comment in frigid Magnitogorsk, Silent Al is last seen mid‐firefight, and Aurora’s late mother is so thoroughly avoided in flashbacks that the negative space of her absence is more prominent than the presence of any character save Aurora herself.
Tangible incompleteness aside, “Polostan� is a delightfully detailed romp though the most turbulent decades ever known. Mr Stephenson occasionally allows himself to fall into documentation of stranger‐than‐fiction historical details, and some passages set during the Century of Progress expo in Chicago feel like fragments from a never‐written sequel to Rem Koolhaas’s , but mostly Mr Stephenson keeps the narrative vehicle facing down the road and the transmission in high gear. Where exactly that road is headed, particularly since our protagonist’s motivations are about as clear as a dustbowl sky, is a mystery most readers will be happy to pursue into future volumes.
[N.b. The following criticism of ŷ was posted in lieu of a review for about nine months prior to Polostan’s publication: As of the start of 2024, this book’s existence is barely more than speculation, but it is reviewable on ŷ. That seems healthy.]
Tangible incompleteness aside, “Polostan� is a delightfully detailed romp though the most turbulent decades ever known. Mr Stephenson occasionally allows himself to fall into documentation of stranger‐than‐fiction historical details, and some passages set during the Century of Progress expo in Chicago feel like fragments from a never‐written sequel to Rem Koolhaas’s , but mostly Mr Stephenson keeps the narrative vehicle facing down the road and the transmission in high gear. Where exactly that road is headed, particularly since our protagonist’s motivations are about as clear as a dustbowl sky, is a mystery most readers will be happy to pursue into future volumes.
[N.b. The following criticism of ŷ was posted in lieu of a review for about nine months prior to Polostan’s publication: As of the start of 2024, this book’s existence is barely more than speculation, but it is reviewable on ŷ. That seems healthy.]
September 30, 2024
A Sprawling Historical Epic That Defies Easy Categorization
Neal Stephenson has never been one to think small. From the cyberpunk futurism of Snow Crash to the millennia-spanning saga of Anathem, his novels tend to be ambitious affairs that gleefully shatter genre boundaries. But with Polostan, the first installment in his new Bomb Light cycle, Stephenson may have outdone even himself in terms of sheer narrative scope and complexity.
This is a book that spans continents and decades, weaving together threads of anarchism, Bolshevism, cutting-edge physics, and good old-fashioned espionage into a tapestry as vibrant as it is vast. At its center is Dawn Rae Bjornberg (later Aurora Artemyeva), surely one of the most fascinating protagonists to grace the pages of historical fiction in recent memory. Watching her evolution from wide-eyed child of the Russian Revolution to hardened KGB operative is like witnessing the tumultuous first half of the 20th century in microcosm.
A Life Straddling East and West
We first meet Dawn as a young girl in 1920s Petrograd (soon to be Leningrad), where her American mother and Russian father are active in Communist circles. These early chapters are a masterclass in immersive historical fiction, bringing to life the heady atmosphere of post-revolutionary Russia with all its utopian dreams and brutal realities. Stephenson has clearly done his homework, peppering the narrative with vivid details that make the setting feel utterly authentic.
But just as we're settling into this world, Dawn's life takes a dramatic turn. Her mother returns to America, and Dawn finds herself thrust into the unfamiliar world of 1920s Montana. It's here that Stephenson's talent for genre-blending really shines. What starts as a fish-out-of-water tale suddenly veers into Western territory, complete with polo-playing remittance men and high-stakes bank robberies.
From Cowgirl to Revolutionary
The Montana chapters are among the book's most entertaining, as Dawn (now going by her birth name) comes into her own as a skilled horsewoman and reluctant outlaw. But the spectre of her father's revolutionary past is never far away, and soon enough she's drawn into the tumultuous world of Depression-era radical politics.
Stephenson's depiction of the Bonus Army protests in Washington D.C. is a tour de force, blending meticulous historical detail with heart-pounding action. It's here that Dawn's talents as a sharpshooter and strategist come to the fore, setting her on a collision course with the forces of law and order.
A Dangerous Homecoming
The final third of the novel sees Dawn/Aurora return to the Soviet Union, now a very different place from the one she left as a child. Stephenson excels at portraying the paranoia and doublethink of Stalinist Russia, where every conversation is laden with potentially deadly subtext.
As Aurora is recruited into the nascent KGB, we're treated to a masterful spy story that owes as much to John le Carré as it does to traditional historical fiction. The tradecraft is utterly convincing, and the stakes feel terrifyingly real.
Stephenson's Signature Style
Longtime Stephenson fans will find much to love in Polostan. His trademark digressions are present and accounted for, ranging from fascinating explorations of early 20th century physics to deep dives into the minutiae of polo strategy. These asides might test the patience of some readers, but for those who enjoy Stephenson's brand of intellectual playfulness, they're a delight.
The prose is classic Stephenson as well: dense, erudite, and peppered with sly humor. He has a particular gift for bringing historical figures to life with just a few deft strokes. His Stalin, glimpsed briefly but memorably, is a study in banal menace.
A Cast of Thousands (Well, Almost)
If there's a weakness to Polostan, it's that the sheer number of characters can sometimes be overwhelming. Stephenson introduces dozens of minor players, many of whom appear for only a scene or two before vanishing. While this approach certainly adds to the novel's epic feel, it can occasionally make it difficult to keep track of who's who.
That said, the central cast is vividly drawn and deeply compelling. Dawn/Aurora is a fantastic protagonist, complex and contradictory in all the best ways. Her supporting cast, from her idealistic father to the charming British journalist Owen Crisp-Upjohn, are equally well-realized.
More Than Just Historical Fiction
While Polostan is ostensibly a work of historical fiction, it's clear that Stephenson has bigger fish to fry. The novel is shot through with meditations on the nature of power, the malleability of identity, and the often blurry line between idealism and fanaticism.
There's also a strong current of feminist thought running through the book. Dawn/Aurora's journey is, in many ways, a story of a woman finding agency in a world determined to deny it to her. Stephenson handles these themes with surprising nuance, never allowing them to overshadow the human drama at the heart of the story.
Setting the Stage for Something Bigger
As the first installment in a series, Polostan naturally leaves many threads dangling. The final chapters set up tantalizing possibilities for future volumes, hinting at Dawn/Aurora's involvement in the race for atomic weapons.
While some readers might find this lack of complete resolution frustrating, I found it exhilarating. Stephenson has built a world so rich and characters so compelling that I'm already eagerly anticipating the next installment.
The Verdict: A Triumph of Historical Fiction
Polostan is a remarkable achievement, a novel that manages to be both a gripping page-turner and a serious work of literature. Stephenson's ambition is matched only by his execution, resulting in a book that's as intellectually stimulating as it is emotionally satisfying.
For fans of sweeping historical epics, intricate spy thrillers, or simply masterful storytelling, Polostan is an absolute must-read. It's not just one of the best books of the year; it may well be one of the defining novels of our time.
Neal Stephenson has never been one to think small. From the cyberpunk futurism of Snow Crash to the millennia-spanning saga of Anathem, his novels tend to be ambitious affairs that gleefully shatter genre boundaries. But with Polostan, the first installment in his new Bomb Light cycle, Stephenson may have outdone even himself in terms of sheer narrative scope and complexity.
This is a book that spans continents and decades, weaving together threads of anarchism, Bolshevism, cutting-edge physics, and good old-fashioned espionage into a tapestry as vibrant as it is vast. At its center is Dawn Rae Bjornberg (later Aurora Artemyeva), surely one of the most fascinating protagonists to grace the pages of historical fiction in recent memory. Watching her evolution from wide-eyed child of the Russian Revolution to hardened KGB operative is like witnessing the tumultuous first half of the 20th century in microcosm.
A Life Straddling East and West
We first meet Dawn as a young girl in 1920s Petrograd (soon to be Leningrad), where her American mother and Russian father are active in Communist circles. These early chapters are a masterclass in immersive historical fiction, bringing to life the heady atmosphere of post-revolutionary Russia with all its utopian dreams and brutal realities. Stephenson has clearly done his homework, peppering the narrative with vivid details that make the setting feel utterly authentic.
But just as we're settling into this world, Dawn's life takes a dramatic turn. Her mother returns to America, and Dawn finds herself thrust into the unfamiliar world of 1920s Montana. It's here that Stephenson's talent for genre-blending really shines. What starts as a fish-out-of-water tale suddenly veers into Western territory, complete with polo-playing remittance men and high-stakes bank robberies.
From Cowgirl to Revolutionary
The Montana chapters are among the book's most entertaining, as Dawn (now going by her birth name) comes into her own as a skilled horsewoman and reluctant outlaw. But the spectre of her father's revolutionary past is never far away, and soon enough she's drawn into the tumultuous world of Depression-era radical politics.
Stephenson's depiction of the Bonus Army protests in Washington D.C. is a tour de force, blending meticulous historical detail with heart-pounding action. It's here that Dawn's talents as a sharpshooter and strategist come to the fore, setting her on a collision course with the forces of law and order.
A Dangerous Homecoming
The final third of the novel sees Dawn/Aurora return to the Soviet Union, now a very different place from the one she left as a child. Stephenson excels at portraying the paranoia and doublethink of Stalinist Russia, where every conversation is laden with potentially deadly subtext.
As Aurora is recruited into the nascent KGB, we're treated to a masterful spy story that owes as much to John le Carré as it does to traditional historical fiction. The tradecraft is utterly convincing, and the stakes feel terrifyingly real.
Stephenson's Signature Style
Longtime Stephenson fans will find much to love in Polostan. His trademark digressions are present and accounted for, ranging from fascinating explorations of early 20th century physics to deep dives into the minutiae of polo strategy. These asides might test the patience of some readers, but for those who enjoy Stephenson's brand of intellectual playfulness, they're a delight.
The prose is classic Stephenson as well: dense, erudite, and peppered with sly humor. He has a particular gift for bringing historical figures to life with just a few deft strokes. His Stalin, glimpsed briefly but memorably, is a study in banal menace.
A Cast of Thousands (Well, Almost)
If there's a weakness to Polostan, it's that the sheer number of characters can sometimes be overwhelming. Stephenson introduces dozens of minor players, many of whom appear for only a scene or two before vanishing. While this approach certainly adds to the novel's epic feel, it can occasionally make it difficult to keep track of who's who.
That said, the central cast is vividly drawn and deeply compelling. Dawn/Aurora is a fantastic protagonist, complex and contradictory in all the best ways. Her supporting cast, from her idealistic father to the charming British journalist Owen Crisp-Upjohn, are equally well-realized.
More Than Just Historical Fiction
While Polostan is ostensibly a work of historical fiction, it's clear that Stephenson has bigger fish to fry. The novel is shot through with meditations on the nature of power, the malleability of identity, and the often blurry line between idealism and fanaticism.
There's also a strong current of feminist thought running through the book. Dawn/Aurora's journey is, in many ways, a story of a woman finding agency in a world determined to deny it to her. Stephenson handles these themes with surprising nuance, never allowing them to overshadow the human drama at the heart of the story.
Setting the Stage for Something Bigger
As the first installment in a series, Polostan naturally leaves many threads dangling. The final chapters set up tantalizing possibilities for future volumes, hinting at Dawn/Aurora's involvement in the race for atomic weapons.
While some readers might find this lack of complete resolution frustrating, I found it exhilarating. Stephenson has built a world so rich and characters so compelling that I'm already eagerly anticipating the next installment.
The Verdict: A Triumph of Historical Fiction
Polostan is a remarkable achievement, a novel that manages to be both a gripping page-turner and a serious work of literature. Stephenson's ambition is matched only by his execution, resulting in a book that's as intellectually stimulating as it is emotionally satisfying.
For fans of sweeping historical epics, intricate spy thrillers, or simply masterful storytelling, Polostan is an absolute must-read. It's not just one of the best books of the year; it may well be one of the defining novels of our time.
January 10, 2025
I kept bouncing back and forth about the director for the Polostan movie running in my head. First Wes Anderson, but finally the Coen brothers. While reading, I kept waiting for that distinct Stephenson feeling but it never hit. Maybe I've changed, maybe Neal changed, probably both. I will probably continue the series because of a deeply ingrained fidelity.
October 20, 2024
4.0 Stars
This was a slow paced of historical fiction, which held similarities with Quicksilver. My favourite aspect were the aspects of science infused into the story. I love reading this author as he shares his knowledge. As a book that isn't directly science fiction, I wouldn't necessarily recommend starting with this one but it's definitely worth reading for any dedicated fans of this author.
This was a slow paced of historical fiction, which held similarities with Quicksilver. My favourite aspect were the aspects of science infused into the story. I love reading this author as he shares his knowledge. As a book that isn't directly science fiction, I wouldn't necessarily recommend starting with this one but it's definitely worth reading for any dedicated fans of this author.
September 2, 2024
I was looking forward to this very much. The author's best books are among the best books I've ever read. His ability to paint speculative universes is nigh unparalleled, and the rich details these universes benefit from are a huge part of what makes them lifelike. This book, however, is not this.
The book tells the story of a young woman, Aurora (fka Dawn), who is born in the 1920s, and exists in the intersection of the Soviet Union and America. The book is set in the "present" (mid to late 1930s) and the "past", where we understand more of Aurora's history and background, and what led her to become a spy (of sorts). This story is, as usual for the author, a vehicle for him to geek out on detail, factoids, and anecdotes, bring the world of those years to life. The research that went into this is genuinely impressive, and the characters that the book gives rise to are viable, realistic, and are a product of their time.
That being said, I struggled with this book quite a bit. While it read well (as does almost everything the author has ever written), this book feels even more of an information orgy than anything else by him. It's so pronounced that I found myself struggling to understand, as I was reading the book, why I should care about any of what was happening. It's like the plot was so much less important than the setting that there was little effort to create a thrill. The story element of the plot felt shallow and underdeveloped. Having finished the book, I still struggled to understand why I should have cared about any of it. Perhaps, investing more in Dawn's psychological development and trauma would have created more of a sympathetic character than I would have learned to love and care about. As it was, the various episodes in her life felt so out-there and her decisions relating to these situations so odd that I kept wondering whether this was the "real" Dawn, or a construct that was created by Dawn in order to tell a particular narrative for a particular purpose.
Either way, I wish the author stuck to speculative fiction, rather than these pet projects (similar to the Baroque Cycle, in that sense). There is still everything that makes the author shine, but the distinct lack of energy and excitement for the project comes through.
My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an early copy of the book in return for an honest review.
The book tells the story of a young woman, Aurora (fka Dawn), who is born in the 1920s, and exists in the intersection of the Soviet Union and America. The book is set in the "present" (mid to late 1930s) and the "past", where we understand more of Aurora's history and background, and what led her to become a spy (of sorts). This story is, as usual for the author, a vehicle for him to geek out on detail, factoids, and anecdotes, bring the world of those years to life. The research that went into this is genuinely impressive, and the characters that the book gives rise to are viable, realistic, and are a product of their time.
That being said, I struggled with this book quite a bit. While it read well (as does almost everything the author has ever written), this book feels even more of an information orgy than anything else by him. It's so pronounced that I found myself struggling to understand, as I was reading the book, why I should care about any of what was happening. It's like the plot was so much less important than the setting that there was little effort to create a thrill. The story element of the plot felt shallow and underdeveloped. Having finished the book, I still struggled to understand why I should have cared about any of it. Perhaps, investing more in Dawn's psychological development and trauma would have created more of a sympathetic character than I would have learned to love and care about. As it was, the various episodes in her life felt so out-there and her decisions relating to these situations so odd that I kept wondering whether this was the "real" Dawn, or a construct that was created by Dawn in order to tell a particular narrative for a particular purpose.
Either way, I wish the author stuck to speculative fiction, rather than these pet projects (similar to the Baroque Cycle, in that sense). There is still everything that makes the author shine, but the distinct lack of energy and excitement for the project comes through.
My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an early copy of the book in return for an honest review.
March 31, 2025
I am a devoted fan of Neal Stephenson, and it pains me greatly to say this, but this book is a bummer.
Polostan is not a novel. It is a rushed spattering of skeletal, unrelated historical setpieces that Neal Stephenson has jotted down in his notes over the years, and somebody decided to publish these notes without allowing them to be tied together and fully edited. The setpieces are connected solely by the diaphanous thread of a single character, a character who has very little to do with her surroundings at any given time.
There is no sense of conflict or stakes. I wish I were exaggerating, but I sadly must report that this book does not contain a story. All it does is set up a character. The reader hopscotches unsteadily through geography and time from one random historical scene to another, with no sense of direction until the last couple dozen pages. Are you wondering why the blurb seems so generic and doesn't hint at what is going to happen? It's because there's a lack of content-that-happens for the blurb to so hint at. The protagonist doesn't even have a goal until five pages before the book ends. I'm not exaggerating: only the last chapter gives any reason or opportunity for the protagonist to act to change her circumstances, and even then the other character integral to this action has only been introduced one chapter previously, so his characterization is necessarily thin and the connection between the two is disastrously rushed. If the Soviet timeline had involved this character from the start, this would have been a much stronger book.
The most disappointing part of Polostan is that the writing style is plain and dull compared to Stephenson's typically exuberant, stylish, observant, and hilarious prose. Perhaps only one in every 50 sentences exhibits a trace of the style I've come to love so much from Mr. Stephenson. This may be intentional—Stephenson is the master of the third-person limited perspective, in which the prose subtly changes to reflect the intellect and mental / emotional state of the primary character concerned. This style is markedly effective (and hilarious!) when he bounces between chapters from hifalutin academic to ruthless hitman to master hacker to cyborg dog, but when the entire book exclusively follows a 16- to 18-year old girl of no academic or professional repute, it mostly comes across as typical YA novel writing, a style that is not at all in line with why I read Neal Stephenson.
I'm confused where "Bomb Light" could even go from here. And I am not alone in this confusion. In the acknowledgments, Stephenson himself announces that he can't even give proper thanks to anybody besides his lifelong editor because he has no idea where this thing is going.
Fortunately, the last 60 or so pages of the book pick up some a semblance of a story compared to the narratively vacuous first 240 pages, at least in the sense of a hope emerging that the two main timelines connect in some way that gives the main character a semblance of an idea of an opposing force to act against. And in the last few pages, finally that does happen.
I'm still a big Stephenson fan, and Polostan ends on a note promising a real story is just around the corner, so I will probably give Bomb Light #2 a hesitant try. I just wish they'd given Polostan another year to cook instead of releasing it half-baked.
Polostan is not a novel. It is a rushed spattering of skeletal, unrelated historical setpieces that Neal Stephenson has jotted down in his notes over the years, and somebody decided to publish these notes without allowing them to be tied together and fully edited. The setpieces are connected solely by the diaphanous thread of a single character, a character who has very little to do with her surroundings at any given time.
There is no sense of conflict or stakes. I wish I were exaggerating, but I sadly must report that this book does not contain a story. All it does is set up a character. The reader hopscotches unsteadily through geography and time from one random historical scene to another, with no sense of direction until the last couple dozen pages. Are you wondering why the blurb seems so generic and doesn't hint at what is going to happen? It's because there's a lack of content-that-happens for the blurb to so hint at. The protagonist doesn't even have a goal until five pages before the book ends. I'm not exaggerating: only the last chapter gives any reason or opportunity for the protagonist to act to change her circumstances, and even then the other character integral to this action has only been introduced one chapter previously, so his characterization is necessarily thin and the connection between the two is disastrously rushed. If the Soviet timeline had involved this character from the start, this would have been a much stronger book.
The most disappointing part of Polostan is that the writing style is plain and dull compared to Stephenson's typically exuberant, stylish, observant, and hilarious prose. Perhaps only one in every 50 sentences exhibits a trace of the style I've come to love so much from Mr. Stephenson. This may be intentional—Stephenson is the master of the third-person limited perspective, in which the prose subtly changes to reflect the intellect and mental / emotional state of the primary character concerned. This style is markedly effective (and hilarious!) when he bounces between chapters from hifalutin academic to ruthless hitman to master hacker to cyborg dog, but when the entire book exclusively follows a 16- to 18-year old girl of no academic or professional repute, it mostly comes across as typical YA novel writing, a style that is not at all in line with why I read Neal Stephenson.
I'm confused where "Bomb Light" could even go from here. And I am not alone in this confusion. In the acknowledgments, Stephenson himself announces that he can't even give proper thanks to anybody besides his lifelong editor because he has no idea where this thing is going.
Fortunately, the last 60 or so pages of the book pick up some a semblance of a story compared to the narratively vacuous first 240 pages, at least in the sense of a hope emerging that the two main timelines connect in some way that gives the main character a semblance of an idea of an opposing force to act against. And in the last few pages, finally that does happen.
I'm still a big Stephenson fan, and Polostan ends on a note promising a real story is just around the corner, so I will probably give Bomb Light #2 a hesitant try. I just wish they'd given Polostan another year to cook instead of releasing it half-baked.
November 11, 2024
The Start of a historical fiction trilogy. We follow a russian girl through her life’s story growing up during rise of communism in russia, later in america then eventually back to russia. Structure did not follow a linear timeline but went back and forth with flashbacks emphasized by fact the girl goes by different names at different parts of her life. (Dawn/Aurora/Katya)
Im sad to say i didnt find our main character engaging and dont have much interest in this time period, eapecially confirmed after finishing this.
However, This book doesnt lack action but the sheer amount of trauma this character witnesses and participates in was frankly unbelievable and later annoying� luckily she also remains relatively unaffected. She continues to put herself in situations that dont seem to make sense punctuated by convienent family ties to mobs and lawless figures that only exsist to conviently ger her out of scrapes and allow her to ramble on about unimportant details proving without any doubt that stephenson did, in fact, research this time period.🙄
While i usually love stephenson’s info dumps- in this book i found them to add to the pendantic rambling nature of this story and slow pace rather than enhancing the story. We talk about a carnival 🎡 for three tortuous chapters in arduous detail mixed in with molecular structure and how hot air balloons work� none of which furthered the storyline.
Because its the first of 3 it also never delivers a payoff, just stopping where i assume he will resume for book 2. Ans maybe he is creating a character who has alot of room for chaeacter growth in future books, none of which will i be picking up. I find myself� like Aurora� to be numbed by this story into an uncaring stupor.
This book is another stephenson miss for me.
I received advanced copy of this book in exchanged for review.
Im sad to say i didnt find our main character engaging and dont have much interest in this time period, eapecially confirmed after finishing this.
However, This book doesnt lack action but the sheer amount of trauma this character witnesses and participates in was frankly unbelievable and later annoying� luckily she also remains relatively unaffected. She continues to put herself in situations that dont seem to make sense punctuated by convienent family ties to mobs and lawless figures that only exsist to conviently ger her out of scrapes and allow her to ramble on about unimportant details proving without any doubt that stephenson did, in fact, research this time period.🙄
While i usually love stephenson’s info dumps- in this book i found them to add to the pendantic rambling nature of this story and slow pace rather than enhancing the story. We talk about a carnival 🎡 for three tortuous chapters in arduous detail mixed in with molecular structure and how hot air balloons work� none of which furthered the storyline.
Because its the first of 3 it also never delivers a payoff, just stopping where i assume he will resume for book 2. Ans maybe he is creating a character who has alot of room for chaeacter growth in future books, none of which will i be picking up. I find myself� like Aurora� to be numbed by this story into an uncaring stupor.
This book is another stephenson miss for me.
I received advanced copy of this book in exchanged for review.
November 17, 2024
This is a four star if you’re in the mood for meaty historical fiction, but I definitely wasn’t.
As with all Stephenson’s historical fiction, this story places engaging characters in an intricately researched setting, set before WWII.
Russian agents and double agents and communist intrigue abound. The twist at the end isn’t unexpected but it builds towards it well.
As with all Stephenson’s historical fiction, this story places engaging characters in an intricately researched setting, set before WWII.
Russian agents and double agents and communist intrigue abound. The twist at the end isn’t unexpected but it builds towards it well.
January 11, 2025
While I like a number of Neal's works, this is not one of them.
July 1, 2024
Polostan by Neal Stephenson is overall pretty interesting, if a bit long in narrative. I enjoyed the author’s depiction of time and place while also wishing for more depth of Aurora / Dawn / Katya’s character. There is plenty of history, but not much of anything on her thought processes and feelings, what makes her tick. I imagine that whatever she has coming next will be transformative as she moves into true adulthood.
October 24, 2024
Once again, I'm nodding my head along with intense science discussions, which I barely understand, and which I'm hoping I will not be tested on later.
What I am here for is the madcap adventures of the main characters. Like Half-cocked Jack in The Baroque Cycle, or Raz in Anathem. Here we have Dawn/Avrora/Aurora, shunted back and forth between her cowgirl mother in Depression Era Western America and her intense Communist father in Russia and D. C. Dawn is probably, of all Stephenson's characters, the most Dickensian. This is David Copperfield with Communists. Like all of Stephenson's books, it also takes a while to get going, and I'm glad that this is just the first installment. I feel that we were just getting to really know Dawn, and her past and present were finally sort of coming together into a full picture, when it ended. So I'm very excited to see what happens next!
What I am here for is the madcap adventures of the main characters. Like Half-cocked Jack in The Baroque Cycle, or Raz in Anathem. Here we have Dawn/Avrora/Aurora, shunted back and forth between her cowgirl mother in Depression Era Western America and her intense Communist father in Russia and D. C. Dawn is probably, of all Stephenson's characters, the most Dickensian. This is David Copperfield with Communists. Like all of Stephenson's books, it also takes a while to get going, and I'm glad that this is just the first installment. I feel that we were just getting to really know Dawn, and her past and present were finally sort of coming together into a full picture, when it ended. So I'm very excited to see what happens next!
August 29, 2024
It took a long time for me to really get into this book. I didn’t enjoy it as much as I had hoped I would. I feel like a lot of the book was unnecessary and just really hard to get into.
April 1, 2025
The turn of the century communist historical fiction I didn’t know I needed.
Neal Stephenson is an auto-read author for me. He publishes and I read. So I picked this up without even reading the book blurb and went in fresh and I was totally delighted to find a historical fiction book about a young woman in the 1930s. I LOVE American and RUssian history and geopolitics of this time so this book was perfect for me.
SPOILIES
This book is about a 17 year old girl from Russia, named Dawn, who was born in Bolshevik Russia who careens into an adventure that takes her to the US, to the Bonus Army march on DC. hanging out with Wobblies and General Patton, assembling Tommy Guns all under the watchful eye of an FBI agent named Silent Al. After going through the World’s Fair in Chicago, she gets pregnant, miscarriages and then goes to court for being a witch in North Dakota. She breaks out of jail, Tommy Guns some evil religious fanatics and escapes back to Russia as a girl named Aurora. There she is tortured by the secret police of the Soviets and is then installed as a soviet spy. It had a LOT of plot and I loved it all. My favorite part was all the history. Highly recommend it. I’ll be reading the next.
Neal Stephenson is an auto-read author for me. He publishes and I read. So I picked this up without even reading the book blurb and went in fresh and I was totally delighted to find a historical fiction book about a young woman in the 1930s. I LOVE American and RUssian history and geopolitics of this time so this book was perfect for me.
SPOILIES
This book is about a 17 year old girl from Russia, named Dawn, who was born in Bolshevik Russia who careens into an adventure that takes her to the US, to the Bonus Army march on DC. hanging out with Wobblies and General Patton, assembling Tommy Guns all under the watchful eye of an FBI agent named Silent Al. After going through the World’s Fair in Chicago, she gets pregnant, miscarriages and then goes to court for being a witch in North Dakota. She breaks out of jail, Tommy Guns some evil religious fanatics and escapes back to Russia as a girl named Aurora. There she is tortured by the secret police of the Soviets and is then installed as a soviet spy. It had a LOT of plot and I loved it all. My favorite part was all the history. Highly recommend it. I’ll be reading the next.
October 29, 2024
2024 reads, #68. Oh boy, Neal Stephenson has a new novel out! Like Bret Easton Ellis, who I was just talking about here last week, Stephenson’s one of the few authors in existence I can say I’m a legitimate completist of, by which I mean I’ve read every novel he’s ever written, going all the way back to 1984’s The Big U and counting forward another fourteen titles. In my twenties and thirties, I was absolutely blown away by his far-out-there �90s cyberpunk tales and eventually his first historical-fiction saga, the �40/�90s dual story known as Cryptonomicon; and while he’s had better ones and worser ones since then, I’ve at least been equally blown away by the truly special tiles from the �00s and �10s, such as the three-thousand-year alt-history saga Anathem (buck for buck the best book of his career, as far as I’m concerned), or 2011’s truly insane contemporary comedy nerd thriller Reamde, which I simultaneously want to see made into a Netflix series and want Netflix to keep its dirty paws off of.
But what famously started happening in the late 2010s -- and I say “famous� as in it’s still far and away the most liked review I’ve ever done at ŷ, out of the several thousand I’ve now written over the last 18 years -- is that I ended up passionately disliking 2019’s super ambitious swing-and-a-miss Fall: Or, Dodge in Hell, so much so that it made me question whether I had been wrong with all those other books so many years ago, then in 2021 equally hated the next book after that, the Michael Crichton ripoff Termination Shock. So it’s with great relief that I say we’re back on safe ground again with Stephenson’s brand-new one, entitled Polostan but part of a trilogy that will eventually be known as Bomb Light (and I suspect destined to eventually be sold in a single thousand-page volume under this name, in that this first volume of the series is only 300 pages).
It’s another historical thriller, which Stephenson does particularly well, in this case focusing in on a young woman who spends her childhood to her forties in the years between the Soviet takeover of Russia in the 1920s and the end of World War Two (coming in another volume a long, long time from now), which presumably by the series� name will eventually tell us the long and nerdy tale of how the first atomic weapons came to be. She’d fit right in at the cyberspace hangouts from Stephenson’s early sci-fi novels -- over six feet, with bright blonde hair and striking looks, bilingual in both English and Russian, raised by a mother who hung out with horse thieves in the wilds of Montana, and a dad who was a Rooseveltian radical liberal who got convinced to move to the newly named Soviet Union right after the revolution.
This gives us lots and lots and lots of opportunities for very unique, sometimes zany, always potential-loaded scenes in the book, from Dawn/Aurora (based on which country she’s in) having such notorious run-ins as sharing an intimate dance with a middle-aged George Patton a full ten years before the war, or getting broken out of a small-town jail by a Bonnie-and-Clyde-type gang. Aurora has her eyes on everything she can see, and what’s lucky for her (and for us) is that she gets to go through a virtual Forrest Gump’s life of amazing places to have uncannily been during her youth, from the massive Leningrad performance art piece The Storming of the Winter Palace to the 1933 World’s Fair in Chicago (shoutout to the scene in this novel set just down the street from where I live in real life!), and eventually the moment some Soviet scientists decided they wanted to get up above Earth’s atmosphere to find out what the origin of mysterious X-rays are, now in hindsight considered Step 1 of our eventual invention of nuclear weapons twelve years later. She’s witness to it all, because Aurora loves her nerds, just as much as she loves riding horses and robbing banks and toting a machine gun around in a literal violin case.
In fact, there’s really only one big problem here, but it’s an extra-big one, which is that it’s crystal-clear that this is only the first act of a much bigger story to come. I don’t play that game -- I don’t go to the trouble of reading an entire book just to find out that the whole thing was the first act to an eventual payout that may only come in years, may never come at all, and will absolutely cost me more money. I love literary series as much as the next guy, but all volumes in all of them are required to work as standalone tales too (they should all be shooting for the original 1977 Star Wars as far as getting the balance right); and Polostan doesn’t pass the Star Wars Test, but is instead 300 pages where at the end we’re only now entering the Millennium Falcon to leave Tatooine and go rescue Princess Leia. It’s a great read, but ultimately a disappointing one as long as we don’t have a really good payoff at the end; so if each of these volumes are going to be like this, perhaps do yourself a favor and just wait until they’re all finally out and available as a single volume, which obviously this one will eventually be, since the last 10 out of the 14 novels of his career have all been in the thousand-page range. That would normally get it three and a half stars from me, but here at ŷ where half-stars aren’t allowed, I’ll go ahead and happily round up in this case, because I’m glad to see Stephenson back in full form here, writing the kind of blend of heady conceptual ideas combined with intense action sequences and black humor that so define his work at its best. It comes warmly recommended, just...you know, you might want to wait another two years before reading any of them, then read all of them at once.
But what famously started happening in the late 2010s -- and I say “famous� as in it’s still far and away the most liked review I’ve ever done at ŷ, out of the several thousand I’ve now written over the last 18 years -- is that I ended up passionately disliking 2019’s super ambitious swing-and-a-miss Fall: Or, Dodge in Hell, so much so that it made me question whether I had been wrong with all those other books so many years ago, then in 2021 equally hated the next book after that, the Michael Crichton ripoff Termination Shock. So it’s with great relief that I say we’re back on safe ground again with Stephenson’s brand-new one, entitled Polostan but part of a trilogy that will eventually be known as Bomb Light (and I suspect destined to eventually be sold in a single thousand-page volume under this name, in that this first volume of the series is only 300 pages).
It’s another historical thriller, which Stephenson does particularly well, in this case focusing in on a young woman who spends her childhood to her forties in the years between the Soviet takeover of Russia in the 1920s and the end of World War Two (coming in another volume a long, long time from now), which presumably by the series� name will eventually tell us the long and nerdy tale of how the first atomic weapons came to be. She’d fit right in at the cyberspace hangouts from Stephenson’s early sci-fi novels -- over six feet, with bright blonde hair and striking looks, bilingual in both English and Russian, raised by a mother who hung out with horse thieves in the wilds of Montana, and a dad who was a Rooseveltian radical liberal who got convinced to move to the newly named Soviet Union right after the revolution.
This gives us lots and lots and lots of opportunities for very unique, sometimes zany, always potential-loaded scenes in the book, from Dawn/Aurora (based on which country she’s in) having such notorious run-ins as sharing an intimate dance with a middle-aged George Patton a full ten years before the war, or getting broken out of a small-town jail by a Bonnie-and-Clyde-type gang. Aurora has her eyes on everything she can see, and what’s lucky for her (and for us) is that she gets to go through a virtual Forrest Gump’s life of amazing places to have uncannily been during her youth, from the massive Leningrad performance art piece The Storming of the Winter Palace to the 1933 World’s Fair in Chicago (shoutout to the scene in this novel set just down the street from where I live in real life!), and eventually the moment some Soviet scientists decided they wanted to get up above Earth’s atmosphere to find out what the origin of mysterious X-rays are, now in hindsight considered Step 1 of our eventual invention of nuclear weapons twelve years later. She’s witness to it all, because Aurora loves her nerds, just as much as she loves riding horses and robbing banks and toting a machine gun around in a literal violin case.
In fact, there’s really only one big problem here, but it’s an extra-big one, which is that it’s crystal-clear that this is only the first act of a much bigger story to come. I don’t play that game -- I don’t go to the trouble of reading an entire book just to find out that the whole thing was the first act to an eventual payout that may only come in years, may never come at all, and will absolutely cost me more money. I love literary series as much as the next guy, but all volumes in all of them are required to work as standalone tales too (they should all be shooting for the original 1977 Star Wars as far as getting the balance right); and Polostan doesn’t pass the Star Wars Test, but is instead 300 pages where at the end we’re only now entering the Millennium Falcon to leave Tatooine and go rescue Princess Leia. It’s a great read, but ultimately a disappointing one as long as we don’t have a really good payoff at the end; so if each of these volumes are going to be like this, perhaps do yourself a favor and just wait until they’re all finally out and available as a single volume, which obviously this one will eventually be, since the last 10 out of the 14 novels of his career have all been in the thousand-page range. That would normally get it three and a half stars from me, but here at ŷ where half-stars aren’t allowed, I’ll go ahead and happily round up in this case, because I’m glad to see Stephenson back in full form here, writing the kind of blend of heady conceptual ideas combined with intense action sequences and black humor that so define his work at its best. It comes warmly recommended, just...you know, you might want to wait another two years before reading any of them, then read all of them at once.
February 12, 2024
Fantastic! But like 100 pages too long.
November 7, 2024
I've read all of the Neal Stephenson novels, and the only complaint I have about any of them is that they are often so dense, so intricate and well-imagined, that it's can be very hard to keep plowing away through their (very often) very long length. It's always enjoyable, but takes patience (especially in the initial 300 or so pages) before the "real" story and payoff begins to emerge. With "Polostan," Stephenson (or his publisher) opted to break what might be one, long narrative into a trilogy. The first installment, "Polostan," is a very manageable 300+ pages that introduces the central character: an amorphous chameleon named Dawn (in America), Aurora (in Soviet Union), and Svetlana or Katya when she's intentionally deceiving someone. "Polostan" pretty much tells her origin story, but you get the sense, almost like the first installment of "The Lord of the Rings," that it's all set up for what is to come. And so while it works (and works well) on its own, I cannot imagine reading it and then not pursuing the other two installments to come. So I suppose Stephenson (or his publisher) have me hooked for two more books!
February 19, 2025
Это шизография (
November 1, 2024
I love Neal Stephenson but not this one. It had none of the charm of some of his classics, and it felt like I was forcing myself to read it. Gave up after the first quarter of the book.
I understand that this book is supposed to be setting up a character for future books, but it needs to have more in THIS book to engage.
Disappointing.
I understand that this book is supposed to be setting up a character for future books, but it needs to have more in THIS book to engage.
Disappointing.
November 16, 2024
Polostan is both stephensonian and non-stephensonian in parallel:
- easier to get through, not that much digression-heavy
- single-threaded, yet the author jumps across space & time (but always following Dawn)
- science is somewhere there in the background all the time, but not as "intense" as it used to be in many NS's books
- important historical figures do pop up occasionally in the story (I mean - not mentioned, but are actually met by the characters) to spice things up
- the story itself is quite well-paced, and it's narrated in a way that time/space switches make decent cliffhangers
- ... but it lacks decent motivations of the main character - for the bigger part of the book there's nothing pushing actively the story further, the main character has no incentive but pure survival - here & now
- ... and Dawn herself is a very uninteresting character; I mean - her background makes her non-trivial, putting her at the intersections of different worlds, but we know nothing about who she really is: what she thinks, what drives her, what she really believes in
Polostan is not bad when it comes to the beginning of the series. We can roughly figure out (after reading Polostan) where things are heading to, and this somehow "insider's" perspective makes it quite interesting. But "Polostan" feels a bit uninspired ;( Don't get me wrong - I've read it without yawning, but it seems hardly memorable at all. Neal Stephenson is not in his best shape here.
- easier to get through, not that much digression-heavy
- single-threaded, yet the author jumps across space & time (but always following Dawn)
- science is somewhere there in the background all the time, but not as "intense" as it used to be in many NS's books
- important historical figures do pop up occasionally in the story (I mean - not mentioned, but are actually met by the characters) to spice things up
- the story itself is quite well-paced, and it's narrated in a way that time/space switches make decent cliffhangers
- ... but it lacks decent motivations of the main character - for the bigger part of the book there's nothing pushing actively the story further, the main character has no incentive but pure survival - here & now
- ... and Dawn herself is a very uninteresting character; I mean - her background makes her non-trivial, putting her at the intersections of different worlds, but we know nothing about who she really is: what she thinks, what drives her, what she really believes in
Polostan is not bad when it comes to the beginning of the series. We can roughly figure out (after reading Polostan) where things are heading to, and this somehow "insider's" perspective makes it quite interesting. But "Polostan" feels a bit uninspired ;( Don't get me wrong - I've read it without yawning, but it seems hardly memorable at all. Neal Stephenson is not in his best shape here.
Read
August 8, 2024Neal Stephenson's shortest solo novel since Zodiac takes its name from the site of the first appearance by the Red Army women's polo team. Why does the Red Army have a women's polo team? Well, that's the story, or part of it. After doing his best to prove nominative determinism with the fumble that was Fall, and one I skipped entirely for that and other reasons, this feels a lot like Stephenson making a deliberate return to Cryptonomicon territory, a story about the birth of the modern world that treats historical fiction like SF and logistics like hymns, setting an invented, idiosyncratic yet somehow representative cast loose among real people of the day - including at least one of the same historical figures. We're only a decade earlier, after all, with most of the novel taking place in the 1930s, a dark time where the only thing worse than the cruelty and wastefulness of capitalism was the cruelty and wastefulness of the rival systems taking shape to either side of it. As before, Stephenson carefully selects his pieces from both the obvious signifiers of the era (gangsters; Soviet psychiatry) and the more outre (the Bonus Army; the building of Magnitogorsk). Our heroine is Dawn in the USA, renamed Aurora in the USSR, and ends up having a terrible time in both; there's a particular strand of unjust imprisonment narrative that really gets under my skin, and thanks to the way Polostan's narrative jumps around, here I could enjoy it in stereo. Fascism, at least, remains mostly an offstage horror for now, but that seems unlikely to last through subsequent books in the series, especially when Stephenson is clearly interested in the contemporary parallels; there's a particularly grim stretch reminding us of Russia's past form when it comes to committing atrocities in Ukraine and then lying about it with the assistance of Western shills. But mixed in with the horrors are romance, adventure, and above all discovery - it's so easy to forget how recently the neutron was discovered, or that within living memory the sheer existence of aeroplanes was a thrill, rather than a locus for chiselling and faff. This is very much a first installment of Bomb Light rather than a story complete in itself, and to some extent I am reminded that in other territories the individual books of the Baroque Cycle were themselves broken down into more manageable units. But there's still plenty to get your teeth into, without it being as formidable as his doorstoppers.
(Netgalley ARC)
(Netgalley ARC)
October 18, 2024
This is the first book of a series that Neal Stephenson said at an author event will be about the coming of the atomic age, and I presume about the making of the atomic bomb (as indicated by the series title, 'Bomb Light'). It's not science fiction, it's a historical novel of the mid-20th century, starting in the early 1930s. Based on this first book, it will show the time period from both the Western and Soviet sides. Since it's Stephenson there will be a lot more than just that, but it looks like that's how it's shaping up for now.
Since we know that Stephenson works on a broad canvas in his series work (see The Baroque Cycle), this book is just the setup. As such, it's a fairly straightforward presentation of a protagonist who ranges between America and Russia. This young woman, known as Dawn in America but Aurora in Russia, was raised by her Communist father who sought to bring the revolution to America. Fluent in both Russian and American English, she comes to the attention of the authorities in Russia who believe she can be quite useful. That's where the second book will begin.
While I'm a Stephenson fan, I gave this book only three stars because as the first book of a protracted series, it's like the opening act of a rock concert � engaging, interesting, but not the main event. We can see that there are Big Plans for Aurora, but not precisely what they are. She's observant and resourceful though, so she'll respond intelligently.
I didn't downgrade the book because of writing quality or style � you get Stephenson's typically wry humor as well as his fascinating digressions about arcane topics (in this book, especially the 1933 Chicago World's Fair, known as the Century of Progress). You also learn quite a bit about polo if you don't know the sport. And Thompson sub-machine guns. And the harshness of the Soviet Union in the 1930s.
I don't have to convince Stephenson fans to read this; if you know, you know. But this may not be the best start for a newbie. One of his stand-alone books would be better, perhaps Cryptonomicon, or Seveneves, or Termination Shock. Or Snow Crash or Diamond Age if you want to go back to his beginnings in science fiction.
Since we know that Stephenson works on a broad canvas in his series work (see The Baroque Cycle), this book is just the setup. As such, it's a fairly straightforward presentation of a protagonist who ranges between America and Russia. This young woman, known as Dawn in America but Aurora in Russia, was raised by her Communist father who sought to bring the revolution to America. Fluent in both Russian and American English, she comes to the attention of the authorities in Russia who believe she can be quite useful. That's where the second book will begin.
While I'm a Stephenson fan, I gave this book only three stars because as the first book of a protracted series, it's like the opening act of a rock concert � engaging, interesting, but not the main event. We can see that there are Big Plans for Aurora, but not precisely what they are. She's observant and resourceful though, so she'll respond intelligently.
I didn't downgrade the book because of writing quality or style � you get Stephenson's typically wry humor as well as his fascinating digressions about arcane topics (in this book, especially the 1933 Chicago World's Fair, known as the Century of Progress). You also learn quite a bit about polo if you don't know the sport. And Thompson sub-machine guns. And the harshness of the Soviet Union in the 1930s.
I don't have to convince Stephenson fans to read this; if you know, you know. But this may not be the best start for a newbie. One of his stand-alone books would be better, perhaps Cryptonomicon, or Seveneves, or Termination Shock. Or Snow Crash or Diamond Age if you want to go back to his beginnings in science fiction.
October 7, 2024
I ended up really enjoying this epic tale of Dawn/Aurora. Set in Montana and Moscow during the 1920’s to 1930’s, Dawn’s mom a US citizen and her father a Russian communist.
The story details Dawn’s early life in Montana and Moscow and jumps ahead a bit to her journey and development as a KGB agent. There are many parts that are filled with historical facts that drag on and on, but the real story of Dawn/Aurora in the two timelines is engaging and interesting. The writing is good and the many characters are well developed.
This is book one in a series and I can’t wait to read book two!
Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow publishers for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.
The story details Dawn’s early life in Montana and Moscow and jumps ahead a bit to her journey and development as a KGB agent. There are many parts that are filled with historical facts that drag on and on, but the real story of Dawn/Aurora in the two timelines is engaging and interesting. The writing is good and the many characters are well developed.
This is book one in a series and I can’t wait to read book two!
Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow publishers for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.
September 1, 2024
I am not sure if I like Polostan or hate it. It is primarily a meandering, 368 page introduction to the main character in this new series, Dawn/Aurora. Dawn is the American name of a character caught between the emergent worlds of the 20th century Soviet Union and United States of America and with a foot in each. Born to Russian emigres, she escapes revolutionary Russia, wanders around America as a rootless immigrant encountering myriad adventures, escapes Communist-hunting G-men by returning to Russia where she comes to the attention of none other than Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria and then ... well, we do not exactly know and will have to wait until book two to learn more. While it feels rambling, the prose is still tight, strangely engaging, and one is always aware that Stephenson is leading you somewhere albeit s-l-o-w-l-y. This is a very different Stephenson, but being Stephenson, I am definitely disposed to giving the benefit of my doubts to him and looking forward with some misgivings to book two if for no other reason than to see where this going.
November 11, 2024
Can't believe I DNF'd a Neal Stephenson book but here we are. Returning to this was such an absolute chore that I've actually given up on it, which I've only ever done one other time.
Tedious. Main character is a complete mess.
Avoid.
Tedious. Main character is a complete mess.
Avoid.
November 12, 2024
This audiobook suddenly appeared on Storytell and I couldn't wait to see how it was going to end. First disappointment: it doesn't end. Second disappointment: no word on when it continues. Other than that, though, I really enjoyed it. The main protagonist is wonderful as both Dawn and Aurora. The context is most interesting, at least for me, because I ignored it completely and knew nothing about it. At this point, I hope the sequel comes soon.
Questo audiobook é comparso all'improvviso su Storytell e non vedevo l'ora di vedere come andava finire. Prima delusione: non finisce. Seconda delusione: non si sa quando continua. A parte questo peró mi é piaciuto parecchio. La protagonista principale é meravigliosa sia come Dawn che come Aurora. IL contesto é interessantissimo, quanto meno per me, perché lo ignoravo completamente e non ne sapevo nulla. A questo punto, spero che arrivi presto il seguito.
Questo audiobook é comparso all'improvviso su Storytell e non vedevo l'ora di vedere come andava finire. Prima delusione: non finisce. Seconda delusione: non si sa quando continua. A parte questo peró mi é piaciuto parecchio. La protagonista principale é meravigliosa sia come Dawn che come Aurora. IL contesto é interessantissimo, quanto meno per me, perché lo ignoravo completamente e non ne sapevo nulla. A questo punto, spero che arrivi presto il seguito.
August 27, 2024
He avoided meeting Aurora's eye -- as well he might. She didn't imagine this kind of situation was covered in Emily Post. It must happen a lot, though, in the Soviet Union: bumping into persons who had tortured you or murdered members of your family. [loc. 3279]
First in new trilogy 'Bomblight', Polostan is the story of Dawn Rae Bjornberg, also known as Aurora Maximovna Artemyeva. Dawn is the daughter of a Russian communist and an anarchist cowgirl from Montana. After a childhood in Leningrad, where she's tended by a veteran of the Red Women's Death Batallion, she spends her teenage years trailing around the USA after her father, who is very much in favour of workers' rights. This period of Dawn's life culminates in marching to Washington as part of the and helping to facilitate armed insurrection against the US government. She also encounters, andflirts with, George Patton: and she attends the Century of Progress World's Fair in Chicago in 1933, where she works as a shoe saleswoman, hears Niels Bohr lecturing, and has a brief fling with a young man named Dick (who may be Richard Feynman). Then off to Russia via San Francisco, to resume her Russian identity, introduces the game of polo to the Soviet Union, and encounters Lavrentiy Beria -- not in a good way, though luckily she's too old for him.
I found this very readable, and quintessentially Stephensonian: behold our fearless, intrepid and engaging heroine, who hobnobs with famous men and attends an advanced physics lecture despite having spent much of her childhood avoiding school, who uses sex as a weapon or a distraction, who endures ill-treatment with dignity and an offhand quip... I did like Aurora/Dawn, though, and the famous names aren't as plethoric as in the Baroque Cycle. And I do like Stephenson's prose style, with his liking for lists and his wry observations. Looking forward to seeing where this trilogy is going!
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the advance review copy, in exchange for this full honest review. UK Publication Date is 26 SEP 2024.
November 25, 2024
I love good historical fiction and I love Neal Stephenson, and this book is both, so there you go. It's very much the beginning of a series; it's paced like a much longer work and doesn't begin to scratch the surface of the epic-scale story that it hints at, with cameo appearances by the likes of General Patton and Richard Feynman. (Feynman is not explicitly named; he appears here as a hyperactive, brilliant physics student called Dick from Far Rockaway -- I recognized him, of course, but this treatment of his identity as easter egg for those in the know makes me wonder who else appeared in these pages whom I didn't cotton on to.) This volume is an origin story, ending with its protagonist Dawn a/k/a Aurora at only 19 or so, at odds with both the FBI and the OGPU, so it's clear that she has a big future ahead of her once the Cold War heats up. I'm looking forward to the rest of the story.
January 10, 2025
I'm of the opinion that Neal Stephenson lost the plot sometime around when he started hanging out with billionaires. "Seveneves" is the first one to show the rot creeping in, but two-thirds of it still manages to be a fairly gripping hard science fiction novel. The work Stephenson did on the Hieroglyph Project shows him to be fully enamored with the billionaire tech bro zeitgeist, and "Fall" is nothing short of a love letter to rich assholes where every named character has a net worth of at least ten million bucks and everyone else is a servant.
Neal managed to stop humping Jeff Bezos leg long enough to grind out this, a half-written story of a maybe-communist-maybe-cowgirl Forest Gump who seems destined to get involved with major events of dawning of the atomic age. I say "seems" because this book ends before any actual plot happens, so it's not clear what the story will eventually be. Neal confirms this for the reader in his afterword where he states that any acknowledgments will have to wait until he's figured out what his book is about. Humble suggestion from a reader: maybe figure that out before you publish next time.
Neal managed to stop humping Jeff Bezos leg long enough to grind out this, a half-written story of a maybe-communist-maybe-cowgirl Forest Gump who seems destined to get involved with major events of dawning of the atomic age. I say "seems" because this book ends before any actual plot happens, so it's not clear what the story will eventually be. Neal confirms this for the reader in his afterword where he states that any acknowledgments will have to wait until he's figured out what his book is about. Humble suggestion from a reader: maybe figure that out before you publish next time.
October 4, 2024
My rating : 4.5 of 5 stars
That was a genuine pleasure to read. As with much of Stephenson's previous work, it's deeply detailed, and taps a rich vein of history for much of its content, but throws in enough ambiguity that I kept having to double check which bits of the 'history' were fact and which bits were fiction.
There are a few moments where the narrative takes a disturbing turn, and for some readers this could make it a difficult read, but overall I found this to be one of the author's more accessible works. A good place to start if you've not read any Stephenson before, perhaps?
That was a genuine pleasure to read. As with much of Stephenson's previous work, it's deeply detailed, and taps a rich vein of history for much of its content, but throws in enough ambiguity that I kept having to double check which bits of the 'history' were fact and which bits were fiction.
There are a few moments where the narrative takes a disturbing turn, and for some readers this could make it a difficult read, but overall I found this to be one of the author's more accessible works. A good place to start if you've not read any Stephenson before, perhaps?
October 18, 2024
Meh.
I was trying to decide if this was a work of libertarian science fiction. There are some slight libertarian aspects to the story (basically, showing how bad communism, and particularly Russian/USSR communism, is, at scales both great and small), but it was not really science fiction in any meaningful way -- it was historical fiction set in proximity to some scientific events, and only very tenuously so.
Maybe the next book will be more interesting -- this was basically just an introduction to characters, the 1930s setting, a few recurring elements (polo, military cavalry, high altitude balloon science, some basic physics, steel mills, bonus army/labor agitation), and some backstory. A better book would have just covered all this in-line as references or flashbacks during the real story, rather than having an entire (presumably 1/3) of a trilogy wasted on this.
Reasonably well written and interesting characters, if implausible.
I was trying to decide if this was a work of libertarian science fiction. There are some slight libertarian aspects to the story (basically, showing how bad communism, and particularly Russian/USSR communism, is, at scales both great and small), but it was not really science fiction in any meaningful way -- it was historical fiction set in proximity to some scientific events, and only very tenuously so.
Maybe the next book will be more interesting -- this was basically just an introduction to characters, the 1930s setting, a few recurring elements (polo, military cavalry, high altitude balloon science, some basic physics, steel mills, bonus army/labor agitation), and some backstory. A better book would have just covered all this in-line as references or flashbacks during the real story, rather than having an entire (presumably 1/3) of a trilogy wasted on this.
Reasonably well written and interesting characters, if implausible.
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