What would you do if you knew the world was ending in two years? What preparations would be made to ensure a genetic legacy through the survival of a few? "Send the best and brightest to space" Stephenson says. This is the most visionary and epic book I've ever read. A mysterious "Agent" from space has broken the moon into fragments that are colliding with each other at an alarming rate. Scientists have studied these fragments from afar and agree that in a few years there will be a White Sky (cloudy debris whiteout), followed days later by Hard Rain...which will effectively be trillions of meteors striking the earth for centuries, decimating every living thing and turning the Earth into a molten wasteland.
The book is divided into the before, the handling of the catastrophe (political and engineering wise), and a period 5000 years in the future where the seven space races are trying to rebuild planet Earth for habitation. This is an insanely oversimplified explanation, but the process of building structures for survival is one of the incredible parts of the reading experience- so I don't want to detract by sharing details of the journey.
The majority of the book deals in heavy technical science. The attention to detail is fascinating, even though by the middle I was feeling a bit worn out with some info-dumps. There was a particular 10 page section that could have just said a thermal shield fell off and wasn't protecting some vital material on the spacecraft. Those instances were frustrating, and felt like a chance for Stephenson to show off what I'm sure was an incredible amount of research...but it still didn't detract from my overall enjoyment.
Due to the apocalyptic nature of the book, the story focuses more on the "How" and "Why" than the "Who". These people need to solve the most serious problem imaginable.You will not find heavy character development, even though there are a few set characters we follow through 2/3 of the story. I think Stephenson is more than capable of developing wonderful characters, but for the purpose of this book it needed to take a backseat- with the human capital being discussed in terms of reproduction and genetic traits instead of extensive social backgrounds and relationship drama. I still thought there were nuanced characters, and even humor- but it certainly doesn't dominate the story line. These nerds in space have a job to do, and they are on a bit of a schedule. This is obviously a depressing time, and the characters have achieved victory if they've simply advanced the space station and surrounding arklets in some way (even when succumbing to radiation poisoning, equipment failure, or a million other accidents).
I recommend to anyone who loves science, world-building, problem solving, and doesn't mind a long narrative where the character development is secondary to an epic main plot. I think Stephenson is fantastic. Seveneves was incredibly memorable and I can't wait to read more of his work.
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