The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. Author: Neal Stephenson, Nicole Galland
Published by: William Morrow
Publication Date: June 13th 2017
Format: eBook
Pages: 768
Source: Purchased
When Melisande Stokes, an expert in linguistics and languages, accidently meets military intelligence operator Tristan Lyons in a hallway at Harvard University, it is the beginning of a chain of events that will alter their lives and human history itself. The young man from a shadowy government entity approaches Mel, a low-level faculty member, with an incredible offer. The only condition: she must sign a nondisclosure agreement in return for the rather large sum of money.
Tristan needs Mel to translate some very old documents, which, if authentic, are earth-shattering. They prove that magic actually existed and was practiced for centuries. But the arrival of the scientific revolution and the Age of Enlightenment weakened its power and endangered its practitioners. Magic stopped working altogether in 1851, at the time of the Great Exhibition at London’s Crystal Palace—the world’s fair celebrating the rise of industrial technology and commerce. Something about the modern world "jams" the "frequencies" used by magic, and it’s up to Tristan to find out why.
And so the Department of Diachronic Operations—D.O.D.O. —gets cracking on its real mission: to develop a device that can bring magic back, and send Diachronic Operatives back in time to keep it alive . . . and meddle with a little history at the same time. But while Tristan and his expanding operation master the science and build the technology, they overlook the mercurial—and treacherous—nature of the human heart.
Neal Stephenson is easily becoming a favorite author, and now Nicole Galland is definitely one I want to see more of. I can’t even tell you how excited I was when I read the blurb for The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. It sounded perfect for me, and it absolutely was!
This is science fiction that includes mystery/thriller with history, science, magic, and my ultimate favorite … time travel! I know, it sounds like it could be really busy and take on too much, but that’s completely false. These two authors spun a truly cool and unique tale that had me hanging on to every word of the 700+ pages. I absolutely love the way they mixed the hard science with witches and their magic and the whole concept of how the time travel works. Also, the historical aspects are phenomenal! It’s almost embarrassing how giddy I was about certain historical figures and events that appeared. Plus, I got the biggest kick out of all the Shakespeare shade – too funny! Oh, and the naked Vikings – hahaha!
Also, the characters are fantastic and I enjoyed what each one brought to the story. Best of all, I laughed quite a bit throughout the book. Some of the humor is so subtle that it made me laugh even more. Seriously, I found it to be highly amusing!
I honestly don’t have one bad thing to say about this book. In fact, I’m smiling right now just thinking about what a good time I had while reading it. 700+ pages went by way too fast.
This sounds so good but man 700+ pages. I am not good with long books!!! Great review!
I don’t mind long books as long as they’re good. And this one is! 🙂
You sold me my dear.
It isn’t nearly as heavy and technical as Seveneves. It’s quite different from it.
700 pages sounds a bit scary, especially with the sci fi but if you loved it, then I know I will as well.
Hey did you change the look of your blog again or am I going crazy? Either way, I love it!
You’re going crazy. lol. No, I really haven’t changed it. This book isn’t really like heavy sci-fi, and it actually zooms by quick.
I love when a combination of genres works so well. Great review and it sounds like one I would enjoy.
It really is blended so well.
that’s great when you don’t feel the length
I struggle with anything above 400 pages lately so a book that’s over 700 is special and rare. You got me all curious now
It really flies and didn’t even feel that long.
Not heard of this one but it sound interesting. I am not big on sci-fi though but maybe I will put it on my try list for when I want to try something out of my comfort zone of reading…lol.
Honestly, it doesn’t read like a “regular” sci-fi, it’s hard to explain. lol.
This book sounds like it has a lot of elements that I would love. It’s great how 700+ pages were able to fly by for you! 🙂
It’s really good!
Sometimes tossing everything in really does work out. Glad it was a good one for you.
Wow I don’t think I’ve heard of this one? I love time travel though, and witches? Sounds awesome.
Ooooh, you should read it, Greg! I’d love to see what you think of it.
I love a long book that ends up being a really great read.
I have this audiobook but haven’t started it yet. Sounds like I need to push this one up on the tbr list a bit.
Ooh yay. I’m so glad to hear that you loved this one. I really really want to read it, so hopefully soon. I’m glad that it has some humor to it too!!
-Lauren
Wow, 700 pages? It does sound really interesting. Maybe I’ll read it someday.
You know, I forgot about this book entirely — I suspect that the 700 pages might’ve been way too intimidating for me at the time, but you’ve reminded me how good it is — all the reviews for it, loved it!
I’m intimidated by the thought of 700+ pages, but also glad to hear that the story didn’t drag in all that time. Love your enthusiasm shining through this review 🙂
This sounds like a great mix of genres and with 700+ pages they can do them all justice. I may have to check it out!
Science, magic, mystery, history, and time travel! It does sound like a lot, but I’ve found that those books that are able to take a lot of different things and combine them well are awesome and make for unique reads! And good characters too? This does sound interesting, though 700pgs is kinda intimidating!
Reading your review and I’m thinking… oh sounds good… and then *SCREECH* wait, what? Naked Vikings??? Hm… might have to pick this one up after all… 😉 LOL
The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. is a sci-fi novel by American essayists Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland, distributed in 2017. The story pursues the individuals from a mystery U.S. government organization known as the Department of Diachronic Operations as they endeavor to change history using enchantment.