Neal Stephenson’s enthralling new novel, Polostan, drops readers into a bloody, inspiring, conflict-ridden, and pivotal period of the early 20th century. . . With its flair for characterization, precision of language, witty apercus, and fecundity of events, the novel delivers what we’ve come to expect from the author of such fantastical classics as The Diamond Age, Snow Crash, and Cryptonomicon." — Washington Post
“Stephenson is a writer of exuberant prose who revels in embracing big ideas.” — New York Times
“The work is deeply convincing, from polo playing out West to a meeting of varied officials in Russia that is so engrossing in the subtle dynamics at play (despite being a scene of only minor importance) that I’m reminded of John Le Carré. . . Wildly, almost shamelessly entertaining.” — Parade
“Polostan is by far the most engaging book I have read this year. . . . Stephenson has said that his superpower is writing novels and he may well be right." — Book and Film Globe
“The first installment in Stephenson’s historical epic paints an engrossing picture of the United States during the Great Depression, the Soviet Union in its tumultuous and violent early years, and the looming threat of the technological advancements that will soon lead to the atomic bomb and the space race. . . . A deeply immersive historical epic.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Stephenson is one of speculative fiction’s most meticulous architects. . . .Termination Shock manages to pull off a rare trick, at once wildly imaginative and grounded.” — New York Times Book Review
“With meticulously rendered action scenes, surprising plot twists, relatable, off-kilter characters and charming dialogue, [Stephenson's] books are page-turners. His latest proves no exception . . . Termination Shock deals brilliantly and innovatively with our era’s most pressing existential matter—while delivering stratospheric gigatons of carefully engineered delight.” — Washington Post
“This book is the rare climate thriller that’s realistic about political stonewalling in the face of disaster yet unafraid to imagine a possible future where people might actually come together and try to save civilization. The kind of climate-change fiction we all need.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review) on Termination Shock
“The novel is classic Stephenson: fiercely intelligent, weird, darkly witty, and boldly speculative. . . . Stephenson has become one of the most revered science fiction writers of his time.” — Publishers Weekly on Termination Shock
“Neal Stephenson has never been afraid of engaging with big ideas within genre forms, and Termination Shock might be his most visionary, and timely, book yet.” — Chicago Review of Books
“Stephenson is a towering talent whose discursive writing style meshes smoothly with the complexity of this plot and its characters.” — Library Journal
08/01/2024
Stephenson (Termination Shock) is a towering talent whose discursive writing style meshes smoothly with the complexity of this plot and its characters. A winner of literary awards for speculative fiction, he depicts real life with details right out of the tomes of history and science. His first volume of "Bomb Light," a new series about the coming of the Atomic Age, introduces Dawn, a.k.a. Aurora, a smart, spunky teenager whose perils-of-Pauline life places her alongside the icons of early 20th-century history: Bolsheviks in Russia, Bonus Marchers in Washington, and physicists at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair. She plays polo, as taught by her cowboy anarchist cousins in Montana, assembles a tommy gun to help her Leninist dad in Leningrad, and survives water torture in Siberia. Fair means or foul, she's a survivor ready for the next installment of Stephenson's exciting new series. VERDICT Creating a cohesive novel that features nuclear physics, the sport of polo, the excitement of a world's fair, and the dangers of unprotected sex is a gargantuan task. Stephenson leaves readers winded but satisfied.—Barbara Conaty
★ 2024-08-17
An adventurous young woman makes her way into the Soviet Union’s intelligence service in the first volume of Stephenson’s new Bomb Light series.
It’s 1933. Bonnie and Clyde are all over the American newspapers, the Soviet Union is casting its mark on the world stage, and scientists are making exciting breakthroughs that are beginning to transform society. A young woman meets an old friend, an engineer named Bob, at a San Francisco diner. Dawn Rae Bjornberg, who was born to an American anarchist mother, was raised in Russia by a Leninist father, and spent her teen years in Montana, has faked the death of her American identity and intends to make her way from California to the USSR so she can start a new life in the service of socialism. But when Dawn—now going by her Russian name, Aurora—attracts the attention of the newly formed Soviet intelligence agency, she’ll have to explain how her strange childhood in Russia led to her colorful adolescence in America, or risk being killed as a suspected spy. And if she succeeds in proving her innocence, the USSR may have even more dangerous plans for her. The first installment in Stephenson’s historical epic paints an engrossing picture of the United States during the Great Depression, the Soviet Union in its tumultuous and violent early years, and the looming threat of the technological advancements that will soon lead to the atomic bomb and the space race. Dawn/Aurora’s early life is captivating on its own, but Stephenson manages to set her up with a brilliant cliffhanger that will have readers begging for the next volume.
A deeply immersive historical epic.
