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The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O.

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The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O.

By: Neal Stephenson, Nicole Galland
Narrated by: Laurence Bouvard, Shelley Atkinson, Laural Merlington, Joe Barrett, Will Damron, Luke Daniels, Robert Fass, James Foster, Tavia Gilbert, Arthur Morey, David Stifel, Charlie Thurston, Kate Udall
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You think you know how the world works? Think again.

21st Century America

Magic has faded from the minds of mankind, until an encounter between Melisande Stokes, linguistics expert at Harvard, and Tristan Lyons, shadowy agent of government, leads to the uncovering of a distant past.

After translating a series of ancient texts, Melisande and Tristan discover the connection between science, magic and time travel and so the Department of Diachronic Operations – D.O.D.O. – is hastily brought into existence. Its mission: to develop a device that will send their agents back to the past, where they can stop magic from disappearing and alter the course of history.

But when you interfere with the past, there’s no telling what you might find in your future…

Written with genius and complexity, this vividly realised novel will make you believe the impossible, and question the very foundations of the modern world.

 Epic Fantasy Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Magic Science Fiction Time Travel Urban England Funny Witty Technology
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Critic reviews

Praise for The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O.:

‘A story that combines science, magic, history, and conspiracies into a genre-bending romp’ Inverse

‘Those familiar with Stephenson will recognize his humor and ideas, while Galland brings a fresh and irresistible voice to this ambitious novel’ Washington Post

‘The novel explores the boundary between magic and science with wit, intellectual intensity and panache’ Financial Times

‘Big, roomy and enjoyable … The characters are vibrant and the whole thing possesses heart and charm’ Guardian

Praise for Neal Stephenson:

‘Genius’ Time

‘He makes reading so much fun it feels like a deadly sin’ The New York Times

‘Fast-forward free-style mall mythology for the 21st century’
William Gibson

‘[Stephenson is] the hacker Hemingway’ Newsweek

All stars
Most relevant
The Fall and Rise of D.O.D.O. is one hell of an audiobook.  It delivers its story through the medium of journals, documents, social media postings and conversational transcripts with a varied cast of narrators each adding their own style to their particular sections.  For the most part it barrels along delivering a deeply woven sci-fi plot garnished with a light touch of humour.  The science gets complemented by witchcraft and is another interesting take on multi-stranded time travel.  The relationship between science and magic is something I found generally interesting even if I possibly didn't 100% understand all of the concepts that were outlined in some detail.

The highlight of the humour is largely a sustained attack on American corporate culture.  If you've managed to avoid that during your life (lucky you!) then it might not mean as much but as someone who has endured it's ever-worsening tugging at my sanity this really did hit the target.

I think the main strands of the plot and the sci-fi parts are well done though plot hole pedants will likely have a field day.  The historical parts including one particular Irish character's views on England's greatest bard are also pretty funny.  It never quite takes itself too seriously. 

There are times when it dragged a little for me though.  For some of the transcripts the repetition of time stamps which works well in print were mildly irritating and some of the humour icons appeared a little more often than they were probably worth.  The ending felt fairly conclusive though it does leave things open for things to continue so the D.O.D.O may not really be extinct just yet.

In summary this is a decent ride and rather more light-hearted then I had expected which probably reflects Galland's influence on Stephenson.  Particularly given its length I was happy to spend a credit on it.  

The DODO may not be extinct just yet!

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Too many 'lists' of facts, dates and times. Got a bit mills and boom in places. And didn't really go anywhere. The Irish 16th century whore was very funny talking about Will Shakespeare.

A strange book

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With constant twists and turns along with multiple characters read by different players keeps this unabridged version fresh and enthralling.
Well worth the listen excellent

Twist all the way with Dodo

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I usually buy Neal Stephenson when I can get my concentration on and learn something new and interesting. With DODO we have some great ideas about quantum physics, time travel, and witches but nothing explored in any great depth. Don't get me wrong, it was fun while it lasted, just easily forgotten once finished.

Light and Frothy from Neal

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A great premise, but could've been more concise; the middle was a bit draggy. However, I think this was to do with what would've, in print format, been interesting visually and you'd've been able to skip the time stamps on all the computer chat messages, which got annoying.

Feels queued for a sequel, but I'm unaware of one.

Good points of humour, subterfuge, good narrators. Overall a good listen.

A good yarn, sagged in the middle

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