I’ve read most of Neal Stephenson‘s novels and really enjoyed them. At least the early ones: Snow Crash (1992); Cryptonomicon (1999); The Baroque Cycle: Quicksilver (2003); The Confusion (2004); The System of the World (2004); Anathem (2008); REAMDE (2011)
His latest novel, Polostan, arrived this morning.
(Amazon) “The first installment in Neal Stephenson’s 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.
Set against the turbulent decades of the early twentieth century, Polostan is an inventive, richly detailed, and deeply entertaining historical epic, and the start of a captivating new series from Neal Stephenson.
I’d definitely call The Baroque Cycle historical novels. Same for much of Cryptonomicon. The Amazon description above reminds me of REAMDE, perhaps my favorite Stephenson novel.
When I opened the Amazon box, the first thing I noticed was how much smaller (number of pages) this new novel is. NS had no trouble cranking out thousand page books. I hope he has recaptured his earlier mojo.
Excerpts from his novels here.
While I line Jeff Bezo’s slimy pockets purchasing books, my friend John remains a loyal patron of his local library. For those old enough to remember, library books came with a paper pocket in the front and card showing when and how often a book was borrowed (we called them “lending libraries” once upon a time).