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

by Stephenson, Neal
ISBN: 9780062409157
4.7 (3)
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Used - Trade Paperback - 9780062409157

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Overview

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Goodreads Choice Awards Semifinalist

B&N Editor's Pick - Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of 2017

From bestselling author Neal Stephenson and critically acclaimed novelist Nicole Galland comes a captivating and complex near-future thriller combining history, science, magic, mystery, intrigue, and adventure that questions the very foundations of the modern world.

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 swear herself to secrecy 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.

Written with the genius, complexity, and innovation that characterize all of Neal Stephenson's work and steeped with the down-to-earth warmth and humor of Nicole Galland's storytelling style, this exciting and vividly realized work of science fiction will make you believe in the impossible, and take you to places--and times--beyond imagining.

  • Format: TradePaperback
  • Author: Stephenson, Neal
  • ISBN: 9780062409157
  • Condition: Used
  • Dimensions: 7.90 x 1.50
  • Number Of Pages: 768
  • Publication Year: 2018

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  • Time travel + Witches = Fun!

    Amy B. - 1 year 2 months ago

    I have tried and failed to read Neal Stephenson many times over... However, I do enjoy a good time-travel story, especially if there are witches involved (Diana Gabaldon or Deborah Harkness, anyone?). This met both of these requirements, and then some! The book focuses on time travel (from a witchcraft perspective) but under the guise of being a tool of a shadow branch of the NSA. That, combined with a terrific cast of historical events and their characters (American and European) made this an unputdownable read. I most sincerely hope that this is the first of a series, and have resolved to redouble my efforts to read other Stephenson novels. Highly, highly recommend.

    HPB Staff Review

  • Rollicking sci-fi/fantasy time travel adventure!

    Alex B. - 4 years 6 months ago

    The legendarily verbose sci-fi scribe Neal Stephenson has re-teamed with his "Mongoliad" co-conspirator, historical fiction author Nicole Galland to deliver this madcap science fiction adventure. The story of the Department of Diachronic Operations (D.O.D.O.)--a covert government agency tasked with recruiting witches throughout history to carry out strategic time-travel missions--plays out in just about every conceivable tense and format, from fanciful Elizabethan diction to PowerPoint sentence fragments. The dense plotting and triple-nested machinations are handled with an abundance of humor and snark as Stephenson and Galland deftly guide the reader from one outrageous, yet believable scenario to the next.

    HPB Staff Review

  • Clever and inventive time-travel novel

    cww c. - 5 years 10 months ago

    Very entertaining bit of disposable fantasy / sci-fi. Engaging characters, inventive premise. If you're looking for a diversion, this should do it. Quite the page-turner. #SUMMERREADING