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Ray's Reviews > Fall; or, Dodge in Hell
Fall; or, Dodge in Hell
by
by
3.5 stars. A flawed, yet highly essential novel for the Neal Stephenson reader.
Interestingly, Fall or Dodge in Hell is basically a sequel to Reamde and contains the fate of many of those characters over entire lifespans. It's also in the Cryptonomicon (and apparently Baroque Cycle) universe. Reamde was an excellent and fun romp but not quite as philosophical and into the BIG IDEAS. Fall, however, is very much into the BIG IDEAS.
This book gets deep into many themes that have pervaded the Stephenson mythos for decades: virtual reality, transhumanism--both pros and cons, religious symbolism in a techie context, and of course extremely deep dives into advanced role-playing games.
I found the beginnings of the story eminently fascinating. The near-future predictions of how dystopian it will get with fake news and social media echo chambers are downright eerie. You'll also learn a lot about neurology and quantum computing theory. Then, it's time to go in a somewhat different direction, as the whole online afterlife thing becomes the focus. Unfortunately, this is where it gets rather unreadable. Neal is quite talented at deconstructing the fantasy genre, but he's just not really good at actually telling those kinds of engaging narratives. Personally, the last third of the book lost me.
That said, there's certainly enough value in the rest of the novel to make it very much worth the price of admission. And frankly, Neal Stephensons never did have the best endings. That was never the point. If you want a standard protagonist character arc and three-act structure, go watch a movie. If you want a hell of a lot to think about, read a thick Neal Stephenson.
Interestingly, Fall or Dodge in Hell is basically a sequel to Reamde and contains the fate of many of those characters over entire lifespans. It's also in the Cryptonomicon (and apparently Baroque Cycle) universe. Reamde was an excellent and fun romp but not quite as philosophical and into the BIG IDEAS. Fall, however, is very much into the BIG IDEAS.
This book gets deep into many themes that have pervaded the Stephenson mythos for decades: virtual reality, transhumanism--both pros and cons, religious symbolism in a techie context, and of course extremely deep dives into advanced role-playing games.
I found the beginnings of the story eminently fascinating. The near-future predictions of how dystopian it will get with fake news and social media echo chambers are downright eerie. You'll also learn a lot about neurology and quantum computing theory. Then, it's time to go in a somewhat different direction, as the whole online afterlife thing becomes the focus. Unfortunately, this is where it gets rather unreadable. Neal is quite talented at deconstructing the fantasy genre, but he's just not really good at actually telling those kinds of engaging narratives. Personally, the last third of the book lost me.
That said, there's certainly enough value in the rest of the novel to make it very much worth the price of admission. And frankly, Neal Stephensons never did have the best endings. That was never the point. If you want a standard protagonist character arc and three-act structure, go watch a movie. If you want a hell of a lot to think about, read a thick Neal Stephenson.
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Neither of them ends their stories with definitive satisfaction 📖 Their strength are the world building and mid-game. The conclusion is always surprisingly fast and usually cut short. Gibson blows the reader out of the last page like out of a cannon, still reeling in the action without any more book. Neal treats the ending like an ordinary day after 800+ pages, as if there can really be no true ending to any narrative and so he just has to snip the cord someplace that's not too rude to do so ✂️