Review
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“Stephenson devotees with a taste for Tolkienesque fantasy
will revel in the author’s imaginative world building . . . .
Still, there are enough futuristic, envelope-pushing ideas here,
especially related to AI and digital consciousness, to keep even
nonfans and science buffs intrigued.” (Booklist [starred review])
“A one-of-a-kind synthesis of daring and originality, unafraid to
venture into wild and unped conceptual territory.” (New York
Times Book Review)
“Those ready for an endlessly inventive and absorbing story are
in for an adventure they won’t soon forget. An audacious epic
with more than enough heart to fill its many, many pages.”
(Kirkus Reviews [starred review])
“Fall is at once science fiction and fantasy, with quantum
computing enabling what as to magic, and while Stephenson
spins out a pleasingly plausible vision of our near future, he
carves out his most comfortable position in the uncertain nexus
where that future becomes past and we rewrite our own apocrypha.
Vintage Stephenson, which is to say it’s like nothing he’s ever
written.” (Wired)
“Fall is a stunning combination of science fiction and
Tolkienesque epic fantasy. Neal Stephenson moves deftly between
real and simulated worlds, following characters in both settings
and the long-term consequences of their actions. Fall is biblical
in theme and . At nearly 900 pages, Stephenson’s bifurcated
world is easy to get lost in.” (Shelf Awareness)
“Neal Stephenson’s Fall explores higher consciousness, the
internet’s future, and virtual worldbuilding in one mind-blowing
adventure.” (Slate)
“Like Dodge, Stephenson is creating a new universe from scratch,
fighting battles and wrestling with big ideas. Those of us in
Meatspace can only sit mutely by and watch the spectacle in
wonder.” (Nature)
“Stephenson is not merely a fantasist of the future; he is a
prophet of our present, a virtual architect of the ideas that
define our world. . . a science fiction writer who is not only
determined to entertain, but to make the world a better
place—even if it means inventing that future himself.” (Reason)
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From the Back Cover
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The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Seveneves, Anathem,
Reamde, and Cryptonomicon returns with a wildly inventive and
entertaining science fiction thriller—Paradise Lost by way of
Philip K. Dick—that unfolds in the near future, in parallel
worlds
In the beginning . . .
In his youth, Richard “Dodge” Forthrast founded Corporation 9592,
a gaming company that made him a multibillionaire. Now in his
middle years, Dodge appreciates his comfortable, unencumbered
life, managing his myriad business interests and spending time
with his beloved niece, Zula, and her young daughter, Sophia.
One beautiful autumn day, while he undergoes a routine medical
procedure, something goes irrevocably wrong. Dodge is pronounced
brain-dead and put on life support, leaving his stunned family
and close friends with difficult decisions. Long ago, when a much
younger Dodge drew up his will, he stipulated that his body be
given to a cryonics company now owned by enigmatic tech
entrepreneur Elmo Shepherd. Legally bound to follow the directive
despite their misgivings, Dodge’s family has his brain scanned
and its data structures uploaded and stored in the cloud until it
can eventually be revived. No one knows whether a simulated brain
will be the same when it is rebooted, or if something will be
lost—an ineffable spirit that cannot be re-created in computer
code.
In the coming years, technology allows Dodge’s brain to be turned
back on. It is an achievement that is nothing less than the
disruption of death itself, and the beginning of a new world, an
eternal afterlife—called Bitworld—in which humans continue to
exist as digital souls.
But this brave new immortal world is not the utopia it might
first seem . . .
Fall; or, Dodge in Hell is pure, unadulterated fun sprung from
the unique genius of Neal Stephenson: a magnificent drama of
analog and digital, man and machine, angels and demons, gods and
followers, past and future, reality and belief, the mortal and
the eternal. In this exhilarating epic, Stephenson raises
profound existential questions about the nature of man and truth,
and touches on the revolutionary breakthroughs that are
transforming our future. Combining the technological,
philosophical, and spiritual in one grand myth, he delivers a
mind-blowing speculative literary saga for the modern age.
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