it's ... fine! ( )

Stephenson is just so much better when he goes long. I just started "The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O." and _that_ is super enjoyable. But this book is just not much. ( )

Enjoyable novella about some people who build a space tower. For such a short piece, I got more character development from Stephenson than I had expected. Granted, we're told rather than shown a lot of the character development, but the story was not quite 100 pages long. (The book's official total is 104 pages, but include some reference material at the end.) It was an enjoyable read, but more than anything it makes me think of the science behind the story and the currently unknown difficulties we'd have if we really tried something like this. ( )

My first time reading anything by Stephenson and I found it to be wildly impossibly entertaining. I mean that literally - it's basically a narrative about solving engineering problems but somehow Stephenson makes it compelling reading. I know, it's not the first time for that guy but it's still a marvel to behold much like the building he depicts.

Most authors would fall back on stereotypes and memes to prop-up this main character or just get lazy and put her in a minor role, let alone as the main protagonist. The other redeeming feature is that the entire arc of the plot, with background context and multiple characters is laid out in a couple of hours read. (658 pages in the kindle version but much less in paper I think). ( )

Speculative science fiction in which a 20,000 kilometer high tower is being built in the American West. Covers the engineering, personnel and weather issues the builders faced. ( )