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

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

By: Neal Stephenson, Nicole Galland, Kate Udall
Narrated by: Laurence Bouvard, Shelley Atkinson, Laural Merlington, Joe Barrett, Will Damron, Luke Daniels
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About this listen

 You think you know how the world works? Think again.

21st Century America

Magic has faded from the minds of mankind, until an encounter between Melisande Stokes, linguistics expert at Harvard, and Tristan Lyons, shadowy agent of government, leads to the uncovering of a distant past.

After translating a series of ancient texts, Melisande and Tristan discover the connection between science, magic and time travel and so the Department of Diachronic Operations – D.O.D.O. – is hastily brought into existence. Its mission: to develop a device that will send their agents back to the past, where they can stop magic from disappearing and alter the course of history.

But when you interfere with the past, there’s no telling what you might find in your future…

Written with genius and complexity, this vividly realised novel will make you believe the impossible, and question the very foundations of the modern world.

©2017 Neal Stephenson; Nicole Galland (P)2017 HarperCollins Publishers Fantasy Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Magic Science Fiction Time Travel Urban England Funny Witty Technology

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Critic reviews

‘A story that combines science, magic, history, and conspiracies into a genre-bending romp’ Inverse

‘Those familiar with Stephenson will recognize his humor and ideas, while Galland brings a fresh and irresistible voice to this ambitious novel’ Washington Post

‘The novel explores the boundary between magic and science with wit, intellectual intensity and panache’ Financial Times

‘Big, roomy and enjoyable … The characters are vibrant and the whole thing possesses heart and charm’ Guardian

Praise for Neal Stephenson:

‘Genius’ Time

‘He makes reading so much fun it feels like a deadly sin’ The New York Times

‘Fast-forward free-style mall mythology for the 21st century’
William Gibson

‘[Stephenson is] the hacker Hemingway’ Newsweek
All stars
Most relevant
Great well written and well read!

Excellent... 15 words on 5 at the moment ahh 15

Great well written and well read!

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Well how about this another Wrinkle in Time Travel. I had thought that when I found a book called There Will Be Time. That had a wholly different method of travelling. That being said, I found this to be quite intriguing.

Travel Time

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The story was great and the voice acting likewise but unfortunately so much time was wasted listing dates, times , locations and job titles that I began switching off during some Of The longer dialog, email/messenger exchanges or diary entries.

Potentially great book! Doesn't convert well!

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I loved the idea/storyline but the constant time stamps on all the recorded comments were completely unnecessary and slowed the momentum to a frustrating pace. I almost gave up on it a few times but stuck with it purely because the concept. What a shame

A good story tainted

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To paraphrase Arthur C Clark, "magic is just technology you don't understand". Most good hard science fiction doesn't try to explain how a technology works, just explores the consequences of it, having assumed it exists. For instance, as far as I can remember, nowhere in the Foundation series does Isaac Asimov try to explain how its actors traverse an entire galaxy in real time and without relativistic issues. In this book, Neal Stephenson and his co-writer, after a bit of hand waving about strands of the multiverse, just come out and call it magic and furthermore, call the practitioners witches. This allows them to experiment with the idea that if you are going to influence the present through travelling back in time, your changes would have to be very subtle to avoid unintended consequences. As well as displaying Stephenson and Galland's encyclopaedic knowledge of history, the book also pokes fun at the American military-industrial complex. I particularly enjoyed the occasions when a rip-roaring "dede" (i.e. adventure in the past) was related by means of a stilted series of bureaucratic emails in typical overblown corporate style. Another fun twist (SPOILER ALERT) was when the corporate HR bureaucrat, brought in to bring order to the original anarchic D.O.D.O. and mercilessly lampooned in the early parts of the book, is the only one smart enough to spot a dangerous conspiracy. To all of those put off by the endless email exchanges and congressional hearings, THAT'S THE POINT!

Satirical romp through history

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