Some characters harbour their doubts about the plausibility of the Noah’s Ark-esque scheme, and there a few notable darkly comedic scenes in which priceless Tibetan artefacts are tossed overboard because they’re too heavy to send into space, but there’s a wonderfully ironic sense of hope in the air. Fortunately this isn’t the case with Seveneves, partly because Michael Bay doesn’t have a stake in the work, but mainly because like any good drama it’s actually about the people in it reacting to the situations they find themselves in, and the situation (in case it wasn’t made clear earlier: the impending and inevitable destruction of the earth) is certainly one ripe for emotional exploration.Īside from the usual doomsayers, Stephenson paints a rather hopeful picture of humanity in the opening third of the novel, squabbles being put aside as world leaders unite in their efforts to save as much of humanity, from as wide a range of humanity, as possible. Typically, this is the point at which a hero like Helen Hunt or Bruce Willis marches into the picture with a black belt, a pocketful of PhDs and a daring plan to save the world which may just be crazy enough to work.

The scene is set early on for maximum devastation: the moon has been blown to pieces by unknown forces and within a couple of years, fiery debris will rain from the sky, thus destroying all life (and that includes pets – Stephenson isn’t taking any chances with this one) and rendering the planet unsuitable for habitation for 5000 years.

It must be tough being an author writing a book about a disaster, always harbouring a niggling doubt in the back of your mind that somebody is going to show up a week after its release and trump your devastating hurricane by adding sharks, or raising your tsunami by a few meters thereby wiping out all people along the east coast and their pets.

Neal stephenson seveneves review