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Fall; or, Dodge in Hell cover art

Fall; or, Dodge in Hell

By: Neal Stephenson
Narrated by: Malcolm Hillgartner
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Publisher's Summary

A New York Times Notable Book

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 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 directed 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. 

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. An eternal afterlife - the Bitworld - is created, 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: a grand drama of analog and digital, man and machine, angels and demons, gods and followers, the finite and the eternal. In this exhilarating epic, Neal Stephenson raises profound existential questions 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.

©2019 Neal Stephenson (P)2019 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved

What listeners say about Fall; or, Dodge in Hell

Average Customer Ratings
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Hilariously bad Aussie accent

This book is worth listening to if only for the hilariously terribly terrible Australian accent!

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

thought-provoking book with a fantasy ending

The Moab section was fascinating and very relevant to today's society. The exploration of Bitworld was a very long fantasy section, but I thought it was an interesting take on the concept of reality, and also what is inevitable in society. The book offers plenty.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Tapered Off

Started out fantastic and engaging. Felt rushed and uncaring toward the end. Could have been a great pair of books.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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Classic Stephenson

Excellent novel. Narrator can't do Australian accents though, which is unfortunate, an otherwise good performance.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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The beauty of imagination ...

I loved this book... While I still feel that “American Gods” is one of the best modern novels I’ve ever read, this story comes very close to being its equal. I also felt the same about Nick Harkaway’s “Gnomon”. Thank you Mr Stephenson.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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Lots of Big Ideas

This a book about big ideas. Life, death, beliefs, religion, mythology, creation and how we blindly shape or lives to unknowable truths.

Its a great listen and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Occasionally the authors voice is a little obvious from with its characters and the internal logic of the novel doesn't hold up to much scrutiny but it's none the worse for that. Highly recommended.

Narrator is great apart from the worst Australian accent imaginable. It's pretty off putting.

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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Stick to hard Sci-Fi Neal

Performance was fine except for the terrible Australian accent. I think the narrator did well considering the number of characters.

I have found that with some of Neals other books (the Diamond Age) it seemed like there were about ten places the book should have finished after the halfway mark, but the story just goes on and on and you’re begging for it to end. With science fiction you could keep writing the future forever and ever, but it doesn’t make for an effective story. The same thing goes with adding loads of new characters toward the end of the book. I didn’t bother to learn their names and couldn’t get invested in them. And if I did they’d be gone in two chapters anyway. I didn’t particularly get hooked into the world building, and every time the geography of bitworld was mentioned I just zoned out. And there was a lot of writing about just the places and places names in bitworld that I couldn’t care less about.

I love Neal for the science he writes. Seveneves was amazing for that reason. The myths and fairy tales should come second to the science I think, or my interest is very quickly lost. More science and less airy fairy stuff, and a more concise story would earn a better rating.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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An extrapolation of technology's ramifications

Stephenson combines a very interesting exploration of the future possible effects and outcomes from technology with a mixture of religion and mythology.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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A story worth listening to mindfully

This story made me laugh, gave me suspense, made me shed a tear at the end and will stay with me for my life. I cannot fathom the mind that can bring this sorry to me in the way it has been described - fast when it needed to be, slow in other times when it was appropriate. If anything can be said to Neal from this it should be ‘thank you for a lovely story’. Malcolm told it with the reverence it deserves, in true bardic style - investing emotion where needed and holding back. It’s neither over-acted nor under told. Absolutely perfect to my liking. If anyone reads this, know that your liking might be different to mine, but I only wrote this to thank Neal and Malcolm. Make of this story what you will and make your own mind up, but if you choose to hear this, do it mindfully and enjoy the journey.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Good story so far

Dear gods of Audible.
Please prohibit your narrators from attempting accents they ill-equipped to handle. The "Australian" accent sounds like a German attempting to portray a New Zealander who's lived in Johannesburg since they were 6 years old, and who learned English from a native Brazilian speech therapist.
It is horrifyingly distracting, and I'd love it if y'all could just stop it.
Apart from that, it's a really good reading so far.

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