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The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. (The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O., Book 1)

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The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. (The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O., Book 1)

By: Neal Stephenson, Nicole Galland
Narrated by: Laurence Bouvard, Shelley Atkinson, Laural Merlington, Joe Barrett, Will Damron, Luke Daniels, Robert Fass, James Foster, Tavia Gilbert, Arthur Morey, David Stifel, Charlie Thurston, Kate Udall
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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.

 Epic Fantasy Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Magic Science Fiction Time Travel Urban England Technology

Critic Reviews

Praise for The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O.:

‘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
A great blend of genres and a delightful production by the readers. Highly recommended, enjoyed every minute.

Most entertaining audio book

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An embarrassment of ideas, quite amusing, but needs tightening up.
I cannot read recent Stephenson. But I seem to have more patience with the audiobook.

Listen to your editor

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The performance are badly affected by the issue of a name and time stamp between each participant in a conversation
I ended up skipping chapters when this was done

Name and time stamp

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I quite enjoyed this book. The concept behind the story was cool and imaginative and the characters enjoyable. I haven't read anything else by Nicole Galland (I will now!) but I love how Neal Stephenson's mind works. Some people might want things to move a bit faster but I enjoy the way they delve into details and flesh stuff out. There are a couple of dodgey accents in the performance but it didn't matter too much.

Fun story well performed

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Even though I loved the story I struggled with the narration. The different narrators were also confusing.

Great story

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