Sins Of Omission? - Discussing Neal Stephenson's Polostan - Bomb Light #1

After getting climate change solutions wrong, Neal Stephenson returns to historical fiction. Arguably his strongest field of writing with Cryptonomicon and the Baroque Cycle, I was excited to find out what he does in Polostan, the first novel in a new series about the development of the first atomic bombs. I enjoyed the book but there are some issues that are partly due to Stephenson's way of writing and partly with the format of historical fiction and series. So I try to explain these issues in the hopes that some of you may disagree with me and write me angry comments to drive up engagment. Anyways, go get the book!
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[@sumanthmurthy1642]

I’m halfway through the book and it’s his SHORTEST one yet.
It’s quite straightforward and am still curious why Stephenson decided to go this route.

[@RafBlutaxt]

I'm not sure if it is much shorter than some of the individual parts of the Baroque Cycle but those were bound up into three volumes. Stephenson wrote a post on his choice on his substack yesterday but it kinda boils down to "My editor and I decided to do it this way." I think it was an unfortunate choice in some way as it does lead to a lot of possible misreadings and lack of context. Nevertheless I was entertained but I am always entertained by Stephenson.

[@sumanthmurthy1642]

@@RafBlutaxt yeah it was good (just finished it yesterday). I’ll read anything written by Stephenson but this one did leave me somewhat underwhelmed. But since it’s part of a series we can expect more!
And yes agreed! Even though The Baroque cycle books were of the same size they were published together giving us more story. My guess is that the second book may come out sooner, like 2025 since The Baroque cycle books came in succession.
George R R Martin should take note 😅