PositiveThe Chicago Review of Books... an effective ecological thriller, which looks to foment meaningful change for humanity as we face the greatest threat to our existence since the unleashing of the atomic bomb ... Termination Shock’s strength lies less in the plausibility of the World’s Biggest Gun being constructed than in the inherent instability in doing nothing—climate refugees will, of course, soon be forced out of low-lying areas around the world, and the U.S., China, and India, as the leading producers of CO2, cannot pretend they will not be affected by population migrations, extinction events, and the loss of food-producing regions like the Punjab and ‘Ameristan\' ... Those looking for an SF work in the vein of Anathem, The Diamond Age, or Cryptonomicon may be disappointed as Termination Shock is only obliquely an example of Stephenson’s great gifts for speculative fiction ... a compelling read for this period of Stephenson’s career, in line with other recent works of climate fiction, though one wonders what, if anything, a few science fiction writers can do to influence real-world leaders whose incomes depend on doing nothing about climate change.
