Enthralling ... With its flair for characterization, precision of language, witty aperçus and fecundity of events, the novel delivers ... Assuming the subsequent books are as good as this one, Stephenson might end up with a series that rivals Michael Moorcock’s Pyat Quartet and Edward Whittemore’s Jerusalem Quartet as a vivid and canny dissection of a century unlike any other.
When the final twist of a novel leaves you more excited about pages yet to be written than the ones you’ve just read, the immediate temptation is to downgrade the pleasures you’ve experienced along the way. That’s the conundrum of assessing Neal Stephenson’s Polostan, an enjoyable book in its own right, but a trifle disappointing for the way it abruptly ends just as your interest is peaking in its intriguing main character ... It is a fine study of Dawn/Aurora as she comes of age, with plenty of intrigue and beautifully rendered scenes, but it ends up feeling mostly like an extended setup for a bigger spy saga yet to come ... Manages to make it all feel plausible.
Creating a cohesive novel that features nuclear physics, the sport of polo, the excitement of a world’s fair, and the dangers of unprotected sex is a gargantuan task. Stephenson leaves readers winded but satisfied.
