Polostan

Bomb Light, Book 1

De: Neal Stephenson

Narrado por: January LaVoy

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Termination Shock and Cryptonomicon, the first installment in a monumental new series—an expansive historical epic of intrigue and international espionage, presaging the dawn of the Atomic Age.

The first installment in Neal Stephenson’s Bomb Light cycle, Polostan follows the early life of the enigmatic Dawn Rae Bjornberg. Born in the American West to a clan of cowboy anarchists, Dawn is raised in Leningrad after the Russian Revolution by her Russian father, a party line Leninist who re-christens her Aurora. She spends her early years in Russia but then grows up as a teenager in Montana, before being drawn into gunrunning and revolution in the streets of Washington, D.C., during the depths of the Great Depression. When a surprising revelation about her past puts her in the crosshairs of U.S. authorities, Dawn returns to Russia, where she is groomed as a spy by the organization that later becomes the KGB.

Set against the turbulent decades of the early twentieth century, Polostan is an inventive, richly detailed, and deeply entertaining historical epic, and the start of a captivating new series from Neal Stephenson.

©2024 Neal Stephenson (P)2024 HarperCollins Publishers

New hero!

 The construction of the main character Dawn Rae in the light of the history she grew up in and the forces that shape her nature, abilities, suffering and viewpoint, show a consistency that Stevenson has always created in the characters he puts forward

Entertaining from Start to Finish

The story left me hanging and wanting more. I love the heroine, and Neal Stephenson’s tale is chock full of scientific history and witty tale-telling of Russian, American, and European relations in the forties and fifties. I thoroughly enjoyed part one of Stephanson’s new trilogy.

an alchemy of the past

if you liked the Baroque cycle, you will like this book. it is, in many ways, like starting that series over but at a different point in time. it has the same depth of history mixed with a thrillers plot points. instead of drawing from swashbucklers and seralgios, it draws from Bonnie and Clyde and cold War thrillers. you can hear NS's voice in just the way a developed author's voice should come through. like a new conversation with an old friend.

Good setup for a new series

It reads like an interesting prequel to a series with a lot of potential. The novel is basically setting the backstory for Dawn/Aurora, who will be the protagonist for the rest of the series. Overall, it is an interesting read, but on its own, not especially compelling. But I look forward to reading the rest of the series.

Another wonderful story from Neal Stephenson

I really enjoyed this book - though not science fiction, which I love, it has the patented Neal Stephenson attention to detail that is so much fun.

Interesting history.

I couldn’t stay interested in the story, no matter how many times I returned to it. And I didn’t like or resonate with any of the characters. I usually love Neal Stephenson books but not this time.

Please use an editor!

This could have been a half or a third as long and still carried the story. I'd have stopped reading it if it weren't for the narrator.

Even so, I kept drifting off because the story is so slow

Not what I was thinking…

Very good book and well written, but not like any of his other books! And I have listened to all of them a few times

Different!

It’s always interesting when an author takes a departure from their usual milieu, and Stephenson proves, to hopefully no one’s surprise, who can likely do almost any genre well. This one feels like a spin off of The Americans, a high compliment indeed.

Political Intrigue, Science and Polo in the Cold War

This is a great start to a series, can’t wait for the next installment. Dawn/Aurora is a fascinating character and the political machinations set amongst the scientific discoveries and culture of the 1930s makes for Neal Stephenson at his best. (I’m just waiting for Enoch Root, a Waterhouse or a Shaftoe to make an appearance)