I've said it before and I'll probably say it again - Neal Stephenson needs a very firm editor, and unfortunately, he's reached the fame level where he can choose not to listen to one. And listen to one he definitely does not in this bloated, slow-moving novel about climate change. It's described as a "techno-thriller about climate change" and half of that is right - it's about climate change - but unfortunately there's nothing thrilling about 700+ pages (or 1300+ on my e-reader) that could and should have been edited down to 2-300.

The novel is set in a not-too-far future where climate change has progressed enough that it's undeniable, and various nations and factions are starting to think of desperate measures. The plot mainly follows Saskia, aka the queen of the Netherlands who's visiting the US to unofficially learn more about some new climate technology proposals that might help prevent Holland from sinking entirely underwater, and Laks, a Canadian sikh of Indian origin who is a specialist in stick fighting and decides to help push back China on the disputed India/China border.

There are various interesting concepts here as well as lots of theoretical technology described in entirely too much detail, as if Stephenson is hoping someone will take his novel as an instruction manual to build the things per his instruction - no, nobody needed all that detail, if any such thing happens it will not be because it was described in a novel. There are some other potential interesting plot points, particularly around the role of China in events, that never seem to be satisfactorily resolved. And there are a couple of random sex scenes with Saskia, fortunately more circumspect than the world's most terrible sex scene we got in Cryptonomicon (google it if you don't believe me) but completely irrelevant to the plot in any way I could figure out. And a lot of descriptions of random people's backgrounds and details even if you're never going to meet them again or have no reason to need to know this. Honestly it was extremely painful to even finish this book and I had to do some serious skimming around the 500 page mark to even have a chance to make it through. This ain't no Snow Crash or Diamond Age, folks. And unfortunately Stephenson's last few books have all suffered this bloat and show no signs that he's going to start being more concise or letting an editor give him the desperately needed assistance that his books are begging for these days.