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Continuing from where The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms left, we now follow the story of Oree Shoth and her somewhat accidental companion Shiny.

The story happens ten years after the events of the first Inheritance Trilogy book, and it's definitely mandatory reading before this book. Unfortunately, if you have read the first book, some parts of this one will be very predictable.

The pacing of the book is off: about half of the books seems to be just an introduction to Oree and the current situation in Shadow. Events seem... external. Even when Oree is the center of the action, everything seems somehow removed. Maybe this is meant to reflect Oree's take on the situation as a blind person - but on the other hand, Oree seems to be magnificently capable of navigating evereywhere, even in unknown places and situations.

In the end I'm somewhat torn; I liked the first book and I still enjoyed reading this one, but I also found myself time and time again hoping that there would be some kind, any kind of development.

Even great minds need editors

A shady government entity enlists Melisande Stokes, a linguistic expert, to help translate an assortment of ancient documents. Slowly it dawns on Melisande that these documents have something in common: they all talk about magic.

D.O.D.O. is an entity that tries to bring back magic through time travel. Melisande and her work companion Tristan Lyons become the first operatives to try and change the present through changing the past.

I've read some of Stephenson's work before, and I've had mixed feelings about it. Earlier works like Snow Crash made a huge impression, whereas The Baroque Cycle has been waiting to be read for years on my nightstand.

The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. falls somewhere in between. I haven' the read Nicole Galland before so I don't recognize her style, but it's possible the somewhat lighter touch of the book is her doing. That's good - Stephenson's Seveneves was at times quite tedious tome to read. On the other hand, that lightness, along with the way the book comprises of diary pages, PowerPoint presentations, letters, forum messages etc. means the writing style of the book is all over the place, and not always in a good way.

Similar to Seveneves, there's plenty of things happening in the book, but at the same time, there's also lots that could've been left out. The beginning of the book is repetitive to a fault, and the ending feels rushed and screams for a sequel. Even though I enjoyed reading The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O., I'm not sure I'd be willing to read more of the same.