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Termination Shock: A Novel Hardcover – November 16, 2021
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New York Times Bestseller
From Neal Stephenson—who coined the term “metaverse” in his 1992 novel Snow Crash—comes a sweeping, prescient new thriller that transports readers to a near-future world in which the greenhouse effect has inexorably resulted in a whirling-dervish troposphere of superstorms, rising sea levels, global flooding, merciless heat waves, and virulent, deadly pandemics.
“Stephenson is one of speculative fiction’s most meticulous architects. . . . Termination Shock manages to pull off a rare trick, at once wildly imaginative and grounded.” — New York Times Book Review
One man—visionary billionaire restaurant chain magnate T. R. Schmidt, Ph.D.—has a Big Idea for reversing global warming, a master plan perhaps best described as “elemental.” But will it work? And just as important, what are the consequences for the planet and all of humanity should it be applied?
Ranging from the Texas heartland to the Dutch royal palace in the Hague, from the snow-capped peaks of the Himalayas to the sunbaked Chihuahuan Desert, Termination Shock brings together a disparate group of characters from different cultures and continents who grapple with the real-life repercussions of global warming. Ultimately, it asks the question: Might the cure be worse than the disease?
Epic in scope while heartbreakingly human in perspective, Termination Shock sounds a clarion alarm, ponders potential solutions and dire risks, and wraps it all together in an exhilarating, witty, mind-expanding speculative adventure.
- Print length720 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherWilliam Morrow
- Publication dateNovember 16, 2021
- Dimensions6 x 1.69 x 9 inches
- ISBN-100063028050
- ISBN-13978-0063028050
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“With meticulously rendered action scenes, surprising plot twists, relatable, off-kilter characters and charming dialogue, [Stephenson's] books are page-turners. His latest proves no exception . . . Termination Shock deals brilliantly and innovatively with our era’s most pressing existential matter—while delivering stratospheric gigatons of carefully engineered delight.” — Washington Post
"This book is the rare climate thriller that's realistic about political stonewalling in the face of disaster yet unafraid to imagine a possible future where people might actually come together and try to save civilization. The kind of climate-change fiction we all need." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“The novel is classic Stephenson: fiercely intelligent, weird, darkly witty, and boldly speculative. . . . Stephenson has become one of the most revered science fiction writers of his time.” — Publishers Weekly
"An enthralling and thought-provoking read." — Buzzfeed
"Neal Stephenson has never been afraid of engaging with big ideas within genre forms, and Termination Shock might be his most visionary, and timely, book yet." — Chicago Review of Books
"Stephenson is one of speculative fiction’s most meticulous architects. . . .Termination Shock manages to pull off a rare trick, at once wildly imaginative and grounded.” — New York Times Book Review
"Arguably no sci-fi writer has the specific combination of vision, reach, and ardent fandom that Stephenson does . . . . He is the premiere chronicler of the foundation myths of Silicon Valley and its adjacent culture—of its high self-regard, of disruptive innovation, of the world that nerds built.” — Wired
“Raises genuinely interesting issues about the geopolitics of a warming world.” — American Purpose
"Imaginative and utterly realistic." — Bookbub
“Stephenson isn’t just playing with words, he’s playing with ideas, and he isn’t joking either. He is sci-fi’s great contrarian, and Fall deserves to be rated as one of the great novels of our time, prophetically and philosophically.” — Wall Street Journal on Fall; or, Dodge in Hell
“A one-of-a-kind synthesis of daring and originality, unafraid to venture into wild and unmapped conceptual territory.” — New York Times Book Review on Fall; or, Dodge in Hell
“Fall is at once science fiction and fantasy, with quantum computing enabling what amounts to magic, and while Stephenson spins out a pleasingly plausible vision of our near future, he carves out his most comfortable position in the uncertain nexus where that future becomes past and we rewrite our own apocrypha. Vintage Stephenson, which is to say it’s like nothing he’s ever written.” — Wired
“Neal Stephenson’s Fall explores higher consciousness, the internet’s future, and virtual worldbuilding in one mind-blowing adventure.” — Slate
“Stephenson devotees with a taste for Tolkienesque fantasy will revel in the author’s imaginative world building . . . . Still, there are enough futuristic, envelope-pushing ideas here, especially related to AI and digital consciousness, to keep even nonfans and science buffs intrigued.” — Booklist [starred review] on Fall; or, Dodge in Hell
“There’s a lot going on here—stylistic flourishes, comedic pratfalls, romance and science—but it’s handled deftly. Those familiar with Stephenson will recognize his humor and ideas.” — Washington Post on The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O.
About the Author
Neal Stephenson is the bestselling author of the novels Reamde, Anathem, The System of the World, The Confusion, Quicksilver, Cryptonomicon, The Diamond Age, Snow Crash, and Zodiac, and the groundbreaking nonfiction work In the Beginning . . . Was the Command Line. He lives in Seattle, Washington.
Product details
- Publisher : William Morrow (November 16, 2021)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 720 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0063028050
- ISBN-13 : 978-0063028050
- Item Weight : 1.89 pounds
- Dimensions : 6 x 1.69 x 9 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #55,155 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #234 in Technothrillers (Books)
- #412 in Hard Science Fiction (Books)
- #1,940 in Thriller & Suspense Action Fiction
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Neal Town Stephenson (born October 31, 1959) is an American writer, known for his speculative fiction works, which have been variously categorized science fiction, historical fiction, maximalism, cyberpunk, and postcyberpunk. Stephenson explores areas such as mathematics, cryptography, philosophy, currency, and the history of science. He also writes non-fiction articles about technology in publications such as Wired Magazine, and has worked part-time as an advisor for Blue Origin, a company (funded by Jeff Bezos) developing a manned sub-orbital launch system.
Born in Fort Meade, Maryland (home of the NSA and the National Cryptologic Museum) Stephenson came from a family comprising engineers and hard scientists he dubs "propeller heads". His father is a professor of electrical engineering whose father was a physics professor; his mother worked in a biochemistry laboratory, while her father was a biochemistry professor. Stephenson's family moved to Champaign-Urbana, Illinois in 1960 and then to Ames, Iowa in 1966 where he graduated from Ames High School in 1977. Stephenson furthered his studies at Boston University. He first specialized in physics, then switched to geography after he found that it would allow him to spend more time on the university mainframe. He graduated in 1981 with a B.A. in Geography and a minor in physics. Since 1984, Stephenson has lived mostly in the Pacific Northwest and currently resides in Seattle with his family.
Neal Stephenson is the author of the three-volume historical epic "The Baroque Cycle" (Quicksilver, The Confusion, and The System of the World) and the novels Cryptonomicon, The Diamond Age, Snow Crash, and Zodiac. He lives in Seattle, Washington.
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Write on dude
I can't escape the feeling that I was reading a fanfic. All the Stephenson hallmarks are there: a realistic sci-fi future; cleverly extended tech based on what already exists; tons of geology and references to terrain (I think I saw the word "alluvial" at least twice); traveling around the world; and of course the Pacific northwest. (side note: I just realized this might be his only book with no hackers in it - maybe that's the problem.) But all of his funny prose, his subtle social commentary, his insights into how a complicated piece of tech works...all that is gone and replaced by pale copies.
For example:
-We all know how a gun works - you don't have to spend 30 pages explaining how to make a big one work. We definitely don't need a tour of it where the two most interesting characters just listen to other people talk.
-Calling the USA a mess and a hapless laughingstock on the world stage may be true, and more so a few decades into the future, but if your book doesn't give any examples then you're just taking cheap shots.
-The most interesting character, explained from the first pages as being good with drones, never does anything cool with drones.
-Chekhov's corollary: if you spend all of acts one and two setting up a powerful country's secret, shady and scary military prowess, then in act three you had better make them do something. And if you spend the entire book making an antagonist character likable and we become sympathetic to their cause, why wouldn't you let them interact in any real way with the other interesting characters?
-etc.
People complain that Stephenson can't write women. I'm not one so it's hard to argue one way or the other. But the main female character, a smart and tech-savvy Dutch royal, doesn't get anything interesting or fun to do! All she does is go around listening to other people talk about stuff, so she's just proxy for a narrator. I thought it was going to be much cooler, since in the first couple of pages she crashes a jet in Texas. So yeah, he dropped the ball on his only big female role here. The other women in the book were just ladies-in-waiting so they didn't do anything interesting either.
People complain that Stephenson can't write endings. I used to disagree vehemently with this, as I loved the endings of most of his books, especially the ones people complained were bad. But first with Fall, and again here with Termination Shock, I found myself thinking with a hundred pages to go that there's no way that he is going to wrap this thing up in any way that is interesting, comprehensive or satisfying. I'd have settled for one of those three but got none. Neal, most of your fans love the fact that you write big books, because it means you can pay attention to tying up all the cool ideas and loose threads! Make this book twice as long, and it would have been five times as good.
I blamed DODO being bad on his co-author, and I blamed Fall being bad on being too ambitious with cool ideas. But maybe he just doesn't write good books anymore.
Top reviews from other countries
Elsewhere in the States, a veteran of America’s overseas wars, with a wildly mixed heritage makes a living exterminating feral pigs. His profession hides his self-acknowledged Ahab-like hunt for the giant boar which killed his daughter.
High in the Himalayas, a Canadian Sikh joins a largely non-lethal conflict between India and China over the “Line of Actual Control”. This is the disputed border left over from the Sino-Indian war of 1962, with the situation being complicated by the melting of glaciers leading to new territory being exposed. The fighting is a clash of martial arts, Kung-fu and similar styles on one side, the Punjabi-Sikh Gatka on the other. This historical dispute fought using ancient methods is shown to the world through 21st century social media.
These are the main points of view in Neil Stephenson’s climate change novel, although, I would probably describe it as more of a techno-thriller which uses climate change as a backdrop. As the novel progresses, and the characters (inevitably?) converge, it increasingly becomes a straightforward will he/won’t he, can they stop him action yarn. The treatment of the results of climate change is largely confined to a really big picture view of the effects of rising sea level. Mid way through there is a major disaster, but we see little of the results, its purpose within the story is to move the plot along not to explore the impact on those affected.
The emotional heart of the novel is Queen Fredericka, or Saskia as she is informally known. The engine of the story is however TR Schmidt. He represents a reaction to climate change similar to that espoused by George W Bush. The solution to climate change will be found in the invention of new technologies. This is perhaps the central question thrown up by the book, will a green solution be sufficient, or will humanity need to invent ways of engineering the climate in order to transition to a non carbon economy. TR, while being an old style entrepreneur, who projects a good ole boy image is very much a disruptor in the mould of silicon valley tech leader.
This characteristic of TR gives rise to one of the three main doubts I have about the book, areas about which I find myself equivocating. The climate change solution he implements seems incredibly simple, indeed simplistic. He gives no consideration to the possible side effects, and indeed, neither does author Stephenson. Is this a believable portrayal of a disruptor, seeing taking action as preferable to delay, in the knowledge that there will be unforeseen consequences, or is it rather lazy plotting. Whatever the answer, the fact that Stephenson concentrates on the geopolitical consequences rather than adds weight to this being a techno thriller rather than climate change novel.
Secondly, a major global power commits a hidden act of war against the other countries, with presumably devastating consequences for one of them. The leaders of that country are fully aware of what has happened and yet no action results. Furthermore the only consequence which Stephenson focuses on is the impact on one of his major characters. On one side, this raises the interesting question of smaller nations being vulnerable without the benefit of US protection. On the other, it feels a little unsatisfying that a massive event such as that described is so blatantly a plot device.
A third more minor quibble is that the relationship between the queen of the Netherlands and her daughter, which involves a very frank discussion of the former’s sex-life, while entertaining, doesn’t really ring true. But then, I’m not an early middle aged woman with a teenage daughter so I’m probably not qualified to comment.
While I had some quibbles with the book, I did thoroughly enjoy it. Why wouldn’t I? It’s a Neal Stephenson novel, it’s entertaining, witty, erudite. It has a world encompassing plot, it ties together the past and the future, and he just loves engineering - digital, chemical, civil, mechanical.
I don't like a re-telling of a story in a review - I want to know should I read it? Will I enjoy it?
If you liked things like I am Pilgrim or a Tom Clancy (the old one's not the newer spin offs) or classic John Wyndham you'll enjoy this. There are various story strands that at the start can leave you a bit bewildered and frustrated as you want to stick with one narrative and find out where it goes but it all weaves together in the end. Cracking read and really informative about our likely near future and the climate.
I'll be seeking out some more by this author.
And now that I have just finished reading his 'Termination Shock', the only thing I can say is: Stephenson has done it AGAIN - he is a genius.
Please, any of you who read this: go out and get any of his books, or sagas, for you will love it from beginning to end.
On a personal note, today I want to thank Mr Stephenson for his character Saskia (aka Your Royal Highness) with her Dutch minions. Yes, that is how the best people in my little country are, and that comforts me from the horrors of present-day politicking everywhere on the globe. And at the same time, Mr Stephenson has brought the multifarious challenges of climate change in focus better than I had ever heard or read.
We the readers are deeply indebted to you, Mr Stephenson.
In keeping with the author's ongoing fascination with the lives of European royalty, one strand follows the tribulations of the Queen of the Netherlands and her interactions with the inevitable eccentric Texan billionaire and his secretive climate engineering project in the Chihuahua desert.
The other storyline sees shiftless and unfocussed Laks, a Canadian Sikh, 'finding himself' in the martial arts scene of the Punjab before being propelled to internet stardom as a volunteer stick-fighter on Indian side in the battle for territory at 'Line of Actual Control', high in the Himalayas.
It takes a couple of hundred pages for anything much to happen (the less said about trials and tribulations of Texan pig hunters and smugglers in the swampy hinterlands of a flooded Houston, the better). As a kick-of, it compares very badly with the visceral first chapter of Kim Stanley Robinson's 'Ministry of the Future'.
Fortunately it gets better from there, and Stevenson manages to posit a few questions for the reader to ponder. The author may not have a 'position' to push unless it is 'do something which will buy time for other efforts to bear fruit'.
A pretty fair addition to the thoughtful side of the 'Cli-fi' genre.













