Seveneves begins on what will become Day Zero, or 0.0, as the Earth's moon is destroyed by an "Agent," which we don't learn much about. The moon breaks into pieces and popular scientist, Doc Dubois, (clearly based upon Neil Degrasse Tyson) predicts these parts will fall to Earth in an event two years later, known as "Hard Rain."
Thus, the premise of the first third of the novel is humanity's preparation for its own demise. We're told the Earth will be uninhabitable for ten thousand years, so man takes to space on an expanded version of the ISIS, called Izzy. Then we're taken through the early days of human life in space after seven billion people have been killed by the "Hard Rain." Various catastrophes occur, bringing the human population down to just seven women. Suddenly, for the final third of the book, we're catapulted five thousand years ahead to explore the future, as humans have proliferated once again, only broken into seven races based upon the traits of those surviving women - the titular seven eves. These races are tasked with terraforming Earth as it once again becomes habitable.
The book is densely descriptive and the initial concept is fascinating. It is clear that the author has a solid grasp of physics in space, as the ideas are plausible. Yet this detail can get extremely tedious and overwhelming. Still, most of the book is enjoyable. The final third, however, seems totally unnecessary. Through all the changes in the first two thirds, we have several consistent characters to follow, yet these are all lost as we move into this last section, and it is hard to care about anything that happens without a familiar character.
Thus, the premise of the first third of the novel is humanity's preparation for its own demise. We're told the Earth will be uninhabitable for ten thousand years, so man takes to space on an expanded version of the ISIS, called Izzy. Then we're taken through the early days of human life in space after seven billion people have been killed by the "Hard Rain." Various catastrophes occur, bringing the human population down to just seven women. Suddenly, for the final third of the book, we're catapulted five thousand years ahead to explore the future, as humans have proliferated once again, only broken into seven races based upon the traits of those surviving women - the titular seven eves. These races are tasked with terraforming Earth as it once again becomes habitable.
The book is densely descriptive and the initial concept is fascinating. It is clear that the author has a solid grasp of physics in space, as the ideas are plausible. Yet this detail can get extremely tedious and overwhelming. Still, most of the book is enjoyable. The final third, however, seems totally unnecessary. Through all the changes in the first two thirds, we have several consistent characters to follow, yet these are all lost as we move into this last section, and it is hard to care about anything that happens without a familiar character.
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