When the moon explodes, no one knows why, how or who made it happen, but humanity needs to figure out what to do next, and fast.
Seveneves, another brilliant speculative novel in a long line from Neal Stephenson (REAMDE), documents the panic of astronomers as they observe the large remnants of moon scattering throughout the upper orbits of Earth, up to the moment--5,000 years later--when humanity, much-changed as a species, returns to its birthplace.
World leaders all hear the hard truth: what's left of the moon will first obscure the sun, then come down in a fiery rain of death and destruction, killing everything on the Earth's surface. The 10 astronauts on the International Space Station race to save the small number of people they can from the doomed planet; the evacuees carry with them digital records of the planet's genetic diversity, hoping to eventually return and re-seed Earth in the far future, once the "Hard Rain" of burning moon detritus has ended and the planet has healed.
Seveneves reads like three smaller novels, with sections one and two detailing humanity's last push to reach the stars, and the small space-bound contingent of human beings who survive. The third section explores what 5,000 years of space living might do to us as a species.
Stephenson brings his considerable intelligence, wit and ability to write engaging, believable characters to a tour de force of speculative fiction. A riveting book from beginning to end. --Rob LeFebvre, freelance writer and editor