Seveneves
On a perfectly ordinary day the moon breaks into seven pieces for reasons no one can explain, and within weeks scientists realize that the fragments will begin to collide, rain down on Earth as a two-thousand-year bombardment of fire, and end surface life. Humanity has two years to move what it can of itself and its genetics into orbit before the Hard Rain begins. Neal Stephenson's 2015 novel follows the chaotic improvisation of the resulting Cloud Ark, the ideological fissures that form in a population of eight remaining women, and then, five thousand years later, the seven distinct genetic lineages their descendants have built a new civilization around. The book is two novels bolted together: a near-future orbital engineering procedural and a far-future anthropological tour of what those engineering choices produced.
Themes & atmosphere
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What you might want to know about Seveneves
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
The moon breaks apart for unknown reasons. Within two years, the resulting bombardment will scour Earth's surface. The world races to lift a small genetic ark of survivors into orbit, and the centuries that follow.
Seveneves is around 880 pages with extensive technical detail about orbital mechanics and biology. The third act jumps 5,000 years into the future. Many readers find the third act jarring; others embrace the deep-time perspective. The first two acts are more accessible.
A film adaptation has been in development for years with Ron Howard at one point attached. As of 2025 the project remains in development.
Seveneves was written by Neal Stephenson, published in 2015 by HarperCollins.
Seveneves is 861 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Seveneves takes most readers 13 to 19 hours to finish.
Seveneves is a standalone novel by Neal Stephenson, not part of a series.
Seveneves is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.