I thought I would be a perfect match for this book. I loved Sylvain Neuvel’s Sleeping Giants trilogy and I’m a bit of a space nerd — so Neuvel’s book about space race should have been a treat. But unfortunately, this one fell a bit flat.

This book is about the Kibsu — superpowered aliens which have gone though a hundred generations of Mother-Daughter pairs, whose sole goal is to help human civilization develop space flight and eventually get off the planet — to ensure our eventual survival. In that pursuit they stop at nothing to preserve their knowledge and the secret of their existence — even if it means bloodshed in the name of the greater goal. They are relentlessly pursued by mysterious Trackers who seem even more bloodthirsty and a bit unhinged. In pursuit of the space flight development, Sarah and Mia (our current 100th mother-daughter pair) must help smuggle German rocket-builders - Werner von Braun - from Nazi Germany and then aid the Soviets - namely Sergei Korolev - to pull ahead in the space race, as this space race competition can bring the spacefaring goal closer to fulfillment.

“The world is doomed, and we must get people off of it. That’s what’s important. Not this war, not the first one or the next one. Not the woman in the river. Our fight is against gravity, and von Braun can help us win it.”

The premise is great, and I can get behind it even if I have quite strong reservations about using actual historical figures of the relatively recent past as book characters, ascribing them character traits and affairs and marriages with fictional characters that make me feel a bit uncomfortable (those are real people with real descendants, so taking liberty with their lives is questionable at best), and their discoveries should be theirs and not ascribed to supernaturally intelligent outworldly beings — but that’s just my reservations, and your mileage may vary.

I did appreciate the efforts to show the Soviet part of the space race, the part that for many Westerners is not well-known. I think to most Western readers the name of von Braun would be more familiar than that of Korolev, so this book fills in the gaps (although if you choose to not look up those people and their works right after their first appearances, you might not appreciate it as much as you would have otherwise). Although Neuvel does give us some facts, a deeper look would only be beneficial to the readers - both at the historical figures and the details of their work.

The real problem for me was the stylistic execution, however. The book is largely written in dialogue - between our protagonist Mia and her mother, Mia and von Braun, Mia and Korolev, Mia and a few other characters - with a few chapters narrated journal-style by Mia’s mother and occasional interludes showing us the snippets of mostly violent lives of the Kibsu through our history, which were actually quite interesting and I wish had comprised a larger part of the book. But dialogue-based Mia’s story, interrupted only by her internal reactions to that dialogue, is the bulk of the book, and it’s the style that just did not work for me. I found that after a while my attention was starting to wander. Plus Mia’s inner voice asides were not endearing her to me — she seemed very teen-like, even in her adult years, very exasperated and often whiny and quite judgmental, petty and offputting (“Of all the people who could judge me, this one’s a fucking criminal! He’s a decorated genius criminal, but still.” — is what she thinks of Korolev, even when perfectly aware that he is the victim of the Purges under fabricated accusations). See example below, which is how she sounds quite often - and even if it’s justified by the circumstances, it’s tiring to read about:

“—Mother, what is going on? You do the accounting, you buy people, you get the Russians to build V-2s. Why me? Why not you? Why do I have to do all this?”

My other gripes came from not quite understanding how many of the plot points would work, even when superpowered beings are involved. I mean, how do the Kibsu so easily move to both sides of the Iron Curtain without any suspicion? How are they able to ingratiate themselves so quickly even with the Soviet government? How are they able to so easily manipulate Party leaders? It’s mentioned that they have ways, but it’s never explained, and since those bits are done in dialogue, Neuvel never really ends up addressing the logistics, making it seem like those Hollywood movie scenes where in one scene the protagonist makes a decision, and in the other scene (after some off-screen manipulations, we assume) the grandiose plans are seamlessly in motion.

“—I hate to be the bearer of bad news, Nina—can I call you Nina?—but no one is going to put me in charge of anything.

I am! I’m going to put him in charge because… Because I want to. Also because Stalin doesn’t pay his people and I found someone at the Politburo who owes a shit ton of money to the Russian mafia.”

Also, all the talk about the Russian mafia in the 1940s and 1950s seemed just a bit off.
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The pacing was a bit off, too - maybe because it’s the first entry in the series, but it feels like not much happens for over half of the book, despite the scenes filled with action (filtered through dialogue at times) and bloodshed. Stylistic and narrative choices made it not so easy to follow coherently, and left many parts barely sketched out and therefore less impactful. It was just too easy to feel very detached from the characters in this book, despite the first-person narration and viewpoint. I knew, for instance, that Mia cared about her girlfriend and her dog and even her husband — but the way the narrative was told, it was very hard to feel any connection to them. In the end, despite spending the whole book with Sarah and Mia, I felt like I still had no idea who they were as persons. I wish I could connect with even one character for this book to become more enjoyable. I mean, I felt more connected to Neuvel after reading his author notes in the end (and those are indeed interesting) than to any of the people we spent the whole book with.

Overall, I think it was an excellent premise (human space race as the culmination of millennia-long alien project!!!) that was served poorly by the gimmicky execution. The dialogue / journal entries style does not work well for this book. For a better Neuvel book, check out Sleeping Giants instead.

Now, if the next books goes easier on dialogue and instead is written more like the flashback Kibsu chapters, I may still check it out.

2.5 stars.

This was a hard one for me to get into; I did finally get kind of involved. I especially liked the "flashbacks" to other sets of moms and daughters. Not my favorite of Neuvel's books, but I'll look up another one to see what happens. It's kind of funny, I got this as an ARC back in 2020 (Thanks NetGalley!!!) but bunches of people racing around carrying out some ancient person's plans and really no one knowing what they are doing seemed very 2020 to me. lol

This is my fifth book by the author but probably my least favorite.

The concept was interesting, the flashbacks to older generations were great but I found the writing too dry.

I might still continue the series.

A History of What Comes Next

***Book Review***

A History of What Comes Next
By. Sylvain Neuvel
P. 304
Format - eArc

Rating - ****1/2

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This eArc was provided to me for free in exchange for an honest review by @netgalley. It has not impacted my review.
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A History of What Comes Next is a historical science fiction set mostly at the end of World War II. The story follows Mia and her mother Sarah. The two are identical in every way except age. They are the 99th generation of their line. They have been tought to follow four rules.

1. Always Run, Never Fight
2. Preserve the knowledge
3. Survive at all costs
4. Take them to the stars

Except their knowledge was lost. They do not remember why the rules were put in place, just that they need to be followed.

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I loved this book. I was hesitant because of the historical fiction aspect, but still excited. I walked away excited for the historical aspect of the book. It was set during the space race, and the way that Neuvel connected Mia into the events was facinating. I really appreciate that at the end of the book there was an entire section reviewing the historical aspects of the book. I read every page and it made me interested in learning more.

The narritve style is different. It almost reads like stream of consciousness. I am amazed how well it was done and how much I enjoyed it. I will say that I think some readers may not connect with this. So, be forwarned. However, I still strongly encurage you to read the book.

The characters were well developed, At times to the point of me being horrified when we are in the villains head. Because of the natures of the main characters there is so much overlap in who they are, yet they were still perfectly unique. Again, more skill from the author.

I will absolutly be picking up the sequel when it is published. This book was one I was excited about, but still hesitant. I was pleasantly suprised by how much I loved it. I anticipate that it will be one of my favorites of 2021 - and if it isn’t then we have an exceptional year ahead of us.

I unfortunately didn’t enjoy this book very much. While I liked Neuvel’s Themis Files series, A History of What Comes Next didn’t meet my expectations at all. Centering on a long line of women descended from extraterrestrial beings tasked with helping mankind reach the stars, I had high expectations. However, I just wasn’t interested in what was happening, and the main character, Mia, was a bit lackluster. I didn’t feel the urgency that Mia and her mother felt simply because not a lot happened. To be honest, the parts I enjoyed the most were the short chapters detailing the lives of some of the past Kibsu.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan-Tor/Forge for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I was very much drawn to the concept of the book. Two strong heroines, a mother and daughter, Sarah and Mia, with lethal powers and a scientific agenda that drives them to advance humanity un the space race. Tons of historical research and some action scenes that reminded me of a Tarantino film.

Mia working for the OSS (Office of Strategic Services) is sent to recruit a Nazi scientist for an American missile program. Her mother Sarah is focusing on climate change. We learn along the way that they are actually aliens. They have their own code of conduct and agenda and they try hard to keep a low profile because they are hunted by a mysterious Tracker.

They navigate some seriously dangerous situations while hoping to settle for once in one place and cultivate friends and family. However, somewhere along the way the story falls a little flat. The plot tension sloped halfway through which made hard to pull through. The action picked up again towards the last quarter of the book, but it had me close to DNFing the book. The character development also left me a little wanting. I ended up enjoying the author's notes about the research more than the story itself.

@Thanks NetGalley for giving me the access to read this wonderful story. It was such an emotional journey. I loved every line of this book. I give 5 stars to this wonderful book.

Sylvain Neuvel’s A History of What Comes Next has both an intriguing premise and a potentially tense conflict at its core, but due to some issues with structure and style, the execution didn’t allow the book to achieve its potential.

Two women, Sara and her daughter Mia, are sort of Space Race Zeligs (look him up youngsters), inserting themselves in key times and places to push humanity toward the stars. To that end, we see Mia go undercover in Germany at the tail end of WWII to spirit Wernher von Braun and key assistants to the US as part of Operation Paperclip (a real mission). Later, the two move to Russia where they jumpstart the Russian space program in the (correct) belief that it would spur the US into a focus on space rather just on weaponry. And finally they move back to America in the early days of NASA.

As to why they are doing this, we learn early on (so not a spoiler here) they are the 98th and 99th generations of The Kibsu, mysteriously powerful women who birth only female children (who looks astonishingly like their mothers) who have from ancient times followed list of rules, the most important for this review being “take them to the stars, before Evil comes and kills them all,” “there can never be three for long,” “don’t draw attention” and flee the Tracker, who has hunted them down the millennia. The novel offers up multiple POVs, including those from Sara, Mia, and the Tracker. As well, several chapters flashback to the ever-deeper past (AD 1608 in one, 890 BC in another) to show us prior generations of Kibsu.

As mentioned in the intro, I quite like this premise of humans in space being a millennia-long “project” by a small group finding ways to ever push progress forward to that end, even when simple flight was considered impossible, let alone entering space itself. It’s a great idea, and while the flashback scenes do a good job of fleshing out the rules and mores of the Kibsu, particularly the mother-daughter relationships and their sense of obligation, I found myself greatly desiring we had more flashbacks and that they were more directly connected to the mission. This felt like a real missed opportunity to me. Though this is a good point to note that this is the first book of a series, so perhaps later flashback scenes will do just that. Still, it felt a lack here.

Another positive is the inherent conflict between the Kibsu and the Tracker, which is presented as a predator-prey relationship, though that description gets greatly complicated. I did like that complication and hope to find out more in later books, but felt it also became somewhat muddy, and that the Tracker was somewhat overplayed, but that’s all I’ll say about those two issues so as to avoid spoilers.

The Space Race historical aspects were interesting and mostly well-inserted, though depending on one’s prior knowledge, some of the scenes or problems to be overcome will lack any suspense in terms of what happens or how it happens. Again, I won’t serve up examples so as to avoid spoiling events for those who, for instance, don’t know what Operation Paperclip was or how it worked.

My two biggest issues with A History of What Comes Next were structural and stylistic. I’m rarely a fan of numerous brief chapters and that holds true here. Tom Clancy and James Patterson, however, have made clear I’m a minority in this viewpoint, so I’m guessing this will be less of a hurdle for others. Stylistically, the writing is what I’d call “workmanlike” — it gets the reader from plot point to plot point smoothly and clearly enough, but that’s about it. I didn’t mark any lines or passages that struck me as particularly beautiful, original, or well-crafted. Meanwhile, the first-person present tense was fine for some scenes, but felt extremely awkward/clumsy in many of the action or suspense scenes, robbing them not only of tension but often seriousness as well. Dialogue as well felt flat or clumsy. Finally, the romance in the story felt as if it were given more gravitas than it earned.

A History of What Comes Next had potential, and at times was sufficient to that potential — particularly with the mother-daughter relationship, but it missed some chances with plot, and was burdened by an overly flat and at times narrative-interrupting weakness of style. 2.5

This is a well written book. A family of two women (always two women) have a goal going back generations to push humanity to the stars. Hunting them is family of men (always men) hunting them. This book is well paced and has interesting characters. My problem is that by the end, I looked at the book and thought it was pointless. Like, it was only used to illustrate why the female family has their rules even though it was already portrayed by the flashbacks to the family's history.

This review is based on an advanced reader copy provided through Netgalley for an honest review.

I was halfway through this book and was still pretty confused about what was going on. It was pretty violent, and I could not figure out why. Not impressed with this one.

Described as a dark satire; first contact trope sci-fi fantasy.  The book also has a lot of historical information integrated in this “space race” theme. Lovers of sci fi may feel that the story is bogged down in historical components, but the characters are well written, and the story has good pacing. It is an easy read and a page turner. While not extraordinary, it is a solid read that won’t disappoint.  Thank you to Net Galley for allowing me to review this ARC in exchange for my honest review

A History of What Comes Next by Sylvian Neuvel is a superb read with well-defined characters and plotline. Definitely a page turner and well worth a read!

This book was not what I was expecting from Sylvain Neuvel after reading his other works. It was hard for me to get into in the beginning and a bit too historical, but I did end up enjoying the story in the end. I definitely think this would be a great book in audio format and will probably be how I recommend people read it. I can’t wait to see what he comes up with next.

I really struggled to engage with this book. I had been a huge fan of Neuvel's Themis Files trilogy, but thought this subject matter was not as good of a fit for Neuvel's writing style. Although I breezed through this story, I felt utterly detached from the proceedings.

This book is tough to rate - parts of it were super intriguing while others just didn't hold my attention.

Mia and her mother are the Kibsu, aliens who've worked for generations to help humans reach the stars. Always a mother and daughter pair. Always on the run from the Hunter.

While the novel shifts in time, showing us earlier generations of Kibsu and their subtle machinations to get human technology up to speed. Most of the story focuses on Sarah and Mia.

Mia's mission is to lure Wernher Von Braun away from the Nazi party and into the American rocket program, and secure the future of the space race. They're both involved in lots of WWII and Soviet Russia subterfuge and manipulation.

I wanted more information about the Kibsu and the Hunters - since this is the first book, maybe those answers come later. The characters are compelling and complex. Neuvel reveals their history one small morsel at a time, making the reader crave more.

I loved all of his notes at the end, particularly the possible etymology of the word Amazon.

This is a review based on a NetGalley ARC (Thank you NetGalley

Sylvain Neuvel is, I'm sure, a good writer and this novel has a really interesting concept but it's utterly ruined by the way the linguistics are structured to show conversations and makes some leaps of faith within history that don't always make sense. The alien component is actually the most interesting. I will say that the gender rivalry trope is nice and woke but also doesn't work for me at all. This was one of the worst books I've read.

I would suggest an editor take a re-look at this novel and ignore the fact that Neuvel thinks he's a genius and really make this a better book.

Dang. My one objection to A HISTORY OF WHAT COMES NEXT is that I powered through it in like three days, which was problematic both in that I had other books I was reading with deadlines, and also because I read it in late October / early November 2020, when I could've used even more time in Sylvain's recent history to help distract me from the anxieties of the present.

Clever and intriguing, if one aspect doesn't interest you, another is sure to. This is absolutely more than one story and, while they do not blend entirely seamlessly, they really shouldn't. I'm willing to go on record saying (I've actually long thought, and this confirms) Sylvain Neuvel has truly excellent pitch.

Well, that was odd.

Sarah and her daughter Mia are the Kibsu, two in a long line of mothers and daughters sworn to help mankind reach the stars, and escape the evil that is coming. But even as they are helping shape history, they are being hunted. No matter where they go - medieval Amsterdam, the Kievan Rus empire, Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia - someone is trying to stop them before they can help humans get the knowledge they need to escape Earth.

This is mostly set in the beginnings of the Space Race, starting with Werner Von Braun and traveling to Russia for the launch of Sputnik and to the US and NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab. Sarah and Mia have a Zelig-like ability to work their way into every conceivable part of the story of the Space Race, helpfully correcting some calculations here and suggesting an escape route there. Their stories are intercut with flashbacks to previous generations of mother-daughter Kibsu, who all show a remarkable ability to stay hidden - until forced to fight, when they then destroy everyone around them. We're also introduced to a set of male aliens, equally blood-thirsty, who are determined to find the Kibsu, whom they regard as traitors.

I feel like Neuvel couldn't decide whether he wanted to tell an alien story or a Space Race story, so decided to combine them both. I wish he had spent more time on the aliens, because the tension of the book comes from their story, not the history (Will Werner Von Braun escape to America? Will Russians launch Sputnik? are not suspenseful questions!) And then after all that build up, we don't really get an answer, just a cryptic flashback and a few lines tossed into a fight scene. But his writing is so good that instead of thinking "this makes no sense, I give up" and I was thinking "wait, what? let me read five more chapters before bed." So I'm really giving it 3.5 stars

I have enjoyed Sylvain Neuvel's previous books. It is more historical in nature, but I found it entertaining and intriguing. I look forward to reading the next book in the series.