In this first novel of an expected trilogy, Stephenson covers a lot of ground geographically and historically. The heroine is Dawn/Aurora, born in the US, raised in Russia, and as a young adult dangerously straddling both worlds. There is plenty of adventure to go around, with shoot-outs, polo matches, and political demonstrations, set against the backdrop of the competition and conflict between Russia and the US. At times, the action becomes bogged down by very technical descriptions of the incipient understanding of atomic power in the 1930's. Also, I would have wished for fewer long lists, such as the lengthy itemization of exhibits of the Chicago World Fair. Shorter than most of Stephenson's books, and ending with a cliff-hanger, one has to wonder if it was a publishing decision to simply divide one long novel into thirds. Nonetheless, readers will want to follow Dawn/Aurora into the next chapters.

I originally went in blind expecting a spy type novel and had to definitely read a bit more of the description of the book when we started following a young girl and going through her life. Dawn/Aurora leads such an adventurous life always on the move. There were very real parts that makes me wonder who's life we was really following as if felt like a memoir of sorts. Dawn/Aurora is very inspiring in the voice of don't let bad things that happen in your life keep you down. Keep going and keep living.

Stephenson takes us back to the Baroque Cycle in this interesting historical fiction. Polostan is the first book in the series, so I expected it to be a slower read as the author develops the world and characters. I’m glad I stayed with it Stephenson has a way or pulling me into the story. The one drawback is that while this is a series, I know there will be cliff hangers but the ending seemed stunted, I wanted more. Looks like I’ll be picking up book two when it’s available.

Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for the DRC in exchange for an honest review.
#NetGalley #Polostan

Thank you for the opportunity to read this galley. As usual, I was slightly baffled at the beginning but then I was completely immersed in the world. Very much looking forward to the next books.

Despite its obscure title, Neal Stephenson’s Polostan is by far the most engaging book I have read this year. The 320 pages flew by.

This book was just OK. I feel like it had way too much going on and way too many things all at once which made it a bit confusing and hard to follow. The writing was entertaining and it was a fairly quick read, but it was not my favorite book. I think if they focused in on one topic, rather than jumping all over the place, it would’ve been better.

Thank you to NetGalley, to the author, and to the publisher for this complementary ARC in exchange for my honest review!!!

4 ⭐️I ended up really enjoying this epic tale of Dawn/Aurora. Set in Montana and Moscow during the 1920’s to 1930’s, Dawn’s mom a US citizen and her father a Russian communist.

The story details Dawn’s early life in Montana and Moscow and jumps ahead a bit to her journey and development as a KGB agent. There are many parts that are filled with historical facts that drag on and on, but the real story of Dawn/Aurora in the two timelines is engaging and interesting. The writing is good and the many characters are well developed.

This is book one in a series and I can’t wait to read book two!

Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow publishers for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

While The Diamond Age remains my favorite Stephenson book ever, it was sheer relief to find absolutely no AI, microchips, or cyber-anything in Polostan. Instead, a good ol' romp of historical-ish fiction, complete with fiery heroine, shadowy figures, thundering steeds, socio-political tensions, etc plus Stephenson's usual wry character POVs, tart dialogue, (perhaps overly-) thorough explanations of complex chemistry and physics workings, and of course smug satisfaction when even minor villains get their elaborate comeuppance. I don't mind the extensive character development, but unless you know this is the first volume of a trilogy, the front half of the book does feel like a bit of a slow burn. And while I don't need my characters to be naked to find them interesting or vulnerable, I don't usually mind it ... but some of the scenes here felt a little forced and gratuitous. That said, overall it was an enjoyable mix of science and shenanigans, and I look forward to the pace picking up in the next installment. Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the early read!

This is a historical fiction series, closer to Stephenson’s Baroque Series, then Snow Crash. The lead is Dawn Bjornberg a girl raised in the US and the early days of the Soviet Union by a Communist true believer father, and how she ends up in Siberia in the Soviet Union before World War 2. There is a running tale of how her Wyoming roots led to a proficiency on a horse and at polo, and how that helps her in her espionage career. The book is basically preface, getting to know Dawn nee Aurora and setting the table for future volumes. As a stand-alone book it definitely feels a little incomplete, and it isn’t short, but it did get me eager to read future volumes.

I quite enjoyed this rather different novel from Stephenson, historical fiction set during the beginning of the 20th century in both the United States and Russia. Dawn (later Aurora) Bjornberg is a typical American child of mixed heritage, partially raised in the American West by her mother to be self-sufficient, and in Russia during the darkest days of the Russian reinvention of society with her hardcore Leninist father. Dawn is a free spirit who nimbly navigates the dangers and opportunities of her environment. This ranges from being a bank robber in America to an unexpected member of a maintenance team at the enormous Magnitogorsk steel mill in Russia to working as a shoe salesperson and inadvertent tour guide at the Chicago World's Fair.

The book ends with her having rather questionable loyalty to the Russian spy organization that's assigned her to seduce and earn the trust of a famous foreign journalist; will she escape Russia to find her freedom, even though the FBI is looking for her (well, looking for "Dawn" though she's now "Aurora")? I'm ready for part two!

A working knowledge of 1930s American and early Russian history is beneficial, but not required.

Recommended, particularly for fans of contemporary historical fiction.

Neal Stephenson is back with another epic history lesson! I devoured his Baroque Series (System of the World etc.), so was thrilled to get early access to his first novel in this new Bomb Light series.
Dawn/Aurora is at the center of everything, starting with the Wobblies and Hooverville shanty towns in our nation’s capital, the Chicago World’s Fair, and the Largest in the World steel mill in Russia, among other things. It’s an improbable, wild ride with young Aurora/Dawn, from dancing with General Patton to getting a physics lesson from a young scientist, but that’s the fun of it. We learn about (or are reminded of) all these political, scientific, and cultural things that were happening around the same time thanks to Aurora/Dawn’s proximity and her fictive influence on those around her. I am very much looking forward to the next installment!
My thanks to the author, publisher, and #NetGalley for early access to the electronic proof for review purposes. The book will be published Oct 14, 2024.

I am not sure if I like Polostan or hate it. It is primarily a meandering, 368 page introduction to the main character in this new series, Dawn/Aurora. Dawn is the American name of a character caught between the emergent worlds of the 20th century Soviet Union and United States of America and with a foot in each. Born to Russian emigres, she escapes revolutionary Russia, wanders around America as a rootless immigrant encountering myriad adventures, escapes Communist-hunting G-men by returning to Russia where she comes to the attention of none other than Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria and then ... well, we do not exactly know and will have to wait until book two to learn more. While it feels rambling, the prose is still tight, strangely engaging, and one is always aware that Stephenson is leading you somewhere albeit s-l-o-w-l-y. This is a very different Stephenson, but being Stephenson, I am definitely disposed to giving the benefit of my doubts to him and looking forward with some misgivings to book two if for no other reason than to see where this going.

Stephenson is never an easy read, but he's always an interesting read. I like that his dipping back into the alternate history realm like his Baroque Cycle. I really enjoyed this one and await the next volume.

I've been a Neal Stephenson fan since I was a teenager and Snow Crash came out. Polostan is the first in a promised series, introducing us to Dawn as she moves to and from the U.S. and the Soviet Union. It's chockfull of period details in ways that might remind readers of the Baroque Cycle and jumps across timelines (although not as literally as with the D.O.DO. books). Super busy and fun with a cliffhanger!

This is an exciting start to Neal Stephenson's Bomb Light trilogy. We get to learn about Aurora/Dawn, the protagonist, from childhood to young adulthood as she experiences life in America and the Soviet Union. The descriptions of the 1939 Chicago World's Fair made me able to feel what it was like.

Post ww1 communists, fascists, bank robbers, the 1933 Chicago World's Fair (in explicit detail), subatomic particles, balloons, torture... and polo.

It's exactly what you get with a Neal Stephenson book -- slick, smug, grossly information, and insanely entertaining. The first part of a trilogy, it ends on a shameless cliffhanger (at 300-some pages, it's really more like the first third of a typical Neal Stephenson book). If you're a fan, there's absolutely no reason not to read it, if you hate him you should stay away, and if you've never read him before this is as good a place to start as any.

A rollicking picaresque that takes an American-born young woman from the American west, to the encampment of the Bonus Army that gathered the hungry, homeless, and angry poor in the shadow of the White House and Capitol in 1932, to a massive construction project in the Stalin's Russia, where an ironworks to rival any in the industrial US is being built east of the Ural mountains. Dawn (or Avrora in Russia) is fluent in Russian because her anarchist father took her there to be part of the new Communist society, and in polo, which plays a role when foreign visitors to the Soviet Union are introduced to the first women's team, organized by Dawn. It's not quite what I expected from Stephenson - it moves quickly, shoots from place to place (and out of chronological order) with dizzying rapidity, and has somewhat of a comic book feel as events unfold and our heroine gets in and out of peril. But it's engaging, fun, and very inventive. Anarchist cowboys, weird murderous cults, creepy Russian intelligence officers, hungry and disaffected citizens participating in a long occupation in an indifferent Washington DC mall... and polo.

It's the first in a cycle and sets up the next entry with a promise that there will be some spying ahead.

really great read, thanks for the ARC, publisher. The plot tracks Aurora/Dawn, a Soviet/American girl, bouncing between the Bonus Army March, Stalin's USSR, and wild and harrowing adventures in Montana. She is a fantastic character, I am very attached to her. I did not see the meaning of the title until it was specifically called out, so I won't explain here, it's kind of a treat.

In some ways, it seems the whole point of this book was to get to the last chapter and set up the second in the series. That I was sufficiently sucked in by this time to want to read the next installment, and think I might enjoy it more than the first, says something. As a Neal Stephenson fan, I enjoy his writing and was expecting a futurist, dystopian story. I was surprised to be plunged into Stalin's Russia and Communists hiding out in Chicago and the American heartland. At some point, I gave up what kind of novel I thought this was going to be and decided to go along for the ride. That said, this could do with serious editing and better pacing. The moving back and forth between the present and past was initially confusing, and not quite the best device for allowing Dawn/Aurora's story to unfold. She is a wonderful, engaging, and incredibly self-aware character. A true heroine warrior and I look forward to the rest of the series.

Polostan is really intriguing, weaving a complex tale of revolution and espionage. It could use some work in the pacing department, but overall, it sets a solid foundation. I'm curious to see where the second installment goes.