Review: Stephenson has upped his game to the next level
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 14, 2013
Fans of Collapse will not be disappointed with Stephenson's second installment to the New America series. Fast forward eighteen months after the Collapse of 2027, and Howard Beck, president of the Pacific States of America, is plotting to defeat the Unified American Empire and restore unity to a nation torn apart by the nefarious deeds of the Great Empire of Iran...and some particularly opportunistic buzzards in D.C.The author spells it all out in macro detail, then starts to dig in where his strength truly lies...with street level action, bringing along the exceptionally developed cast from Collapse and introducing the reader to new characters. I was particularly happy to see Benjamin Black return with a major role in Resistance. He's come a long way from the charismatic leader and Walmart destroyer we last saw in Collapse. Black is by far my favorite expanded character, along with a nefarious mystery saboteur/assassin that I couldn't get enough of.Stephenson treats the reader to just about everything in Collapse. From individual checkpoint battles to massive high tech combat engagement; political assassination attempts to complex coup d'état's; macro level political maneuvering to psychotic leaders...all culminating in a twist that you will not see coming. The battle lines are drawn in Resistance...then redrawn when you least expect it. Resistance is as much a political/military/apocalyptic novel as it is a cautionary conspiracy gem.From a purely mechanical point of view, Stephenson has upped his game. The writing is smooth and the descriptions are vivid. He moves back and forth from big picture to point of view action flawlessly. The author has clearly taken his writing to the next level.