The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. by Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland combines physics, magic, and time travel into a very exciting novel you won’t want to put down. It’s told in several different perspectives through a number of documents. It starts out with a journal written by the 21st century woman Melisande Stokes in1851 telling the story of how she came to be trapped in that time.
Her story begins with Tristan Lyons, who works for a secret government organization, recruiting her to translate some ancient texts. It quickly gets weird as she comes to realize that the texts involve magic and that Tristan and his bosses are looking to bring magic back to the modern world. They later recruit Dr. Frank Odo, a retired physicist, who through the theory of alternate universes, helps them in their quest.
This book is very interesting to read because as the organization grows, there are documents written by people who really don’t understand what’s going on, which makes it a mystery for the reader to solve. Without going into detail about the time travel aspect, I will say that the protagonists are constantly getting into trouble, and some of these situations lead to comic relief in n otherwise serious novel.
I really had a lot of fun with The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O., so much so that I read the last 200 pages in one sitting, not wanting to stop. You will enjoy this book.