Master of the Revels

A Return to Neal Stephenson's D.O.D.O.

By: Nicole Galland

Narrated by: Laurence Bouvard, Shelley Atkinson, Allyson Ryan, Laural Merlington, Vaneh Assadourian, Charlie Thurston, Derek Perkins, Ron Butler, Will Damron, Robert Fass, Billie Fulford-Brown, Mike Ortego, Joe Barrett, Tavia Gilbert, full cast

Length: 19 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

In this brilliant sequel to The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O.—an enthralling, history-bending adventure traversing time and space, fact and fiction, magic and science co-written with #1 New York Times bestselling author Neal Stephenson—a daring young time traveler must return to Jacobean England to save the modern world.

This fast-paced sequel to the New York Times bestselling near-future adventure The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. picks up where the original left off, as Tristan Lyons, Mel Stokes, and their fellow outcasts from the Department of Diachronic Operations (D.O.D.O.) fight to stop the powerful Irish witch Gráinne from using time travel to reverse the evolution of all modern technology.

Chief amongst Gráinne’s plots: to encrypt cataclysmic spells into Shakespeare’s “cursed” play, Macbeth. When her fellow rogue agents fall victim to Gráinne’s schemes, Melisande Stokes is forced to send Tristan’s untested, wayward sister Robin back in time to 1606 London, where Edmund Tilney, the king’s Master of Revels, controls all staged performances in London.

And now Gráinne controls Tilney.

While Robin poses as an apprentice in Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, Mel travels to the ancient Roman Empire and, with the help of double-agent Chira in Renaissance Florence, untangles the knotted threads of history while the diabolical Gráinne jumps from timeline to timeline, always staying frustratingly one stop ahead—or is it behind?

Historical objects disappear, cities literally rise and fall, and nothing less than the fate of humanity is at stake. As Gráinne sows chaos across time and space, the ragtag team of ex-D.O.D.O. agents must fix the past—in order to save the future.

Critically acclaimed author Nicole Galland brings her deep knowledge of history and signature wit to this gripping romantic adventure.

©2021 Nicole Galland (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers

Not as funny as the first one, but with a better story.

Although it wasn’t quite as laugh out loud funny as the first book (the viking invasion of Walmart was hilarious) this was definitely more engaging in narrative terms. Now that our heroes are no longer working for the US military industrial complex, and now they’re up against a real and terrifying antagonist, they’re much easier to root for. I liked the idea of the ensemble cast. I just wished they’d given a bit more thought to consistency in pronunciation, because the pronunciation was all over the place. In general though, a worthy enough piece of entertainment, with a compelling enough cliffhanger that I’ll probably stick around for the next one.

Lots of fun

A mix of satire, adventure and speculative historic fiction. Well performed. I really enjoyed it.

eeh

Not as good as the first one. poor development of characters. Credit would have been better spent elsewhere

A wonderful continue to the original story

This is a great performance to a story that continues the original Dodo.
It is not as good but still very entertaining and worth the time.
This one has a much bigger focus on theater and Shakespeare. So if you are a theater fan, you will probably enjoy it even more.
Know that the ending is a straight lead to a next story which i hope will exist.

Great follow up

I think it was a good listen. It has a very unpredictable ending. It was exciting to get through it just wondering what was going to
happen next. I highly recommend this book.

Great Fun

The performance was nicely produced. Like a lot of fiction today, it could have been tightened up with a few more edits, but the book was enjoyable. I look forward to book three.

throughly enjoyed

I am not a critic and won't go into why/what is good/bad.
i am just going to say I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the narrators were great.

Excellent Follow Up to D.O.D.O

Neal Stephenson was not involved in the sequel but Nicole Galland did an excellent job. The cast was excellent and the story pretty well picks up right after the first book. You do want to read the first book or this one will not make any sense to you. But if you enjoyed the first book do not fear that this wont work without Stephenson, I am not going to have to look into more by Nicole Galland.

Tour de force return to DODO

I admit it took me awhile to get used the the storytelling devices, choppy and spare at first. Then as more narrative develops the story takes hold of this holdover from a Neal Stephenson novel idea. Meantime Humanities Nerd meets Shakespeare’s London at full stumble, much mirth, some strained magical rules, a perfectly adorable antagonist or two help the story take off. And the voices! This was more radio theatre than narration, the voices and history vignettes joining for a jolly good sequel and inviting more. Good show!

The story resumes and ends on a cliffhanger

I loved the sequel and how new characters were introduced. The ending feels as if there will be a third book, and I hope there will be!