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

Garbage

I am a fan of Neal Stephensons work including the preceding D.O.D.O novel co-authored by Nicole Galland. I was quite looking forward to this book. Then I started to listen to it. The author took the makings of an excellent story and destroyed it by changing the format. It is told simply as a series of letters and memorandum between the characters that take the life blood from the story. It is no longer a fascinating novel. It becomes an annoyance. There is no real form or sequence to it as a novel. I am listening to it at 2x normal speed and it is still incredibly slow. Constantly telling us who is writing the letter or memo and where it is going. I have only listened to the first few chapters but am going to return it. Normally I do not write a lot of reviews. When I noted the only 2 reviews posted gave this book a 5. I thought it is nice that the author has friends but give me a break. As I spent a long part of my career as a consumer protection deputy I felt it was time to let others know that this is not good book. Not one worth listening to anyway.

2nd verse same as the 1st

Redundant. Little new to excite. Nice history lesson for Shakespeare's England. Nothing new and nothing that made me happy I went for another spin with DODO. No sense of resolution or appropriate denouement to the ending. I wasn't sorry that I listened to it, but neither would I go for a 3rd book in a series. Want more of Neil Stephenson's warped mind and new paradigms to use to poke at my mind. If you really want more of Mel's story, then go ahead. But its a little flat.

wonderful second book

just as good, if not better, than the sequel. great performance too, using all the same voice actors

Better than expected and excellent characterization

I totally disagree with reviewers who complain about the format and characterization/narrator performances. As with the first book, the story is presented as a reading of official records, diary entrees etc. The voice actors do a fantastic job, rather than being a distraction as often happens when books are performed instead of straight narrated, these characters come across as real, vibrant, likable, and the performances enhance the experience greatly. This book is way better on audible IMHO.

It's a TV show

If you've already read the first book and you moved on to the second then you are already aware that this is a TV show and novel form. The character development the story and plot twists all work well together and the reader finds themselves engulfed and invested in characters in a way that only a TV show could invoke such a investment. far less bureaucratic than the first novel (thank God) We get to love characters the way that we didn't get to love them in the first novel. The way the writers leave cliffhangers at the end of the novels It's so disrespectful to the readers. I want FEEKING closure, I DO.

Cut out a lot of the middle and it would be better

Could have been better with severe editing of the middle part of the story. I forwarded through several entire sections, always a sign of excess wordiness.
with no loss of continuity. Nor as good as the first due to pedantic movement of plot.

Great continuation of the first D.O.D.O. book!

I have been waiting for a follow up in this series and was so excited to see this book pop up! The story continues without missing a beat, and I loved that all the original voice actors read their same parts. Regarding the comments about this being only a reading of memos and written messages between the characters...it’s literally written the exact same way the original book was, so while it might be an unusual format to some, it didn’t even register to me, as that’s just how these books are written. My only minor knock was that the ending felt abrupt, with maybe not all loose ends - and I don’t mean the kind that lead to a third book, but relevant details in this book - completely resolved. That said, I will for sure be on the look out for a third in this series. I absolutely love the characters and how they are written; they remind me of a more “me”, or maybe more American version of the characters in the Chronicles of St. Mary’s, which is a high compliment. Stokes and Max would for sure be friends.

Swashbuckling fun for Shakespeare nerds

Mixing the best of historical fiction with time travel, Galland turns out an amusing and suspenseful follow up to the earlier Dodo volume. With lots of winks to Shakespeare trivia (an entire episode obliquely devoted to the origin story of Winter’s Tale’s “Exit, pursued by bear”) and fine historical detail, the author and her excellent band of narrators deliver a delicious listen. Can’t wait for book #3!

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.

Great Sequel! Hope it’s not the last!

I enjoyed the The Rise and Fall of DODO. It is a unique and fun historical time travel tale. I didn’t know that there would be a sequel and was excited to come across this novel by accident.

I had very high hopes for another fun travel through different historic effects. I wasn’t too disappointed. Favorite characters returned. The time travel groups have broken into two different factions. The original black ops corporation has been bewitched by a powerful witch who is working to abolish scientific advancement so that magic can return to the modern world. The “good guys” escaped and have taken refuge in the historic home of the original inventor of the time travel machine. They’ve pieced together a motley team (with some cats) to work against the fall of modern civilization.

My only disappointment is the lack of a variety of historic events in time. I did enjoy historical details but at times I felt they could of been abbreviated so we could visit more events in time. I feel that some were repetitive scenes that felt like “Groundhog Day”. I’d have rather had spent time with a couple favorites that were missing! in this sequel on other ops. Hoping they return in follow-up novels!

Neal Stephenson is missing as co-author on this one and Nicole Gallad penned this alone. There are also more character narrators than in the original. I’m always weary when I see a large amount of narrators because they can be distracting. My fears were unfounded and I enjoyed the performance.

Overall if you enjoyed the original, you will enjoy this sequel! I look forward to more!