The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O.

The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O.  by Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland chronicles a convoluted tale of magic and time travel.  Magic apparently existed in the past, worked by actual witches.  Magic was killed, so to speak, by the photograph of the 1851 solar eclipse an act that, according to the story, fixed reality in place and put a stamp on the quantumesque access to other worlds that witches used to work their magic.  Tristan Lyons and Melisande Stokes find an innovative scientist who is able to create a machine that allows a witch access to magic and with the assistance of one very old witch they begin making use of magic to send people back in time to where magic works to effect outcomes in the future that are desired by the US government (whose auspices they’ve been working under).  Needless to say things soon spin out of control as people’s sheer hardheadedness combine with the blind workings of bureaucracy to create a delicious chaos.

The book was quite long and used a mixture of “documents” to tell its tale.  It was however an exciting plot with interesting (if occasionally worthy of a slap) characters.  I would recommend it.