Yep, I am giving Stephenson 3 stars. This was outstanding for the first third or so. Trenchant, on point, imaginative. Fan service by combining characters from two of his previous novels (Reamde and Cryptonomicon). Really engaging stuff. Then I hit the story within the story and I bounced off it. Hard. A lukewarm re-heating of Christian eschatology told in a 'biblical' voice. Basically, guaranteed to push all my buttons. The even sadder thing is I just started skimming those parts and I still got the full gist of the story. I mean I have read and thoroughly enjoyed Anathem, twice, so I don't have a problem with Neal going off into the tall grass but I just couldn't swallow this I am afraid. Cannot recommend.