** spoiler alert ** 
 As other reviews have said, Seveneves can be easily split into three parts - pre-apocalypse, post-apocalypse, and then the timeskip of 5000 years forward. 
 I hadn't read any reviews on the novel before beginning to read it, so the speed at which the plot began to move forward surprised me. When the initial premise became clear I expected Stephenson to spend the remainder of the book outlining the human race responding to a two year ticking clock; instead the reader entered scientific mayhem, scientists both on Earth and on the aptly named Cloud Ark space station trying to hastily prepare for the 'White Sky' - a hailstorm of asteroids raining down onto the Earth's surface for thousands of years, turning all into an unlivable wasteland that would destroy all life. 
 I did find the scientific insight very interesting, and the way Stephenson went about the logic of how the world would respond to such a situation was as intriguing. I did find that any emotional hooks were waved away - it did lend itself to the general feel of Cloud Ark's disconnect from Earth, and also how normalised people became to the concept of death, but it almost became too much at one point. It was as if the reader was locked outside of the story, only catching glimpses instead of being able to immerse themselves into the different characters and their perspectives. I think the closest we got to feeling close to a character and their growth was Dinah, and that still felt limited or rushed at times. This sort of feeling did work for some aspects of the novel but on the whole, I think it contributed to the characters not leaving much of an impression of me - only the story did that. 
 For me, the strongest section of the book was the second part. I liked the way Stephenson outlined the different reactions to the loss of Earth, and all the twists and turns that followed after. It felt truly intense and some parts packed quite the emotional punch, much more than anything in the first part. I would recommend sci-fi fans read it if only for that section alone... unfortunately, the third part of the book was what dropped my rating. It didn't lend itself enough time or depth to really represent what I feel Stephenson was trying to convey well enough, and although the ideas in it caught my interest, ultimately it felt too separated from the rest of the book for me to connect to it.