I enjoyed the second part of Seveneves quite a bit, myself, though I definitely feel like it could easily have been expanded a bit, and become a second volume. I will say, however, that the sharp divides between the "races" felt a bit artificial to me, much like the ways the alien species in something like Star Trek are monocultures, for no obvious reason beyond author/plot convenience.
I'm trying to break through the initial wall in Anathem presently. I think part of what's impeding me is that I bought it in mass-market paperback format, and the binding on my copy is egregiously bad; it's shedding leaves like a Minnesota maple in September.
I think he was going for a take on mitochondrial Eve, and what could happen given current/future technology. But I agree, the racial purity hopes and dreams of the seven Eves would have been obliterated about two minutes after the second space baby hit puberty.
Anathem does take a little while to get into thanks to the language, but it's great!
In one of his recent interviews, Stephenson said that he was intentionally playing off the silly trope of Star Trek type aliens that are basically just caricatures of humans with this-or-that trait emphasized. Not that he was trashing Star Trek, just that he was having a little fun trying to make up a backstory about why humans and vulcans can interbreed.
I'm trying to break through the initial wall in Anathem presently. I think part of what's impeding me is that I bought it in mass-market paperback format, and the binding on my copy is egregiously bad; it's shedding leaves like a Minnesota maple in September.