
Polostan
Volume One of Bomb Light
HarperCollins · Print & ebook · October 14, 2025
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Termination Shock and Cryptonomicon, the first installment in a monumental new series—an expansive historical epic of intrigue and international espionage, presaging the dawn of the Atomic Age.
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- Who it’s for
- A historical epic where revolution, intrigue, and espionage meet the dawn of the Atomic Age.
- Themes
- International espionage, Revolution and political upheaval, A revelation about the past
- Genres
- Spy Fiction, 20th-Century Historical Fiction, Historical Thrillers
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Start with this bookAbout this book
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Termination Shock and Cryptonomicon, the first installment in a monumental new series—an expansive historical epic of intrigue and international espionage, presaging the dawn of the Atomic Age. The first installment in Neal Stephenson’s Bomb Light cycle, Polostan follows the early life of the enigmatic Dawn Rae Bjornberg.
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Born in the American West to a clan of cowboy anarchists, Dawn is raised in Leningrad after the Russian Revolution by her Russian father, a party line Leninist who re-christens her Aurora. She spends her early years in Russia but then grows up as a teenager in Montana, before being drawn into gunrunning and revolution in the streets of Washington, D.C., during the depths of the Great Depression. When a surprising revelation about her past puts her in the crosshairs of U.S. authorities, Dawn returns to Russia, where she is groomed as a spy by the organization that later becomes the KGB. Set against the turbulent decades of the early twentieth century, Polostan is an inventive, richly detailed, and deeply entertaining historical epic, and the start of a captivating new series from Neal Stephenson.
Revolution and Intrigue
A historical epic where revolution, intrigue, and espionage meet the dawn of the Atomic Age.
Come here for
- A globe-crossing historical epic of revolutionary politics and espionage
- A heroine moving between American and Russian worlds
Expect
- Intrigue across the turbulent early twentieth century
- The opening installment of a historical series
Where it sits
| 20th-Century Historical Fiction | 65% |
|---|---|
| Spy Fiction | 53% |
| Historical Thrillers | 35% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Action & Adventure
- Spy Fiction
- World War II & Holocaust
- 20th-Century Historical Fiction
Show all 8 publisher categories
- Literary Fiction
- Historical Thrillers
- Military Thrillers
- Political Fiction
- Authors
- Neal Stephenson
- Publisher
- HarperCollins
- Published
- October 14, 2025
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Theme
- International espionage · Revolution and political upheaval · A revelation about the past
- Reading lane
- Action & Adventure