Several years pass in which portable augmented reality viewers become ubiquitous, social media echo chambers cause rural lawlessness, commercial quantum computing is feasible, and anonymous distributed ledger identification becomes popular in business.

Brain scanning gains general popularity, after traffic analysis shows that virtual minds are achieving an afterlife in a medieval fantasy setting.

[6] Stephenson indicates Fall is indebted to David Deutsch's 1997 book The Fabric of Reality,[7] as well as John Milton's 17th century poem Paradise Lost.

Fall refers to the historical figures of Lawrence Waterhouse and Rudolf von Hacklheber from Cryptonomicon, and Enoch Root makes an appearance in the story.

Lewis's Narnia books,"[9] and Laura Miller in Slate described the novel's depiction of its Ameristan region as "savage, Swiftian satire.

[10][11] On the September/October 2019 issue of Bookmarks, the book received (3.5 out of 5) stars, with the critical summary saying, "Ambitious, audacious, and breathtaking in scope--and perhaps not for Stephenson newbies".