Rating: 
Summary: Fast Paced Historical Mayhem
Review: The pace picks up considerably in this continuation of the intertwined stories of Jack Shaftoe, Daniel Waterhouse, and Eliza, Countess de la Zeur. The plot set in motion in Quicksilver continues to twist into fiendishly complex patterns. Piracy and quests, political and financial intrigue, and the evolution of scientific thought; you'll find all of this and more in the hefty second volume of the Baroque Cycle. Read Quicksilver first in order to not be confused by The Confusion. Jack Shaftoe, now a galley slave in Algiers, joins a conspiracy to pirate a Spanish treasure and escape slavery. He and nine other oar-mates embark on their adventure burdened with Jack's usual mix of good and bad luck. Sea battles, land battles and general havoc follow the cabal of misfits across oceans and continents. Daniel has a smaller role in this volume, but the role of Jack's more socially integrated brother Bob waxes into a remarkable war-filled journey to free his enslaved love, Abigail. Eliza, in the meantime, has lost her fortune and her firstborn son and must tread carefully to keep her head amid the perils of the French court. Eliza works to recover her son and wreak havoc on the financial markets of Europe. Jack's adventures from South America to Japan and Eliza's maneuverings in Europe draw you along at breathtaking speed with enough momentum to propel you through the 800+ pages. The pace rarely falters and Stephenson continues to make even the secondary characters interesting. He also maintains the obvious attention to research and detail found in Quicksilver. The Confusion neatly sets the scene for the third and final book as divergent plots start to converge, and I can't wait to see where Stephenson will take us next.
Rating:
Summary: Viva_La_Revolucion!! Viva Stephenson!!
Review: The revolution of the western mind continues in Stephenson's second volume of his Baroque Cycle.
By "con-fusing" (this is a Stephensonism, not mine) the fictitious lives & passions of the epic's main characters, Jack Shaftoe & Eliza, with real events and equally real/colorful characters of the late 17th century, Stephenson has accomplished something which no teacher before him has...
THE CONFUSION con-currently conquers the following subjects (among many, many others):
- the dawn of a truly global economy
- the pre-teen years of the commodities & futures markets
- the minting of hard currency
- the injection of fiat
- the role of the New World in revitalizing and further confusing international relations
- the pioneering minds of the Utilitarian Enlightenment (not of the artistic sort that has come to dominate discussions of the Enlightenment).
- the conflicting motives of the Roman Catholic Church, the various Protestant denominations, and the Oligarchy of the European nations/principalities of the latter 17th Century
- the boundless nature of the human spirit
- the nature of love itself
Needless to say, in order to envelop all the above while con-fusing it with a story of such enthralling intrigue, the Confusion is a megolith of a novel... but it is truly as awe-full (full of awe) as it is awesome!
Can't hardly wait for the third volume.
Rating:
Summary: Stephenson goes for baroque
Review: The term 'confusion' can connote many things. It usually indicates a state of bewilderment. It also denotes a jumbled and chaotic time or place, a disjointed mingling of disparate elements and events that appear to have little in relation to each other. It is, in other words, a perfect one-word summation of our world at the later end of the seventeenth century. It was a time of tremendous upheaval in numerous aspects of civilization, a period of intellect and innovation that many expected would lead to a new age of enlightenment. Leave it to American author Neal Stephenson to make a rollicking pirate novel of it all. The Confusion, Stephenson's superlative second volume in his trilogy The Baroque Cycle, is, indeed, a confusion of high adventure, international intrigue, scientific discourse, and economic chaos. Stephenson even throws in math, cryptology, and the precursor to the modern computer, just in case he might be accused of narrative laziness. Building on events outlined in Quicksilver, Stephenson wastes no time in thrusting the reader into the thick of things. Familiarity with the preceding novel is essential, as he has too much to write about without the additional bothersome worry of exposition. When you write of people who, "in a single grammatically correct sentence, [manage] to make reference to Apolonius of Perga, the Folium of Descartes, and the Limacon of Pascal", back-story is so much wasted ink. Jack Shaftoe, King of the Vagabonds, is now a galley slave in Algiers, plotting with his fellow oarsmen (a mixed bag of Irish, Jewish, Russian, and Arabic men, plus one wayward samurai) to buy themselves free from servitude through an ingenious scheme. Hijacking a ship laden with Spanish gold, Shaftoe finds himself again in the thick of world events, sailing around the globe in search of wealth, fame, and his true love. Meanwhile, in a second tale 'con-fused' with the first, former slave and peerless spy Eliza continues to quietly subvert the economies of Europe, working behind the scenes as England attempts to wage war with France with no financial support. Unlike Shaftoe's bizarre exploits in India and beyond, Eliza finds herself in a changing world "where power came of thrift and cleverness and industry, not of birthright, and certainly not of Divine Right." Stephenson, a former science-fiction writer, has produced a seamless blend of historical fact and riotous fiction as vivid and imaginative as anything the great fantasists could ever dream up. His is a dazzling world of visionaries and treachery, an epoch of intellectual rebellion and cultural revolution that our planet has never again seen the like of. It's a confusing story to be sure, but Stephenson has a sure hand at keeping the flow steady, never getting bogged down in details. His effort is stunning at times, with a poignant cliffhanger ending that provides both closure and excitement for the upcoming final volume. Eliza describes confusion as "a kind of bewitchment - a moment when what we supposed we understood loses its form and runs together and becomes one with other things that, though they might have had different outward forms, shared the same inward nature." By this definition, Stephenson has produced an epic confusion of his own, a clash of styles and themes that frustrates, enchants, and ultimately astounds.
Rating: 
Summary: mind blowing but difficult
Review: This book will reward your attention, but it's a wrist cracker and at times it's diffuse. Not for everyone, but fans will love it.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Briliant
Review: This is a beast of a book, wild, ferocious and full of mystery. One of those mysteries is the origin of the modern world. Using the medium of fiction, Stephanson strips away layer after layer of recieved wisdom and shows us how a few extrodinary people, and a great deal of ordinary ones, invented the modern notions of finance, banking, credit, trade, stock markets, globalization and the little matter of science. Yes, these people invented science as we know it. And Stephanson will show you the world they inhabited, page after page, untill you feel that you are amongst the greatest minds Europe ever produced. Which is not to say that The Confusion is all about dry academic discourse. The first page of the book finds Jack Shafto miraculusly cured of syphilis, wandering confusedly on a beach while a fifteen hundred gun salute is fired in the honor of the Caliph. From there, we are engaged in one of the best travelouges, adventure stories and general assembiledges of all out mayhem ever collected in one volume. In the spirit of equal oppertunities, this is not strictly a lads book. Equal time is given to Eliza, a former Harem virgin,and by her own wits and courage created a duchess in two nations. Also, by the end of the book, a mother of three. Now, this is a long book, and jam packed with details. Like the art which insipred it's name, the book contains ever increasing levels of ornimentation and detail, built on mathimatically and geometricly pure lines. Well, curves actually. Quite often, the reader can become lost in the welth of images and imagry. Not to worry. Stephanson provides both Newton and Liebinitz to explain the nature of those curves and ornimentation. Even if the titans occasionally disagree.
Rating:
Summary: A solid follow-through
Review: This is a solid follow-through of Quicksilver, incorporating the same brilliant style and prescient ideas. Stephenson ranks with H.G. Wells and Jules Verne as a man ahead of time.
Rating: 
Summary: Bad entry into the "alternate history" genre
Review: Utterly unreadable attempt to delve into the history of machine computation by re-writing history as recorded. This seems to be a perquel to "Cryptonomicon" by the same author, but it fails in every regard.
Daniel Waterhouse encouters in this re-write of histroy not only Newton, Leibniz and others, but substantially forms their lives. Period politics are thrown into the mix and so are a idioms of the time and other useless information. The latter tends to be fictive and dragging.
If you are into computers and intersted in the conflict between Newton and Leibniz, don't read these "Grimm's Tales". If you are into reading about the period, get something that is historically correct.
A
Rating:
Summary: This book may be baroque, but it doesn't need fixing
Review: While perusing the reviews of the first book, it seems that many people thought it was simply too long and packed full of needless detail. To them I say, Michael Crichton this is not. I also occaisionally enjoy picking up a book that can be finished in an evening, and is perfectly crafted to hold my shortened attention span, but this is not that book. Not only is it rather long, but it takes more time to read each page in this book than, say, the Da Vinci Code. For anyone acquainted with the authors of the period, it is a style that is immediately recognizable. Unlike, say, Jane Auel in the Earth's Children series (Clan of the Cave Bear, etc.), the lines of the page are not unnnecessarily filled with repetitive garbage, but with rich detail that add drama and humor to the events that follow. The breaks between the action are filled with dialogue so witty that I actually laughed out loud too often while reading this book to continue to read it in public. In all fairness, I have my degree in history, focusing on the period immediately before this one, and so am perhaps more inclined than others to enjoy the historical trivia that can be found in this book. Also, having been forced to read a lot of John Locke, none of the weird spellings and odd word usage that can especially be found in the dialogue of the English characters bothers me, and, in fact, added to my enjoyment of the book. I consider myself a fast reader and I had to work to get this back to library in the alloted 14-day period, but I also haven't enjoyed any other book that I've read so far this year half as much. For readers who liked this book and enjoyed being rewarded for paying attention to detail (as well as long scenes at sea), I recommend Umberto Eco's Island of the Day before.
Rating:
Summary: The lush life
Review: With its lush settings and descriptions, and quirky tone, I was reminded of some of Boyle's novels, "Water Music" comes to mind, or those of McCrae (Bark of the Dogwood). Yet the subject matter of "The Confusion" is vastly different. Still, this well written jewel is remarkable in its construction and form. Stephenson has definitely been overlooked with it comes to bantering about the word "great" and all I can say is that I hope we see more of him in the future. Kudos Mr. S.
Rating:
Summary: History and writing, a great combination
Review: With the continuation of Quicksilver Stephenson has done another great job in using history to buffer his story line, making it believable at the same time. As we see Shaftoe again, this time as a slave and eventually, well I will leave this for the reader to discover, making his escapades fun and interesting to read.
Again, this is a long winded rendition of a story intertwined with history. This is not a quick read, and can be difficult at times to struggle through. But, with all that said, his writing is wonderful and the story line is fun and interesting. Anyone who enjoyed any of Stephenson's other books would enjoy this series as well (permitting you like history), and I doubt you would be disappointed. His sheer grasp of what he writes about, whether in sci-fi, WWII or in 17th century Europe, is enough to captivate and catch a hold of your interest.
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