Rating: 
Summary: Go in with Different Expectations
Review: I guess I'm one of the few who actually enjoyed this book, and I think I know why. When I first heard that this was going to be the first part of a trilogy called The Baroque Cycle, and was goint to be set in the late 1600's (mostly), I immediately knew that this was not going to be another Cryptonomicon. I decided in advance that this was probably going to be a ponderous, lengthy, overwrought book that was going to take patience to read, as it was probably going to be little more than set-up for the next two books in the series. I also know that Stephenson has never been able to satisfactorily end his books, so I wasn't expecting any change there.Coming into the book with this mindset allowed me to rather enjoy it. Had I been expecting a Cryptonomicon II, like so many other reviewers were, I would have been sorely disappointed. So, open your mind, change your outlook, and enjoy...
Rating:
Summary: Massive epic = massive entertainment
Review: Neal Stephenson is a man who enjoys surprising people. With his novel Snow Crash, the American author became a science fiction darling, earning awards and comparisons to cyberpunk giants such as Bruce Sterling and Canada's own William Gibson. Later, in his boisterous and brilliant Cryptonomicon, Stephenson took an abrupt turn, writing an enormous, paranoid, and hysterical ode to modern cryptography, meriting allusions to post-modern contemporaries Thomas Pynchon and Don DeLillo. Now, in Quicksilver, he departs for Umberto Eco country, crossing to the turbulent seventeenth century to detail events that threw the entire world upside-down. Combining historical figures with riotous imagination, delivering a magnum opus as detailed and complex as anything he's written, Stephenson has his gaze set on nothing less than the enlightenment of humanity. Stephenson sets out his purpose with finesse, placing fearless thinker and Natural Philosopher Daniel Waterhouse against those who believe that "men had made a reasonably trouble-free move from the Garden of Eden to the Athens of Plato and Aristotle, stopping over in the Holy Land to encrypt the secrets of the Universe in the pages of the Bible, and that everything had been slowly, relentlessly falling apart ever since." Waterhouse has a prime seat for the reconstruction of the world, observing Isaac Newton re-imagine the mind of God, serving as courtier to kings, and being present at the birth of calculus, political revolution, and philosophical conundrums too numerous to list. To offset this plot, Stephenson throws in the picaresque adventures of Half-Cocked Jack Shaftoe, King of the Vagabonds, desperately trying to make a fortune in a too-rapidly altering economy while slowly succumbing to Pox. Stephenson does not lack for grandiose intentions. Originally set within Cryptonomicon, Quicksilver is but Volume One of the Baroque Cycle, a three-part epic to be fully released by the end of 2004. Not a page goes by without some thought-provoking idea leaping from the page, as his oversize characters debate anything and everything that crosses their paths. As revisionist historical epics go, this splendid novel finds itself somewhere between the genre-bending oddness of Pynchon's Mason & Dixon and John Griesemer's more traditional yet equally fine recent novel Signal & Noise. Stephenson has both a historian's compulsion for facts and a poet's eye, combining his skills to create a living, breathing Europe on the cusp of change. Yet his strength as fact-finder is also the novel's greatest weakness. It is a mammoth novel, consisting of scores of characters and events, and keeping all the connivances straight requires considerable effort. For something titled Quicksilver, the narrative can flow like chilled molasses. As well, missing is the offbeat humour of Cryptonomicon, as if the setting constrains him. There are lighter moments throughout, but only in the final third, as kings experience massive nosebleeds and Venetian gondoliers suffer from "canal rage," does his warped humour make a welcome return. Nevertheless, Stephenson has achieved something miraculous. He has penned a challenging, frustrating, intimidating historical tome that leaves the reader craving more. When the next volume, ominously titled The Confusion, comes out next year, it will have a formidable act to follow.
Rating:
Summary: Historical Fiction
Review: If your expecting another fast paced scifi from stephenson move along there's nothing here that will interest you. If on the other hand you like historical fiction and the atmosphere it conveys then this maybe the book for you. It most reminded me of An Instance Of a Fingerpost,the feeling you get from reading Arturo Pérez-Reverte,or maybe even some of Umberto Ecco's stuff.
Rating:
Summary: A long book
Review: It gets longer before it gets shorter, but by then it's all too short. Stephenson doesn't hit his stride until the final third. Ever the stickler for sometimes related detail, here he rates period music worthy of no exploration or reference. Come on Neal, geB. My other, lesser, complaint is that the notorious "infodumps" are --rather than being clearly and conveniently delineated as such-- clumsily integrated throughout the narrative.
eagerly awaiting the next installment,
Rating: 
Summary: No sir. Too many words.
Review: Plain and simple: Those reviewers giving this vehicle 4 or 5 stars have simply not read it. Whether they possess rapid fire reading skills like Harriett Klausner or if they read a chapter a week, the discriminating reader will reject it. And if not the discriminating reader than the sane reader. The dialogue is SO forced, the historical data the characters spout SO bizarre that reading it becomes painful. Bizarre? No different than if I were to walk along Pennsylvania Ave in DC and discuss with the person next to me the name of each and every office in the White House and every occupant of that office in the history of the White House. People just don't talk like that. Unless they are in a Stephenson novel. He has bragged to The Onion that he "...reads a lot of technical stuff but not a lot of fiction". It is clear that this is true, and the sad part is that it has a negative impact, to say the least, on a what could have been a terrific story.
Rating:
Summary: The Age of Reason Amidst the Absurd, Filthy, and Traitorous
Review: At 900+ pages, this book is not a quick read, and as it's supposed to be merely the first section of a trilogy, it may be more than many want to attempt. But... First, this book works very well as an historical novel, detailing not just all the court intrigues swirling around England, France and the Netherlands in the late 17th century, along with the associated historical characters of King Louis XIV, William of Orange, King Charles and James, Cromwell, Pepys, Jeffreys, etc., but also the incredible explosion of scientific research embodied in the persons of Newton, Hooke, Leibnitz, Wilkins, Huygens, Bernoulli, and multiple others. The depiction of the experiments performed by these men is not only educational, but takes trips over into the gross, the incredible, the fantastic, the grimly humorous, with Neal's patented brand of the sublimely ridiculous. How these things interweave with things like the Black Death of London in 1665 and the Great Fire one year later, the beginnings of modern day financial markets, the various and sundry religious factions and the important philosophical questions of the day (questions which still have great relevance today), is a tapestry that is built thread by thread by Neal. The characters that Neal dwells on may ring some bells with those who have read Cryptonomicon (and the Cryptonomicon figures as a work in progress within this book). Enoch Root makes several appearances here - perhaps the question might be if he is really the same person as in his earlier book? His major characters of Daniel Waterhouse, Jack Shaftoe, and Eliza are well drawn and engaging, though perhaps some of their actions are a little too much over-the-top to be totally believable. But be prepared for the incredibly large cast - so large that the provided list of personae in the rear of the book is not only useful, but almost mandatory to being able to keep everyone straight, especially as many people are referred to by multiple names and various titles. Also useful are the (simplified) family trees of the major royal lines, helping to place in perspective the various relationships between these people (near incestuous, in some cases). Neal takes some trips into literary lands he has not previously dwelt in - from satirical plays to poems and songs, some of which work, some of which come off as a little flat. His depictions of the hygiene and medical 'science' of the day may be off-putting to some, being gross in the extreme. There are places where his descriptions of the everyday, such as the latest high fashions in clothing, are absolutely hilarious - satire that shows by contrast just how silly some things humans engage in are, not just then but also today. London and its surrounding area is vividly described, to the point where I felt I was walking down those streets, seeing and smelling it as it really was. At the same time, I felt that Versailles was not given proper attention, a lack of detailed description of one of the most impressive palaces ever built. The plot rambles - but how could it not, with the canvas being everything happening over a space of fifty years in one of the most turbulent eras ever? My only real objection to this book is that it's obviously only a part of the story - many plot threads are not finished, probably to be picked up again in the later two books. This is not a book for everyone. But for those who have interests in both history and science, this book is a marvelous trip to a time that did much to shape the world of today. I just hope that the succeeding novels live up to the promise of this one. --- Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)
Rating:
Summary: An Odd Trip through Reason
Review: This is not a book for everybody. I'd recommend it heartily to those with a heavy scientific bent, but in general this is not Stevenson's best work. For those that are modern scientists, especially those that have some interest in history, this book is fun, although not the same type of hyper-cool work that made Snow Crash and Diamond Age so amazing. This is simply a fun, odd, disjoint book with some interesting views on the world. I enjoyed it, and will read the rest of the series, but I sincerely hope that Mr. Stevenson drops the "mature author" act and goes back to the ultra-cool fiction from his earlier work.
Rating: 
Summary: Breathtaking and Fun!
Review: First was "Snow Crash". Set, at the time of publication, in the very near future. Next was "The Diamond Age", which jumped ahead a century or so. (How many others think YT, from "Snow Crash" has a cameo in the second book. Then came "Cryptonomicon" which told of two families and the intertwning of their lives during World War II and the present day. Cryptonomicon was fascinating, and ultimately told the story of how the world depicted in "Snow Crash" came into being. Now we have "Quicksilver" which delves even further into the past to give some perspective on ancestors of the main families in "Cryptonomicon". It is a narrative of how we got to where we are today in the sense of technology. It is fun to read. No plot? Shame, shame on all of you who have written the phrase "no plot" for the plot is there, just fine. It is a narrative taking place over a long period of history in which the present day world was shaped. I am reminded of Heinlein's achievement of future history and how he brought his stories into line with each other. What is breathtaking is the scope of the work. I decided not to read any reviews of this book until I had completed it. Now I have read all 50 reviews and feel compelled to add my own. Why so many negative reviews? Many reasons, most of those reviews, I imagine, are from people who want plot heavy, action oriented tales. But not all of them. Let's face it, no writer is going to please everyone, and that is the case here. If you don't like it fine. I loved it. The writing style is suited to the period depicted. The story is wonderful, especially Daniel Waterhouse's early attempt at setting up a college in America and his present past time as the story opens. Reminded me of "The Difference Engine". This is a long tale, which is only one third finished, but I cannot wait for the other volumes to appear. One last thing, I have been critical of Stephenson's endings in the past, but recently read an interview where he explained his endings as being the way he likes them. Perhaps with that bit of knowledge in hand it is possible that Stephenson does not like denouements and a tidy wrapping up of all the character's lives at the end of a book. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves long, engaging reads where you are immersed in the world created by the author.
Rating:
Summary: More speculative history from Neal....
Review: Several of the reviewers have pointed out the supposed departure of Mr. Stephenson from his previously published genre. Having invested the time to burn through all of his increasingly heavier tomes, I would have to say - "Depends on your intepretation". David Brin advocates renaming true science fiction (as opposed to the science fantasy portion of the genre) as speculative history, into which this work falls squarely as sort of speculative science history. Only Snow Crash is neither baroque-feeling and futurist (in fact, it is more nearly a work of absurdist humour). The Diamond Age - which I name among my all-time favourites is a work of alternate future history - with a heavy 19th century influence. Cryptonomicon & Zodiac have very little futurist about them, the former exploring the work of prominent historical contributors to the field of cryptography. So I say to those reviewers, this is the same sort of work - wherein I unexpectedly learned about the emergence of science in our culture. So I guess it is obvious that I am still a fan of Mr. Stephenson. I say all this with the confession that nearly my entire collection is the work of futurists, and maybe my advancing years have softened my opinion on creations that exist outside of this narrow genre. John Bucknell, Age 32
Rating:
Summary: This Book Will Obsess You
Review: Officials across the United States are expressing serious concern about a new "designer" drug which has hit the streets across the nation. Unfortunately, this new drug, known as "QuickSilver" or "Baroque" is neither regulated nor even recognized by the FDA. Reluctant addicts describe the drug as "a mission begging for my commitment" or "it's not too big for me, I can take it." Symptoms of addiction include long periods of somnolent silence and contemplation, interrupted only by serious lifestyle needs such as sleeping, working, or eating. Usage of the drug in the lavatory is common, and sometimes it's major venue. During a typical "session" (typically begun just before going to bed, or, in bed), the addict quickly finds their world transformed into a medieval world of stultifying detail. The user valiantly continues on, sure that there is something of interest, somewhere. Instead, the session quickly resembles a computer game where "you are in a maze of self-indulgent passages, all alike". Shortly afterwards, the addict gives up, and puts the drug aside. For that session. In roughly 24 hours, it begins again. One of the most puzzling aspects of the drug is the drive of it's users to finish it, as if "running out", or "finishing all of it" was a goal. Officials suspect this is an insidious experimental additive to encourage future sales, but it seems self defeating since the user would only have to buy more QuickSilver for at least the next 5 years, something officials admit only the stupidest addict would resort too. FDA scientists have analyzed the molecular structure of the drug, and determined that it's actually part of a family of drugs which have been evolving since the '90s. The first version, Snowcrash, actually had no detrimental affects, but led it's users to a significant expansion of their thought processes. Indeed, some readers went on to found companies after taking the drug. Repeated use had no detrimental affect, and new users are still appearing. Later evolutions included Diamond, and Cryptonomicon. Each was similar to Snowcrash, but the latter was already showing the detrimental effects of QuickSilver. Indeed, in a thinly veiled ploy to work through stockpiled product, induces repeated visions of Cryptonomicon, encouraging the user to supplant their addiction with the older drug. Our own sleuthing has traced these drugs back to a single lab, known in the underground parlance as "Stephenson", "Neal", or even just "Steph's". This shadowy character is apparently a native of Maryland, and our investigators have captured photos here, and here. Officials are at loss as to what to do. Addicts really want to believe QuickSilver will be as good as Snowcrash or Diamond, but have yet to find it's substance. The biggest fear is that many of them will die of old age before finding out the truth, or just toss their dose out, and live forever not ever knowing if they should have finished it. As a Public Service, we warn you. You will find this new drug being pushed at bookstores across the nation, and even on the web. We'd like to tell you more, but we're too addicted ourselves to take the time to do so. Don't buy this drug. But, if you do, please tell us what happens. Published at American Digest
Alert First Published at Michael's Web
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