Rating: 
Summary: Good BUT was expecting much better
Review: Reading Crypto first is an excellent idea because the work Cryptonomicon is actually written in the 17th century, AND one of the characters (one Enoch Root) is a character in the 1670's (?!). Also, ancestors of other Crypto charcters are featured (Shaftoe and Randy eg).I particularly liked his depiction of Samuel Pepys, of whom I know a bit. I also question some historical yet minor details (wasn't Cromwell's head NOT buried in the 17th century but was brought down from its pole in 1820 - but I digress). All that being said, the description of Versailles during the reign of the Sun King (Louis XIV) fell far short of its potential. Also, having read much about the great fire of London 1666 and the plague a year before, I felt a better job could have been done - DeFoe's account of the Plague Year is much better. Stevenson seems to have spent a great deal of energy un-reeling the minutia of the arcane religious factions in Restoration England, and frankly, who cares? What's cool in that time frame was The Fire, The Plague, The Restoration, The Wars and The Royal Society. Stevenson does cover the latter two well. His accounts of Issac Newton and Leibnitz as geeks (whom one would recognize today) was brilliant. On balance a weak shadow of Cryptonomicon, but from any other author would be brilliant, from Stevenson, it's a disappointment!
Rating: 
Summary: fabulously complex
Review: Fantastic book, can't wait for the next two. Somewhat like Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow, in that you have to be patient and take your time in order to understand the charaters and their relationships. My advice is to put in the effort and enjoy the ride. Remember that the Lord of the Rings was a bit difficult at first for most people. give it a chance. Fabulous historical fiction.
Rating:
Summary: Marvelous, Great Literary Fiction
Review: First off, people should realize that this is not Cryptonomicon. It is much more epic than that, and quicksilver serves as a mere introduction to the other two volumes. Taking that into consideration this novel does its job admirably. It might be a bit slow moving at times, but this came as a relieve to me because I am not a history professor nor do I aspire to become one. The details dispelled within this novel are needed because otherwise the plot would become incomprehensible. It is a fun read though, neal stephenson tries to give us laymen a better idea of the scientific and political development of that era. While doing that he is able to mingle the affairs of the 3 main characters effortlessly with the lives of the real life personaes from that time period. Quicksilver is an excellent novel, its a novel about ideas and how our contemporary world has come to be thanks in part to the great minds from the baroque era.
Rating: 
Summary: More than a little Baroque
Review: I too was greatly anticipating Stephenson's newest work, only to find myself disappointed. I didn't find the book a difficult read, per se (admittedly, I'm on of those who love Umberto Eco), but simply found the prose overly dry, the characters not compelling, and the plot nonexistant. While admittedly a plot isn't necessary to a great book, it would help with the pacing of what looks to be a 3000 page work--particularly from an author who has a gift for complex plotting. In general I love reading history, although mostly nonfiction, but somehow the highly detailed and microscopically rendered descriptive text fell flat for me. I forced myself to finish it, only to wish I was one of those who can so easily toss aside a book they've invested hours in already. It seems to be an either/or proposition--love it or hate it--so I suggest a quick perusal of the text before you invest $30 in a book you may be less than thrilled with.
Rating:
Summary: Cryptonomicon Kids
Review: To begin with I must confess that I'm only about half way through this book, which is presently resting on my bedside table in all it's huge reproachfulness! Like many here I loved Cryptonomicon, and in consequence went back to read other Stephenson books. When I heard about Quicksilver it sounded very exciting and I immediately placed an order for a copy in advance.
Unfortunately, the result is that I've ambled through half of the book and am not sure if I'll continue. Reusing characters made famous in former novels is a tricky game, as Irvine welsh's "Trainspotting" to "Porno" progression illustrates. Reusing characters as they may have looked and sounded if they'd been born centuries before is even trickier, and apt to weary the reader. This is what has happened in this case. You know what the characters are like, and what their motivations generally are. As such you don't develop the same interest and affection for them as you did in Cryptonomicon. Also, Cryptonomicon had a plot, a damn good one. uicksilver has research, lots of it, and a wearyign amount of anachronisms, cameo "appearances" and wearying in-jokes.
Does this mean it's a badly-written book. Absolutely not. Stephenson is a very good writer. I jut feel that he let himself get weighed down by the background reading he obviously did. You can write historical novels that are of the era and yet heavy with life and perenially engaging characters. Rose Tremain is a great example. But there's a real nudge-nudge-wink-wink tone to Quicksilver that makes you feel as if the characters are only masquerading as seventeeth century folk. Maybe this stems from having come to know the central characters so well in the twentieth century in Cryptonomicon. Alan Turing was necessary to Cryptonomicon. Stephenson wore his learning lightly there and gave us a fine portrait of a very interesting man, and beautifully co-opted him to his tale. Leibniz comes out like a buffoon in Quicksilver. Interestingly, it's Stephenson's portrait of the enigmatic Newton that really enlivens the portion of the book I've read thusfar. As it stands I'm beginning to wish that Neal had decided to write a fictional life of Newton. On the evidence of this book I feel he could have done a wonderful job, and it would have been a far more interesting work. Perhaps John Banville will add to his Kepler and Copernicus work by doing so.
I'm hoping this book comes together, but numerous reviews here admit to dashed hopes in that respect. I'll be selling this hardcover, buying a hardcover of Cryptonomicon, and borrowing the rest of this series from friends.
A pity, but this publishing event has turned out to be rather damp squib!
Rating: 
Summary: Glad I read the reviews before wasting time...
Review: I'm partway through this book and am already so disappointed and frustrated that I decided to check the reviews online to see if it was worth persevering. There are a lot of bad reviews so I'm guessing it's not just me. I'm a big fan of all Stephensons other books but this is very tedious. You know the feeling when you are watching a great movie when you are engrossed in the story as opposed to when you very aware of the acting and are dissecting it rather than been fully engaged...this book feels like a bad movie. You keep hoping it will improve but the author tries too hard to be clever and the references to Cryptonomicon all the time are like having pop-up ads appear every few minutes. Put down the keyboard, take up a backpack and try to get back down to earth Neal. I think fame has taken it's toll.
Rating: 
Summary: A glorious kitchen sink of a book
Review: I am puzzled by some of the previous reviewers' comments about this book, in particular the ongoing complaints about the lack of interesting or believable characters and the lack of plot and action. What can I say but that I found the characters fascinating and that the action was everything that the reader who is *not* looking for a Mickey Spillane shoot-em-up could want. Perhaps the problem is that the scope of the book is too broad, in that it encompasses history, genealogy, the beginnings of the scientific method, cryptology, mystery, science fiction, the beginnings of banking and stock exchanges and more, and the elements that appeal to one group of readers don't necessarily appeal to others. This book demands (and repays) slow reading and thinking, and it is by no means amenable to quick skimming. The vocabulary is well beyond that found in most novels, with some terms ('sizar', for example) requiring a quick trip to the dictionary but is not beyond the grasp of most adults. The plot includes battles with pirates, the battle at the siege of Vienna, the English Civil War, the Glorious Revolution, slavery, witch burnings and burning by witches, espionage, secret ciphers and myriad other plot elements. But these elements are used to show the characters and the changes they undergo The background, the early eighteenth- and late seventeenth century, is well explained and the details about the participants in the formation of the Royal Society puts flesh and blood on the bones of history. The dialogue is (thankfully) a modern rendering of seventeenth century speech and is closer to Jane Austen than to Shakespeare. The portrayal of the attitudes and actions of the nobility may be distressing to those readers who still believe in Sir Walter Scott's romance novels of the days of chivalry but is no surprise to any who have read even a modicum of non-fiction about the middle ages and early modern times. And where is the science fiction? Enoch Root, a major character in Cryptonomicon, appears again at the beginning of Quicksilver in 1713 and at various times other times in the latter stages of the book (though earlier in time). Unlike the other characters who appear to be ancestors of the characters in Cryptonomicon, Enoch Root appears to be the same enigmatic man in the seventeenth and twentieth century. I eagerly await finding out more in the next volumes about Root and the Societas Eruditorum.
Rating:
Summary: Neal Just Gets Better & Better
Review: The name may be Quicksilver but the read is hardly that. And I'm happy about it. This is a book that I simply could not put down. History, politics, science, philosophy and quite a bit of humour all find their way into Neal's current opus. He has chosen a time and place (actually several times & places) that today can be looked back on as watershed years for all the subjects he has chosen to cover. Does he ramble on? Yes. Does he provide too much detail on some aspects and not enough on others? Yes. But at no point are you not entertained and enlightened. And that to me is the key. Not only did I learn more about Newton, Hooke, Leibniz, Huygens and Pepys from Mr. Stephenson, I actually spent many hours researching these and other historical figures and historical events during and after my read. This book is not for everyone but there is something in it for NEARLY everyone. Neal's previous works such as Snow Crash, Zodiac and most obviously Cryptonomicon were mere lead off hitters for this grand slam. I truly cannot wait for the 2 follow ups that Neal has promised in 2004. I may just book a few days off immediately after their release so I can devote my full time to losing myself in their pages as I did with Quicksilver.
Rating:
Summary: A disappointment for a Stephenson fan
Review: I've long been a fan of Neal Stephenson's work - I've read all of his other books, and they are among my all-time favorites of the genre. But, alas, Quicksilver doesn't do it for me. I gave up after 100 pages. It's not the style - Neal has his usual verve and inventiveness - it's more the thought that the story doesn't end in this book, and that I'd have to read 3,000 pages of this stuff to get to the end of something that doesn't even feel like there's a plot. A real shame, that Neal succumbed to the quantity-over-quality syndrome. Could he be trying to copy the many fantasy authors who churn out chapter after boring chapter to increase their royalties? Neal, go back to what you know best - strong writing with powerful plots.
Rating:
Summary: What a Let-Down!
Review: I previously considered myself a HUGE Stephenson fan but after reading Quicksilver I'm not even sure I will read the next 2 installments. The length didn't bother me, because I kept expecting it to get better (it didn't). I simply could not get past the recycling of major Cryptonomicon characters in a slightly different setting. Why use the exact same character in the exact same way, all the way down to the exact SAME NAME? Everytime the Shaftoe character came up I was re-disapointed. I am starting to feel Snowcrash was a fluke.
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