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Summary: An absorbing futuristic thriller with a lot to say
Review: An absorbing and witty futuristic thriller, "The Diamond Age" casts a unique light on class structure. John Hackworth is a brilliant nanoengineer whose masterwork, a hypertext called "A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer," falls into the hands of Nell, a resourceful young girl who finds her life forever changed. Stephenson conjures up a fascinating cast of characters, giving readers an intimate portrait of a world living on the razor's edge of tomorrow's technology. "The Diamond Age" is a kaleidoscopic, visionary work of steadily escalating strangeness.
Rating: 
Summary: The Diamond Age
Review: I have to admit that I am surprised by the reviews I have been reading. The Diamond Age is not just another cyberpunk book. It is not just about Nell's growth and developement through her primer, but about the basis a person needs for self-cultivation. We should look at the book as our own primer, teaching us lessons through the multiple storylines, all of which deal with moral decisions and test the characters' judgement. The ending may be abrupt, but consider the fact that it leaves you with questions about what reality is, what humans are, and what the future of society will be. Maybe it was abrupt for the purpose of letting you decide what YOUR ending is. It disturbs me that readers have become trained to look for satisfying endings that leave no room for thought.
Rating:
Summary: Good book, but some flaws
Review: I've just finished reading the previous 178 reviews, and have to agree with the main themes: 1) The ending is abrupt and leaves major storylines unresolved. 2) The book is not light reading. It reminds me of the old Far Side cartoons which were hilarious to some but incomprehensible to others. 3) The peek at a possible future is excellent, especially the use of nanotechnology. Most of the reviews speak of the "Young Lady's Illustrated Primer" as a book that teaches a girl how to survive on the streets and to be an independent thinker. What they don't mention, and what I think is vital, is that one of the main themes in the design of the book was "subversion". The book was meant to guide a young girl on her path to becoming a free-thinking and subversive woman. Such a person would inevitably become a force, either positive or negative, in the book's rigid society. Having read 3 of Mr. Stephenson's books (Cryptonomicon, Snow Crash, and Diamond Age), I must agree that each one has a somewhat abrupt ending -- although Diamond Age seems to be the worst. In general, Mr. Stephenson tends to leave storylines open and let the reader's imagination take over. While this is a valid literary style, it quickly gets annoying. While Diamond Age may not have been a straight cyberpunk novel, the environment is certainly similar to what you see in William Gibson's Neuromancer. In essence, future society has broken down into "tribes" with a significant barrier dividing the upper and lower classes. The story contains quite a bit of the Oriental class (caste?) system that you see in cyberpunk, and it also adds a Victorian class system that isn't much different. I noticed that a significant number of reviewers were upset because Diamond Age wasn't as "good" as Snow Crash. I agree. This book is NOT another Snow Crash, nor is it a Cryptonomicon, and I enjoyed both of those books more than I enjoyed this one. That is not, however, a reason to give the book a bad review. In general, I enjoyed this book but did not keep it after I finished reading it.
Rating:
Summary: Diamond Age-Worthwhile read
Review: If you're looking for a quick read, Stephenson is not the author for you. He writes incredibly dense, complicated books with lots of characters and plotlines that weave back and forth and by the end of the book, generally end up related. That being said, if you're willing to spend some time with a book, then this is the book for you. It reads much like a science fiction fairy-tale and presents a surpisingly believable and interesting future world. The story focuses, as much as anything by Stephenson has a focus, on the quest of a little girl and the events that happen to her over many years. Saying more about the plot becomes much too complicated, but suffice to say that this is an amazing read. This book gets 4 out of 5 stars because at the end of the book, I was unsure how to feel about the outcome or exactly what the outcome was. I wasn't exactly annoyed by this because the rest of the book was so entertaining and the ending allows one to consider everything they have read and possibly read the book again. It's an amazing read and recommended to even the most casual science fiction reader.
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Summary: Wonderful and Amazing
Review: This book was the most inventive and entertaining work on an alternative future that I have come across. I have been reading this genre for the last fifteen years and read the Diamond Age after recommendation from a friend. The detail that Stephenson uses in both medical and technical subjects is awe-inspiring, rivaled only by "the Hunt for Red October". Every sci-fi fan should read this book!
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Summary: Stephenson Will Draw You In
Review: This novel is one of the most outstandingly original works of science fiction that I have had the good fortune to read. Stephenson's futurescape, while not entirely believable (what Sci Fi future can make that claim, anyway?) is fresh and richly described. Most enjoyable about this book is Stephenson's stark contrast of his setting - a completely technologically dependent future - with the predominant cultures he presents. His depiction of the struggles and compromises between this future and the antiquated Victorian (newly revived) and Mandarin (staunchly preserved) cultures is, to my mind, the highlight of the book. Like many of the other reviewers, my interest in Science Fiction was revived by The Diamond Age. The strains of fantasy in the form of the Young Lady's Illustrated Primer as well as the characteristic feature technology (nanotech) appealed to my Inner Geek while the sociological and philosophical aspects spoke to the Intellectual Adult Reader in me. The Diamond Age is highly engaging thought-fuel. I recommend it to anyone who loves or once loved Science Fiction.
Rating:
Summary: Remarkable
Review: Neal Stephenson has created a remarkable vision of the future. It would be enough to read about how nanotechnology changes the way people live in the Diamond Age, and probably more than one could ask for to have a fully realized, bravura description of the remarkable society in this tale of the distant future. But the truly remarkable part of this novel is the character of Nell, the destitute young girl who obtains a copy of the "Young Lady's Illustrated Primer." We are able to watch Nell as she acquires knowledge, strength and wisdom. And we root for her every step of the way. I take away one star because I found the end of the novel disappointing (maybe I just didn't want it to be over). The politics get a bit complex, and the ending comes quite abruptly. That said, I was absolutely lost in "The Diamond Age." I stole every available minute to read as much as I could. It is a lyrical, transcendent novel that I would recommend to anyone.
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Summary: Difficult but Charming Tale of a little Girl
Review: The Diamond Age by Neil Stephenson is a story about a young girl named Nell who gets a magic book that her older brother stole for her. Through this book, Nell gets an education completely different from what is offered in the futuristic society of Shanghai. It teaches her the alphabet, self defense, and even how to escape from her mother's abusive boyfriends. It consoles her through her losses, it teaches her critical thinking skills, and overall shapes her into a unique and beautiful person. Throughout it all, the reader gets an interesting glimpse of what the future could hold. Biological warfare is no longer a threat here. A major key to understanding the plot of the book is understanding the importance of a single atom, also known as nanotechnology. Through these particles, scientists and doctors send critical information that is used to kill, injure, torture, or even protect people by injecting these particles into their bloodstream. This is part of the way the different social phyles fight each other. The nanotechnology is also used to create objects. At one point in the story, Nell and her brother Harv are cold so they go to the M.C., the matter compiler, to make a blanket. This device makes originality very rare here, and some people pay exceptional amounts of money for it. The book, overall, is good, but does have a bit of a drawn out ending. I would recommend this book to the serious reader who enjoys technology and interesting advancements in it.
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Summary: 21st century sociology and political science textbook
Review: The Diamond Age is a 21st century sociology and political science textbook in novel form. As its subtitle, "A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer" suggests, it contains a sub-narrative that introduces metaphors and isomorphisms for everything that young children need to understand to survive the predatory 21st century and its powerful cliques, intrusive nanotechnology, and overall lack of concern for anything that you or I might call safety or certainty. These sub-narratives, well worth the price of the book by themselves, induce the etiquette of "proper" behavior in a child effectively abandoned by her parents, teaching her all the fundamentals of human relationships, mathematics of secrecy and cryptography, social and political limits of certainty, etc.. By the time she reaches puberty she is pretty much mature as we would understand that term today. The technology and struggles for political control of it are basically just a backdrop to the real story, which is how a child might grow up with "outsourced" parenting via the 'net, and how a parent might get caught up in forces well beyond human understanding just for being a parent. Although some find the scenario terrifying, I find it convincing and almost journalistic. Often, single paragraphs tell a whole story in themselves, e.g. the "Reformed Distributed Republic" of individuals whose only association is committing to a common web of trust - along the lines of Heinlein's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" and the computer Mycroft - tested from time to time by putting their lives on the line to express trust in each other in tightly-timed tests. I found this one model very compelling and it is only one of dozens and dozens more that pop up in the book. Finally, the central contrast in views between the Confucian Dr. X, Judge Fang and the Western and compromised-Chinese society they live in, is eye-opening about how the Confucian ethics work. It opened me up to Confucius in a way that no other work had done. This book is to the 21st century what 20,000 Leagues Beneath the Sea was to the 20th. Some details will be wrong, but the whole vision will be vindicated as more or less where we go. Like it or not.
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Summary: If you're looking for another Snow Crash, this may not be it
Review: I saw Neal Stepheson on ZDTV talking about his newest book. Then I went to look at reviews of his books. Snow Crash looked interesting, so I purchased it. I read it in 2 weeks on my honeymoon. It was the best book I have ever read. Then, with enthusiasm I purchased Diamond Age. I started reading it and the first chapter I felt back in the atmosphere of Snow Crash. The next chapters following that faded quickly and I was disapointed. If I had read this first, I would have liked it much better, but I was spoiled. It was a good book, but far from a second Snow Crash.
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