Neal StephensonQuicksilver: Book One of The Baroque Cycle

Too lengthy, meandering, heavy style, could not go beyond 50 pages, could not return as the return date had passed.

I received an used.. old book. Very disappointing ☹️

The novel is divided into 3 "books". The first book has some interesting ideas, set mostly in the world of English 17th century science. Famous characters, Newton, Hooke, Wren, Pepys, etc. are brought to life, as is London both before and after the Great Fire of 1666. Well known anecdotes about Newton et. al. are woven into the text and if one can suspend one's disbelief a bit, one can imagine it was like this. There are repeated flashes forwards in time, for no apparent reason. Book 2 is a disaster. It introduces invented characters, Jack Shaftoe, an unscrupulous lower class character and Eliza, a young English woman who Jack rescues from a harem at the siege of Vienna. Eliza has what are frankly incredible powers. Using just a needle and thread and some stolen silk, she makes for herself a fashionable dress. How? I happen to know people who make historical costumes. What did she make the corset from? What about the panniers and trimmings? Where did she learn this skill? She then passes herself off in France as a member of the aristocracy. How? At the same time she so amazes: Christiaan Huygens that he uses her as his assistant; Leibniz that he uses her as a correspondent and spy; William of Orange who also uses her as an agent. Of course she also has terrific sex appeal and has somehow learnt to be an expert ice skater and accomplished horsewoman. Jack doesn't have these amazing powers, but is somehow on familiar terms with aristocrat John Churchill, who in reality wouldn't have looked at him. Eliza and Jack roam around in Europe exchanging one liners in the style of modern American humour. This book 2 is so dire that I ended up turning over page after page unread without missing any real story. Book 3 is a mediocre continuation of books 1 & 2.I certainly won't be reading the next volume of the series!

I started Neal Stephenson's work by reading Seveneaves and was blown away by it. I then decided to read the other books in approximately release order - Zodiac was interesting but not great, Snowcrash was odd enough to hold my attention and Cryptonomicon was complicated but very good.Quicksilver, however, is far too long. Too many characters being referred to by multiple different names makes it very hard to keep track of what's actually going on, pages of waffle which don't seem to go anywhere (I must admit to skimming a few pages in the final third) and an abrupt ending designed to make you want to buy the next in the series (don't think I'll be doing that).The final section, the 'Dramatis Personae', is a sort of who's who and confirms that the character names were indeed overly complicated and stretches over 17 pages. So maybe I wasn't being slow!

I struggled with this and have currently put it down having read only about a quarter of it and I'm not sure I am going to pick it up again. Perhaps I should persevere but I can't see where this is going, its all a bit tedious with long descriptions of what life might of been like in the period it is set.

I loved Anathema and was delighted to see there was a sizeable series to get my teeth into. I was disappointed. I couldn't see what the connection between some of the aspects was meant to be, and the lengthy establishment of the character Enoch at the beginning came to nothing. The story picked up pace a bit when Eliza appeared, but again it seem disconnected to the whole. I didn't spot the promised comedic moments. I was left with the impression that I'd read a lot of writing, some of which was very good, but not a book.

I originally tried to read this book when it was first published, and failed. I recently purchased it on Kindle and have just completed all 3 volumes of the Baroque Cycle ... and loved it. An astounding story with a scope stretching around the world and covering more than half a century during a time of huge change - economically, scientifically and politically. You probably already know of many of the characters, but NS weaves them in a fantastic story told in many different styles. In part, it reminds me of Life and TImes of Tristram Shandy, while other parts are picaresque and some sections are epistolaric, and may others in between. There are parts which remind me of the epic novels of John Barth, particularly where one of the main characters, Jack Shaftoe, features in stories being related with in the main narrative. The Baroque Cylce is a huge achievement, particularly since it is a fantastic and fun read.