Quicksilver (The Baroque Cycle, #1) in The Alternative Worlds

Jun 19, 2007 mark monday rated it liked it

Shelves: into-the-past, mnemonic-devices

it took me about a year to get through this one. somewhat worth it, and i will get around to the second and third books of this gargantuan trilogy eventually. i learned a lot about the philosopher-scientists and byzantine politics and what it actually was like to live in the tumultuous times depicted...and didn't learn a whole lot about the inner life of a couple of the central characters. but there are dozens and dozens of truly fascinating and wonderfully written passages depicting all sorts o ...more

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Sep 13, 2011 Terry rated it did not like it

Shelves: fantasy, historical-fiction

Neal Stephenson needs an editor.

Also, it may be cute and even kind of interesting to write an historical fantasy novel using idioms and vernacular from the 20th century on purpose, but it just doesn't work for me.

And yeah, ok we get it Neal, you're really clever and know a bunch of stuff...that doesn't mean you need to reference every bit of it you can stuff into the books you write.

It's kind of dissapointing because the ideas and possibilities of where this book could have been going were reall ...more

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Feb 07, 2010 Hirondelle (not getting notifications) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, historical-fiction, sf

Oh wow, this is indeed ambitious. And big. So big that after a few days fulltime reading and 900 pages I really think I can not judge it quite yet. It´s part of a whole.

The snark:
- Neal Stephenson remakes The Lord of the Rings! And the House of Niccolo.
- I would like to see an editor do an omnibus edition of the whole series! Wait a readable omnibus and see somebody able to read it and comfortably enough to read the whole thing. I got the lovely gorgeous american hardcover and had to pick up a p Oh wow, this is indeed ambitious. And big. So big that after a few days fulltime reading and 900 pages I really think I can not judge it quite yet. It´s part of a whole.

The snark:
- Neal Stephenson remakes The Lord of the Rings! And the House of Niccolo.
- I would like to see an editor do an omnibus edition of the whole series! Wait a readable omnibus and see somebody able to read it and comfortably enough to read the whole thing. I got the lovely gorgeous american hardcover and had to pick up a pillow to hold it on my lap.

The bad:
- It needed an editor. Badly. I am not talking about length, i am talking about things like an occasional reference "Mademoiselle de Maintenon" and entries on the character list followed by "David Kahn, The Codebreakers, which buy and read" ( a verb missing surely?). Since Dunnett was on my mind a lot, I thought ahah, maybe a clue, but sadly I think these and others are bugs, not features. Neal Stephenson is not Dorothy Dunnett. Fine for a few details, I think he *gets* how exciting and world changing science is much much better, but for historical accuracy and subtle plotting, she seems far ahead so far. we will see, by the end of this series.
- I am uncertain about how much internal consistency this is supposed to have. There are some peculiarities to Enoch Root, obvious from the start. But I am not sure when the author just departs from reality for the sake of rollicking picaresque plot, or some interesting connection to Cryptonomicon.
- the cyphers while hand-waved around were fine ( though, who on earth would write such long meandering letters using a code?!). When the author gives an example, it is so bad it makes me want to bash my head against the wall. Surely it could not be historical accurate? Not that he explains the important bit, of what makes a letter 0 or 1, but it does look lame a simple subtraction, makes it a dead easy caesar cypher and breakable by frequency analysis. Now if they subtracted it on binary, particularly 5-4 bits strings it would be much harder to break. I can not help thinking anything I can think of, Leibniz would surely have understood far deeper immediately. oops, sorry rant over.

The good :
- I love this sort of thing. The ambition, the scope, the characters.
- I am a geek, and Stephenson gets hard science.
- Stephenson can also be very very funny ( to the sensitivity of my own peculiar sense of humor).
- While being huge and long winded, it is interesting, funny and fast moving enough that it is a long read. Even if I need a pillow over my sternum to hold the damn brick. ...more

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Dec 12, 2008 Sandi marked it as couldn-t-finish

Shelves: cross-genre, sci-fi

I admit it. I have absolutely no desire to finish this book. I'm so very close to the end, but I stopped caring somewhere along the way. I really don't know what it is that keeps me from finishing it. Maybe it's because I only have about 120 pages left and I know that nothing's going to be resolved. Maybe it's because I've read 781 pages and have no idea what the heck is going on. Is there even a plot? Is this book about anything other than history? I can see why people do like it. In fact, I li ...more

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May 03, 2011 Daniel Roy rated it did not like it

Shelves: historical

It seems people who have read 'Quicksilver' have either loved it or hated it. I'm sorry to say, I belong to the second group.

Neal Stephenson originally became one of my favorite all-time authors for 'Snow Crash', for I felt his prose was quick, sharp, precise and very enjoyable. I remained a fan throughout 'Cryptonomicon', because although he was no longer quick, his drawn-out discussions on Things Geek remained fascinating.

I was looking forward to 'Quicksilver', but I'm afraid this book has ser ...more

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Jun 28, 2007 Wealhtheow rated it did not like it

Shelves: historical

"My research! Let me show you it!"

By which I mean, I wish Stephenson had taken the time to put some plot or characterization in there with all this info dumps. ...more

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Aug 14, 2010 Taueret rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: have, speculative-fiction, sci-fi, favorites

Loved ,loved loved this audiobook. I enjoyed Quicksilver in dead tree, but Loved this new adaptation. It's the first half of the edition I have-cant wait till next month so I can grab it. Did I mention that I loved it? ...more

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