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The System of the World The Baroque Cycle Vol 3 Neal Stephenson 9780060750862 Books

Download As PDF : The System of the World The Baroque Cycle Vol 3 Neal Stephenson 9780060750862 Books

The System of the World The Baroque Cycle Vol 3 Neal Stephenson 9780060750862 Books

The Baroque Cycle is Neal Stephenson's latest fiction undertaking. Like his other books, it is set in a complex world. However, unlike his other novels, this three-volume set has a historical setting, and is reminiscent of Russian novels with its many characters and intricate plot. Three major stories intertwine, along with other episodes, through the three volumes, often intermixing in the most surprising ways. It has bits of humor, and many references to science and mathematics, as well as other arcana. Fans of Umberto Eco would enjoy this series.

Reading all three volumes took me four months. To say that I feel relieved would be an understatement. I feel like I just accomplished something huge. On the other hand, I might have put the same amount of time and effort into reading a REAL classic and been better for it. Neal Stephenson's writing can be very intellectually challenging, and at times, I wondered if I was up to the task.

The final volume, The System of the World, opens with Daniel Waterhouse arriving in London. London is chaotic, with disagreements about the king's line of succession and mysterious explosions that seem to follow Daniel around. With new and old acquaintances, he forms a "clubb" to investigate the explosions. Meanwhile, strange things are afoot at the mint and Sir Isaac Newton is intent on finding the villain. Eliza also appears in this book as a supporting character, arriving in London to assist Princess Caroline in claiming her rightful throne. Jack, too, has come to London with his own secret mission, and of course, his lifelong love for Eliza still intact.

This volume falls somewhere between Quicksilver and the Confusion in entertainment value. While Quicksilver is definitely the quickest read, this volume has its sections. The story is easier to follow than the Confusion, or perhaps I had finally gotten the hang of remembering the minutiae.

One notable thing about this volume is that it has a terrific denouement, which ties up all the loose ends from the entire series and leaves the reader with a warm feeling. In the past, Stephenson has been criticized for his endings, some ending too quickly, others having a feeling of Deus Ex Machina. Not so here - the story wraps up in a timely fashion and leaves no one's story untold.


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The System of the World The Baroque Cycle Vol 3 Neal Stephenson 9780060750862 Books Reviews

It took me forever to finish this series, but man, I'm glad I finally did. I bought the first book when it came out as a hardcover edition. I read about 40 pages and got wrapped up in other things and never finished it. Fast forward some 15 years and I reread Cryptonomicon and just needed more Neal Stephenson in my life. It took quite a while to read all of this series - it's a good 3000 pages and not for the faint at heart. But the reward ended up being worth it.

The first two books were a great back story. System of the World picks up the story in the present (as "present" as 1714 is). Many things have changed, but many have stayed the same. Seeing the relationships that were built in the last 2000 pages come to a peak was satisfying. I will not debate that there were some end stories that were just a little too convenient, nor will I argue that there were some standard Stephenson "Wha...?" moments, but the story ends well and has enough twists and turns that I had no clue where it was going to go. In fact, I thought things more or less wrapped up about 60% in and wondered if the remaining 40% was an index or something. So go through all 3000 pages. It was worth the time and money.
Hi friends, it’s easy to think of the author has a science-fiction writer but this book is not science fiction. It is historical fiction so densely laden with references facts, details trivia et cetera that’s to be nothing short of astonishing. This is my second reading of the full baroque cycle and I enjoyed it more this time around. It’s staggers the imagination to consider what learning the author must have absorbed in order to pack virtually every page with some fascinating bit of information while carrying through an amazing story, based on the facts of the time. It certainly ranks as one of the top five books I have ever read and I’ve read a ton of stuff. Buy it, read it, read it again you won’t be disappointed.
This is volume lll of the Baroque series. It could stand alone, but you would understand the characters better if you read Quicksilver The Baroque Cycle #1 and The Confusion Volume Two of The Baroque Cycle first. This is one of those series that increases the price with each volume, so as of May 2017) vol.1 costs 4.99 for , then vol. 2 is 5.99 and vol. 3 is 8.99.

I found the whole series fantastically good. I had read Cryptonomicon already, recommended to me by my daughter, and these books are really prequels (though much better than some prequels you may be familiar with from movies) but don't need to be read before Cryptonomicon. That said, now that I've finished the Baroque Cycle I am reading Cryptonomicon. again, with a different understanding of the characters who are descendants of some characters from the Baroque Cycle.

Most of the characters are well developed and deep, and all with different backgrounds and abilities. They change through the books as years go by, and like flesh & blood they do occasionally rise to (or fall to) occasions as they occur. It is a little jarring when a character is off to someplace and changes while they are gone, but that happens to us too with people we knew and meet again later in life.

The historic time frame is well researched and written, even some details that seemed jarring I found were true once I had done some research. There is an interesting mix of real historical figures and completely fictional characters. Some characters are involved with real historical events, like the Great Plague of London, followed by the Great Fire., and battles around Europe. The locations of the action changes to include much of the world.
The Baroque Cycle is Neal Stephenson's latest fiction undertaking. Like his other books, it is set in a complex world. However, unlike his other novels, this three-volume set has a historical setting, and is reminiscent of Russian novels with its many characters and intricate plot. Three major stories intertwine, along with other episodes, through the three volumes, often intermixing in the most surprising ways. It has bits of humor, and many references to science and mathematics, as well as other arcana. Fans of Umberto Eco would enjoy this series.

Reading all three volumes took me four months. To say that I feel relieved would be an understatement. I feel like I just accomplished something huge. On the other hand, I might have put the same amount of time and effort into reading a REAL classic and been better for it. Neal Stephenson's writing can be very intellectually challenging, and at times, I wondered if I was up to the task.

The final volume, The System of the World, opens with Daniel Waterhouse arriving in London. London is chaotic, with disagreements about the king's line of succession and mysterious explosions that seem to follow Daniel around. With new and old acquaintances, he forms a "clubb" to investigate the explosions. Meanwhile, strange things are afoot at the mint and Sir Isaac Newton is intent on finding the villain. Eliza also appears in this book as a supporting character, arriving in London to assist Princess Caroline in claiming her rightful throne. Jack, too, has come to London with his own secret mission, and of course, his lifelong love for Eliza still intact.

This volume falls somewhere between Quicksilver and the Confusion in entertainment value. While Quicksilver is definitely the quickest read, this volume has its sections. The story is easier to follow than the Confusion, or perhaps I had finally gotten the hang of remembering the minutiae.

One notable thing about this volume is that it has a terrific denouement, which ties up all the loose ends from the entire series and leaves the reader with a warm feeling. In the past, Stephenson has been criticized for his endings, some ending too quickly, others having a feeling of Deus Ex Machina. Not so here - the story wraps up in a timely fashion and leaves no one's story untold.