An interesting jump from the first book in the cycle, exploring the lives of lower classes. The author does a good job of integrating historical figures, and putting poor Jack in all sorts of humorous situations. As usual for this series, it meanders its way around a bit, which may put some off. Despite this, the characters are strong, interesting and involved in a world that has numerous complex intrigues. My main gripe is rather pedantic - the author must have used the word diverse about a million times. This becomes more obvious in the audiobook, and seems to happen throughout the series.

A ver si voy cogiendo ritmo y me pongo al día de las reseñas de los libros que he leído.

Este volumen es la continuación del libro que comenté anteriormente y que como su propio nombre indica, está dedicado al "rey de los vagabundos" Jack Shaftoe, miembro de una de las sagas familiares claves de Neal Stephenson junto a la familia Waterhouse.

A pesar de que me ha parecido muy entretenido, creo que en su mayor parte es relleno de la historia principal y que sirve de introducción al personaje clave del tercer volumen de este libro, la odalisca. La historia está mucho más centrada en la política que en la ciencia, y eso en parte puede ser su virtud o su defecto, según el gusto del lector. El libro está bastante bien, pero creo que se queda un poco por debajo del primer y tercer volumen de este ciclo.
Reseña en BEM on Line
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ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.

King of the Vagabonds is the second installment of Neal Stephenson’s ambitious and epic Baroque Cycle. I was disappointed with Quicksilver, the first book, because, though it was a thorough and realistic historical fiction, it had neither a compelling main character nor a cohesive plot. Thus, it felt like a textbook, except that I wasn’t sure which anecdotes about the real historical figures were factual and which were fictional. In other words, if we’re going to skip the plot, I’d rather read about 17th century scientific discoveries in a non-fictional account. After all, there are plenty of interesting ones.

King of the Vagabonds is, therefore, quite an improvement, mostly because it has two extremely entertaining main characters: Half-Cocked Jack Shaftoe (who is, literally, half-cocked) and Eliza, who Jack rescues from a Turkish harem. Both are lowborn, but they’re smart and ambitious (and Eliza is beautiful), so they find themselves involved in the goings-on of the upper class.

That’s because, of course, Neal Stephenson’s real purpose in The Baroque Cycle, is to give us a comprehensive and entertaining historical fiction about the great events going on in this time in history. In this, Stephenson certainly succeeds; his version of history is appropriately dirty (plenty of manure and maggots), scandalous, and funny (in that ironic way that the British have). The audiobook reader, Simon Prebble, adds another layer of authenticity with his perfect upper-crust, Cockney, French, and German accents.

Even though I liked King of the Vagabonds better than Quicksilver, I still have the same issue: I am being schooled, and the lessons, unlike the humor, are not subtle. Nearly every page contains information and/or explanations that are meant to teach me something. Even the dialogue is full of it. Here’s an example in which Eliza is ice skating at The Hague and talking to the French Ambassador to the Dutch Republic:

Ambassador: … that fellow has asserted that, since he cannot represent an uncrowned king, he must still be representing the late Charles II, who was crowned in 1651 after the Puritans chopped off the head of his father and predecessor. My King was crowned in 1654.

Eliza: But with all due respect to the Most Christian King, monsieur, doesn’t that mean that Charles II, if he still lived, would have three years’ seniority over him?

Ambassador: A rabble of Scots at Scone tossed a crown at Charles’s head, and then he came and lived here, begging for handouts from Dutchmen, until 1660 when the cheese-mongers paid him to leave. Practically speaking, his reign began when he sailed to Dover.

Englishman: If we are going to be practical, sir, let us consider that your King did not practically begin his reign until the death of Cardinal Mazarin on the ninth of March, 1661.

Who really talks that way? The whole book is like this, with frequent sections of explanation about mining, coin stamping, investments and speculation, importing and exporting, Satanic rituals, religious sects, etc, etc. Somehow, though they’re lowborn and uneducated, Jack and Eliza are like walking encyclopedias, constantly explaining things to each other for our benefit. (Eliza was educated in the Turkish harem, but I doubt that the nuances of each European financial system and stock market were part of her training. Or that she really could be discussing subtle political maneuvering with William of Orange and the Duke of Monmouth.)

However, this issue is maybe just mine. I don’t like it when an author’s purpose, even when it’s clearly stated, is so transparent behind the text of a novel. If this is not an issue for you, then you are likely to greatly enjoy King of the Vagabonds. Neal Stephenson has a great understanding of this time period, he relays it thoroughly in lovely language, the few action scenes are exciting, and the novel is gently humorous (and sometimes hilarious) throughout. If you’re an audiobook reader, you won’t want to miss Simon Prebble’s narration.

A romp through Europe during a period religious, political, and economic upheaval through the siege-walls around Vienna, the markets of Leipzig, the canals of Amsterdam, and the streets of Paris. I wouldn't rate this as highly as Quicksilver, but Stephenson certainly does a good job of surprising you at points when you least expect it.

Set in 17th Century Europe, the same as the first third of Quicksilver, KoV uses a different set of characters.

While Quicksilver focussed on nobles and aristocrats, KoV uses the eponymous King of Vagabonds: Jack Shaftoe and a European girl Eliza, he rescues from a Turkish harem at the siege of Vienna. What follows is rip roaring adventure through Eastern and Central Europe ending in the newly created Amsterdam stock exchange.

Complete with trademark Stephenson wit with an eye for all kinds of juicy detail, this book eagerly makes you pick up the final third of Quicksilver to see just how Stephenson can tie all these threads together.

It's like Forrest Gump of the 17th century.

In "Quicksilver" it was all about learning the elitist and the upper class, but in "King of the Vagabonds" it's all about understanding the have nots. I will keep this review short just because I cannot wait to continue with the series. In this book there is a lot more action than intellectual conversation between the classes. The best way to describe the Baroque Cycle series so far, think Ken Folliet and historical fiction, but from a cyber punk, Neal Stephenson.

I started #2 eager to learn more about the history of physics and physicists and was pretty disappointed that the characters from #1 don't make an appearance here. I liked the Shaftoe character a lot but found Stephenson's painstaking details more difficult to tolerate when he isn't writing about science. Also, this is several hundred pages of text during which the plot advances very little. It's main purpose is to introduce the characters Jack and Eliza and I think that could have been done a lot more concisely.

3.5 stars. I'm really conflicted about this book and this series. I keep reading. I am interested. It can be funny and cutting and satirical. But it is truly an acquired taste, and one that I'm not 100% sure I love. There is more plot and action in this volume than there was in the first. But that is still leavened with copious amounts of history and science -- as I read a lot of nonfiction on those topics, this does not entirely turn me off, but I could see it being tedious to many readers. Perhaps my biggest issue with the book is that I usually turn to my reading with a distinct mood for either fiction or nonfiction, and the blending of the two in such obvious ways (with entire passages dealing with finance or history, with chemistry or physics) can be very jarring. I think I'll continue as I respect Stephenson and loved Cryptonomicon (which stars the descendants of many of the major players in this series). But I have to say my feelings are mixed.

Great middle book to the Quicksilver trilogy. The less-than scholarly main characters make the book's mood lighter while still being rich with detail. I wish I was more of a student of history because it would be easier to pick out where Stephenson has altered events to fit his story. No matter though, an excellent read. I'm about to start part 3..

It's kind of difficult to know how to review a book that's part of a three-volume, eight book series. I can say that if you've committed yourself to finishing the Baroque Cycle before reading Stephenson's upcoming Anathem, this one is like a nice palate cleanser following Quicksilver. More vagabond-fueled adventure, less binary arithmetic. Now I feel refreshed, and once again ready to follow the complicated social and cultural implications of calculus through another narrative. Sexy! Or something.

Read as part of my goal to read all the winners of the Locus Award for Best Science Fiction. This is book 2 of the Baroque Cycle, the entire series was the 2005 winner.
My only really big question so far is how is this considered science fiction. It’s historical fiction. Very interesting at times, other times it is bogged down in details. But it’s an interesting education of Britain and its changing kings and scientific intrigues.