much more fun than the first one!

I'm after second part of Quicksilver, and truly saying, I'm wondering, why these books have such a good notes.
I'm somewhere between "liked it" and "it was ok".

I like the science part, I understand it required lot of work and research,
but still I wouldn't rate it as "it was amazing". Maybe there is something wrong with me.

A bawday picaresque novel jam-packed with historical detail, but rather disjointed as a novel.

This is the second book of the eight book Baroque Cycle. Most of this story takes place on mainland Europe in the 1680s. I find this time period interesting because it was the beginning of the modern world. The previous book in the series, Quicksilver, described the birth of modern science. This book describes the beginning development of modern business and commerce.

This book is somewhat unique among historical novels in that it's main characters, Jack Shaftoe and Eliza, are lowborn and not from the rich or noble classes. Even though they are poor commoners, through industrious endeavors on their part they are able to encounter numerous important historical characters. The reader of this book receives a down and dirty description of the 1683 siege of Vienna, experiences some extended conversations with the mathematician philosopher Gottfried Leibniz, reads a description of affairs involving Duke of Monmouth and William of Orange (pretender and future king respectively of England), laughs at a story of accidental impersonation of Louis XIV of France at a costume party, is introduced to 17th century trading in financial instruments, and gets a look at behind the scene politics leading up to the ascendancy of William and Mary to the throne of England.

The story is a comprehensive historical fiction about the great events going on at this time in history. The book provides incredibly detailed descriptions of the life and times. The descriptions include plenty of unpleasant things including manure and odors (e.g. Jack smells Paris a day prior to arriving.)

I listened to the audio book version and was treated to authentic sounding Cockney, French, German and Dutch accents. The Jack character had his own voice that oozed of easy going swagger. The witty repartee between Jack and Eliza provides much entertainment for the reader/listener.

I presume most readers will find the end of the book less than satisfactory. It is a conclusion of sorts, but I can't say much more without being a spoiler. The lack of a happy and climactic conclusion shouldn't be too surprising since the book is part of a longer series. I am looking forward to seeing how/if the diverse story lines converge.

LINK TO Wikipedia article about the Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson.
LINK TO my review of Quick Silver (Bk. 1) by Neal Stephenson.
LINK TO my review of Odalisque (Bk. 3) by Neal Stephenson.
LINK TO my review of The Confusion (Bks. 4 & 5) by Neal Stephenson.
LINK TO my review of Solomon's Gold (Bk. 6) by Neal Stephenson.
LINK TO my review of Currency (Bk. 7) by Neal Stephenson.
LINK TO my review of System of the World (Bk. 8) by Neal Stephenson.

For me, this was a much better book than the first. It’s a great way to learn a little of European history with a lot of fiction thrown about. The fun is sorting the fact from the fiction. And the two protagonists- well- more like anti-heroes and the shared and separate exploits? It reads at times like a tale written in the times it describes which was probably the idea. The humour from Jack made it a 3 star read. Recommended to the normal crew.

Reading Stephenson is pure joy. He is smart, funny, and unexpectedly grounded in reality. Starting with Cryptonomicon, I rarely fund a wrong note across sophisticated descriptions of cultures, historical events and economics/business.

In #2 of the Baroque Cycle, Stephenson introduces Jack Shaftoe--a clever Englishman coming from the poor areas east of London and willing to do what must be done to survive, aka the King of the Vagabonds--with Eliza, a slave girl from the fictional islands of Qwghlm (very much like the Hebrides) who is taken by a Frenchman in a raid and sold with her mother to Barbary pirates and from there to the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire's harem. Jack meets or saves Eliza in the wake of the Hussars led by Sobieski saving Vienna from the Ottoman siege and they go off with ostrich feathers Jack manages to take from one of the Sultan's ostriches, a war horse (appropriately named Turk) and a Turkish sword, and Eliza shows a rare gift in making money first in Saxony (running in Dr Leibniz along the way) and Amsterdam and the first stock exchange in the world.

The dialogue is so very clever and unexpected, it keeps the reader hungry for more. Jack is quick to act to get out of the many dangers all around late 17th century European life, while Eliza is both brilliantly intelligent and beautiful--somewhat implausibly the two make a successful life always one catastrophe away.

It is quibbling somewhat in such a sharp and intelligent book that Stephenson refers to the Ijsselmeer when he should be talking about the Zuiderzee--given that the Dutch only turned back the salty sea connecting the center of Holland to the North Sea in 1932, when the Dutch shut off the inlet with the tremendous achievement of the "afsluitdijk"--the dike which shut off the ingress with the North Sea into what then became the Ijsselmeer (the Ijssel lake). Here and there his German is also not fluent.

But what a small quibble for such an enjoyable book, and onwards to Odalisque!

Compared to the first book in this cycle, I enjoyed this much more. The narrative was narrower in scope, but included snippets of larger happenings, whereas the first one felt like it was trying to take on a very large scope. The stories were more personal and engaging, rather than feeling like a fleshed out history book. You definitely can feel more of Stephenson's imagination for the Baroque period rather than historical fact, which made it much more entertaining and made me feel more confident in the next book. (I'm not sure why.)

Not AS stunning as Quicksilver, and the publisher has broken out the separate stories to create numerous different books, but this is still a great read. Main characters are from Quicksilver, and we get to learn more about half-cocked Jack and his adventures all over the world along with the rise of Isaac Newton as head of the English Mint, the rise and fall of Royalty in Europe, what's been happening in the Hague, along with much more. Excellent historical fiction with some history thrown in for good measure.

so-so.

Not bad, but definitely not even close to his other books (Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon).
I loooove themes in the series (cryptology, numismatics, the transformation from feudal rule toward the scientific and "western") but somehow I just do not have that can't-stop-reading feeling which I had while I was devouring Cryptonomicon.

I will keep reading it, though.

This book was entertaining, but not quite as good as Quicksilver - which focused on the scientific revolution and the Royal Society. In this book, Stephenson turns his attention to the Enlightenment era innovations in finance and that just isn't very interesting to me. However, his characters are good and through them Stephenson describes Europe as it was at that time, which I do find interesting.

Abandoned after listening to a little more than half of the audiobook. Life is too short to waste it on books that you hate. I read reviews after finishing book 1 of this series that said "hold on, it gets better!" Nope. Not for me.

Book two of the Baroque Cycle introduces Jack and Eliza, who are both very likable characters. This book is more of an adventure than the previous book, yet still offers plenty of the technical material Stephenson fans should love(this book focuses more on finance and political strategy, as opposed to the previous book which focused heavily on early science). Another noticeable element here is how drastically different the life of Jack is from Daniel Waterhouse(the previous book’s protagonist). Daniel is a member of a higher social class, but it doesn’t become entirely clear just how much privilege Daniel has until we are confronted by the bleak despair that Jack was born into.