More engaging than the previous book. The new characters are far more immediately engaging, even if their escapades start to take on an implausible degree of success before too long. Nonetheless, a good follow-up.

I love Jack Shaftoe. Now that I have read the entire "Baroque Cycle", I can tell you I only whole-heartedly recommend this segment. The other parts are interesting and have their moments, to be sure, but this one is my favorite. Jack is truly the living embodiment of "going off half-cocked"...Great fun. I love this one.

"Jack had been presented with the opportunity to be stupid in some, way that was much more interesting than being shrewed would've been. These moments seemed to come to Jack every few days."
- Neal Stephenson, King of the Vagabonds



Stephenson continues his Quicksilver Volume with Book 2: King of the Vagabonds. Where Book 1: 'Quicksilver' dealt primarily with Isaac Newton and Daniel Waterhouse, King of the Vagabonds centers around the adventures of "Half-Cocked" Jack Shaftoe*, Doctor Leibniz, and Eliza. It seems to have taken stock of Joseph de la Vega's .
'Confusión de confusiones (1688),' and perhaps also Charles Mackay's later Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, and even Frances Gies 'Life in a Medieval City'. Much of the book involves the adventures of two or three of the above Jack, Liebniz, Eliza making their way across many of the markets and cities of Europe. It allows Stephenson to discuss not only the politics of the age of Louis XIV, but also the changing markets (Leipzig, Paris, London, Amsterdam), politics, religion, and birth of the Age of Resaon.

Stephenson has said in Book 1 he was primarily dealing with nobility and the top-end of the economic ladder. So, in Book 2 he wanted to spend a bit of time at the bottom of the ladder (hence Vagabonds).

* "Half-Cocked" Jack Shaftoe, Daniel Waterhouse, and Eliza (of Qwghlm) are all ancestors of characters from Stephenson earlier book, Cryptonomicon. Enoch Root appears in this book as well as in Quicksilver AND Cryptonomicon. He is like a Zelig for science. Always appearing just where he needs to be to give the wheel a turn, the cart a push, the clock of progress a wind.

This is the second part of Stephenson's Baroque Trilogy which is part of a larger 3 part series. So this is actually part 2 of 9 - somewhat like Starwars. The first volume was about Newton and some of the major players of the 17th century. This one followed a vagabond and his travels through Europe. It was fun and I'll definitely read the next volume when I can get around to it.

The problem I'm having here isn't really this book's fault. It's not a novel. I'm reviewing one section of a larger narrative and it showed. I can see why the publishers split it up, but it doesn't entirely work to do so. And that's why it doesn't get five stars. Other than that? Oh it gets all the stars. I'm digging everything about the Baroque Cycle. The writing style, the story, the interweaving with historical events and characters, and all the... I don't know... Stuff. It's hard to put into words what I like about it. There's a feel, a crunchiness to the narrative that I really enjoy. It's why I loved the Khavaren Romances by Brust. It why I love much of the Bond series. I wallow in these books.

’El rey de los vagabundos’ es el segundo libro de los tres en que se dividió en castellano ‘Quicksilver’, el primer macro volumen del Ciclo Barroco. Neal Stephenson continúa narrándonos las peripecias de los antepasados de los principales protagonistas de ‘Criptonomicón’, centrándose esta vez en Jack Shaftoe, el rey de los vagabundos del título. De nuevo, Stephenson se centra en acontecimientos históricos del siglo XVII, aderezados con hechos ficticios. Y todo ello de la mano de este peculiar pícaro que no dejará de meterse, y entrometerse, en líos de todo tipo, desde el asedio de Viena, donde salvará a una joven esclava de un harén, Eliza, pasando por todo un recorrido por esa Europa repleta de alianzas, guerras y religión, donde ingleses, franceses y holandeses no dejarán de tramar entre sí.

Si en ‘Azogue’ el nacimiento de la ciencia moderna era el tema principal, en ’El rey de los vagabundos’ lo es el nacimiento de la economía moderna, la bolsa y el acuñamiento de moneda. La novela, al menos esta segunda parte, tiene excelentes momentos, pero también abusa un tanto de digresiones que hacen ardua su lectura. Y es que Stephenson se gusta en ciertos pasajes y se deja llevar, sin pensar en el interés del pobre lector. Con este volumen llevamos más de 600 páginas de ‘Quicksilver’, y las tramas todavía no se han unido, por lo que es difícil saber dónde nos lleva Stephenson. Por tanto, la novela se puede leer de manera independiente, pero hay que tener en cuenta que aún falta el tramo final.

En resumen, una novela interesante, aunque resulta un tanto cansina en algunos momentos.

Absolutely loved this! Once I figured out that it was really the middle third of the first book in the original trilogy, things fell into place better. The first third was pretty difficult to great through, but this was a hilarious romp that read like a thriller. Stephenson's writing is brilliant and his mixing of historical fact and fantasy was so much fun to keep up with. If I had to put this in a category, I'd dub it hysterical fiction. So good that I'm ready to jump right into Odalisque to complete the first book of the original trilogy.

I love Neal Stephenson but I can’t get into the Baroque Cycle. I started Quicksilver when it was first released and tried reading it three times. I finally got through it as an audio book on 2022 after hearing that once you get through it the rest is phenomenal. We’ll, I‘be now completed the second book, King of the Vagabonds, and though it was better, it’s not got me hanging on every chapter begging for what comes next. Might be a high bar, but life is too short for bad books. I’ll be ending my foray into the baroque cycle here.

Well, it's hard to explain all my feelings about this book. The only thing I would share is that this one is much better than the first part. Jack Shaftoe is a great character, not only because is the perfect non-hero but a real adventurer. Great plot, great scenarios and very well written. I give it five stars.

A very enjoyable read. So few books I have ever read were set in the 17th century so it is most interesting to be reading this series at present.

book two of baroque cycle follows jack shaftoe and his welsh paramour through 17th century europe. good.

While not quite as exquisitely written as its predecessor, Quicksilver, book two of Neal Stephenson's The Baroque Cycle, King of the Vagabonds, is much more adventuresome - a candid and Candidesque account of the exploits of the legendary vagabond, Jack Shaftoe, and his cunning counterpart, the beautiful former harem slave girl, Eliza, as they journey across the European continent seeking wealth and prosperity through cunning, intrigue, and sometimes just good old fashioned sword slashing.