Amazed that this is from 1995; its concerns feel very current - too current. The nations of the world collapse from cryptocurrency destroying the tax base; they are replaced with voluntary ideological associations, including trads ("neo-Victorians" and techno-Confucians) who are shown thriving where others suffer civil war, state failure, and ordinary poverty and abuse. Everyone has fancy nanotechnology, which solves absolute poverty and allows massive structures to be built of solid diamond.

That's all in the background, where the foreground is a theory of education and rebellion, of social degeneration and regeneration. The leader of the Victorians designs the best educational game ever, a 12-year-long adventure game with live narration. He does this because there's a shortage of subversion and rebellion in his society, and he wants to train his granddaughter to be independent. (He also says the neo-Vickys have an associated shortage of great artists, but to put it mildly this is not something the originals suffered.)

In particular, Stephenson was a bit obsessed with moral relativism in the 90s; he harps on the superiority of realism, or communitarianism, or status regulation, or sincerity, or something, in most of his books. Superficially, his concern matches one annoying strain of internet writing of the last few years - the clickbait strawmaneering of the Petersons and the Lindsays. But French Theory fell in the meantime, outside of a few academic subcultures with little influence, so Stephenson can be right while these guys are wrong. An excess of scepticism and irony - a deficit of shaming and judgment - does not strike me as the first problem with the mores of 2020.

Stephenson saves most of the nice bits of the book for the Vickys, and his attempt to recover what was good about the original Victorians (their energy, inventiveness, duty, taste) ignores a lot of what was bad about them. (Though he actively endorses their hypocrisy about sex, he would have to think again about their betraying their Christian universalism with retributive justice and imperialism.)

n  
"when I was a young man, hypocrisy was deemed the worst of vices," Finkle-McGraw said. "It was all because of moral relativism. You see, in that sort of a climate, you are not allowed to criticise others--after all, if there is no absolute right and wrong, then what grounds is there for criticism?...

"Now, this led to a good deal of general frustration, for people are naturally censorious and love nothing better than to criticise others' shortcomings. And so it was that they seized on hypocrisy and elevated it from a ubiquitous peccadillo into the monarch of all vices. For, you see, even if there is no right and wrong, you can find grounds to criticise another person by contrasting what he has espoused with what he has actually done... Virtually all political discourse in the days of my youth was devoted to the ferreting out of hypocrisy."

"That we occasionally violate our own stated moral code," Major Napier said, working it through, "does not imply that we are insincere in espousing that code."
"Of course not," Finkle-McGraw said. "It's perfectly obvious, really. No one ever said that it was easy to hew to a strict code of conduct."
n

Having "Victorian" characters means he gets to have fun with his dialogue; there are dozens of words I've never seen before in this, and several children crafting exquisitely balanced subordinate clauses.

About a third too long, and that's with him completely truncating the excellent Judge Fang plotline. As always, he is incapable of writing a good ending. Maybe 4 stars on re-read.

Диамантената ера е една от любимите ми книги още от тийнейджърските години и фактът, че при прочитане сега ми харесва още повече, говори много за нея (същото далеч не може да се каже за повечето други фантастики). Нийл Стивънсън е изрод и трябва да му се признае, че не изкарва книги на конвейр, а всяка една е обмислена и пълна с идеи, които хора на различно ниво могат да намерят за интересни.

Специално тази прави доста добро предположение за обществото в "ерата на благоденствието" където елементарните потребности на всеки са задоволени кажи речи безплатно - не, че това е много трудно предположение, след като положението е цивилизованите страни и сега е такова, както и в ерата на информацията където финансовите и информационни транзакции стават по начин, който правителствата не могат да проследят и контролират и това довежда до липсата на национални държави и групиране на хората така да се каже в "държави по интереси".

Това, което бе ново за мен в книгата за разлика от прочитанията в младите ми години е идеята за традиционализма като необходимо условие за успешно и стабилно общество, в ролята на трите най-успешни "филозони" (разбирай държави с доброволно членство) в книгата - викторианците, хански Китай и Япония.

A girl and her book

The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer is my favorite of Neal Stephenson's books. By that I don't mean that it is the best, or most intellectually compelling, or has the best characters or world-building (although some of those things may be true). I mean only that it is the one that gives me the most pleasure to read. I have read it at least three times, once in paperback shortly after it came out, then again 23-Nov-2012 (exactly ten years ago) and 11-Oct-2020.

If you read five-star reviews of romance novels on Goodreads, you'll see a lot of long gif-filled squeals of swoony love for the romantic relationships described. I can't read such reviews, because every one of them seems exactly like all the others. And I am certainly not about to write one. I mention them because that is how I feel about the relationship between Nell and her book.

Am I seriously comparing a girl's love for a book to a romantic relationship? (In fact, the relationship between A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer and Nell is more a mother-daughter relationship.) Yes, I am. What can I say? I am a book-lover. A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer is truly a book to be loved. Given that I can't have one of my own, The Diamond Age is the next best thing.

Blog review.

Wow. I feel like I was set up on a blind date with this book, but instead of ending with me plotting an escape fueled by misery and loathing, I actually had a good time. I’m completely shocked, but also thrilled that I had the opportunity to read something so engaging and so unusual that I never would have picked up had it not been recommended to me.

The first half of the book was much stronger than the second half—I definitely felt like there was a specific moment when my interest started waning, and from that point on I think Stephenson struggled to wrap things up. Overall, I found myself engrossed by the story in the same way that I fall in love with a Miyazaki movie; however, that childlike amusement is frequently interrupted by the kind of scenes you might expect to find in BioShock in a way that inexplicably works. I can’t even describe this book, but that’s one of the things I find so entertaining about it.

I don’t usually read sci-fi, so this was a big departure for me, but one that I thoroughly enjoyed. I think if Stephenson had approached the second half of the story with a more discerning eye, this would have been a 5 star review. I found the ending unsatisfying, and I think the book as a whole almost reads like a collection of short stories all woven together by two characters, but in a way that still feels a bit disjointed. This might be one of those books you need to read twice before you can fully appreciate its complexities.

I loved this book, especially the Neo-Victorian culture. I did feel that some parts lagged and I did flick forward a bit midway. Neal Stephenson is one of my favourite authors, and I do give him credit for each of his books being based on a completely different paradigm.
Beautifully written but not quite on the same level as Snow Crash or Anathem for instance.

3.5 stars. Review originally posted at www.fantasyliterature.com.

Neal Stephenson’s The Diamond Age is set in a near future that is unrecognizable in some ways and disturbingly familiar in other ways. Nations have dissolved and people now tend to congregate in tribes or “phyles” based upon their culture, race, beliefs or skills. Nanotechnology has upended society, and even the poorest people have access to matter compilers that create clothing, food and other items from a feed of molecules. Still, the lack of education and opportunities for the underclass has created a wide division between them and a wealthy phyle like the Neo-Victorians, who have adopted the manners and society of the British Victorian age.

John Hackworth is a brilliant nanotechnologist who lives with and works for the neo-Victorians. He is approached by one of the leaders of the clan, Lord Finkle-McGraw, to secretly create an interactive smart book for Finkle-McGraw’s young granddaughter. Lord Finkle-McGraw fears that the neo-Victorian society is too hidebound and commissions Hackworth to use his skills to create a children’s book that will develop a more educated and inquiring mind. Hackworth develops this book, the “Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer,” but can’t resist the temptation to (illegally) create a copy of it for his own young daughter.

Unfortunately for Hackworth, Dr. X, the Chinese black market engineer whose compiler Hackworth used to create the copy of the Primer, wants a copy of the book for his own purposes as well. Hackworth is mugged on his way home with the Primer by a gang under Dr. X’s direction, but the young thug who grabs the book gives it to his 4-year-old sister Nell rather than to Dr. X. The education Nell gets from the interactive Primer ends up changing her life drastically. While Nell’s life is benefited immeasurably by the Primer, Hackworth runs into serious trouble, caught between the pressures exerted by both Lord Finkle-McGraw and Dr. X, both of whom are aware of his crime and both of whom are using Hackworth for their own interests and goals.

The first half of The Diamond Age was fascinating, alternating between Hackworth’s adventures and Nell’s, interspersed with stories told to Nell by the Primer that pull from Nell’s own life (her stuffed animals and toys play a major teaching role in the stories) and encourage her to think in new ways. Stephenson has created an intricate and marvelous future world, with both amazing achievements and alarming pitfalls. Stephenson’s writing doesn’t coddle the reader, but he writes so well that even when his future world is confusing, it’s still entrancing.

At about the halfway mark, the plot weakens as it digresses to some new, less appealing plot lines (the Drummers, who create a subconscious hive mind through sexual orgies) and abandons some interesting characters and plots, such as the humorous but ruthless Judge Fang and his assistants, and the mysterious, powerful CryptNet organization.

The ending of The Diamond Age was even weaker, as yet another group, the Chinese Fists of Righteous Harmony, takes center stage and reenacts the Boxer Rebellion, putting Nell and other characters in grave danger. Then the novel abruptly ends, answering a few questions but leaving most of the threads hanging and the fate of the characters unclear. It’s an inconclusive and disappointing ending.

Overall, despite its weaknesses, The Diamond Age is still a worthwhile read for those who appreciate brain-challenging science fiction.

5 stars for the first half. 2 to 2 1/2 stars for the second half. 3.5 stars overall.

Content notes: rape and near-rape. Some F-bombs and rough language. Brief but explicit description of an orgy.

Stephenson is undoubtedly a good writer. I feel as though that's a trite thing to say, but I'm not talking about the overall story, I'm talking about the way each sentence is crafted. Also, I felt the need to read the book with a dictionary next to me, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, I suppose. As far as the overall story, there's a lot to like, plenty of varied characters, several story lines that are more closely woven than one might originally think, and plenty of action. There's a kind of girl power aspect to it all that's especially nice.

While it is set in what Stephenson imagines to be the not-too-distant future, it also has fairy tale elements that mostly stem from the Primer itself, although also from the very concept of a young girl embarking on adventures alone. There were also times (mostly near the end) when I was also reminded of The Wizard of Oz--without the cheesy "moral" we get in the film--and even Buffy--without the super powers. The Diamond Age very much seems to fit in with a long history of children's fantasy literature. Except this is for adults (think Guillermo Del Torro).

If Charles Dickens climbed in an H.G. Wells time machine and went forward in time and he decided to create a post cyber-punk, progressively dystopian bildungsroman novel with a strong female lead and with a fascinating glimpse of a future that expands on the world begun in Snow Crash, he would have written this novel.

This is Great Expectations with nanotechnology.

The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson is to post-modernist science fiction thought as what Dickens was to his era: a smart, entertaining and groundbreaking new literature. In this work I also see the inspiration for such books as Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One and Paolo Bacigalupi’s The Windup Girl. In fact I think a study could be made to determine how many works Stephenson may have influenced from this remarkable 1995 publication that won both the Hugo and Locus award for best novel.

** 2018 - I need to read more from Neal Stephenson, this book was so cool and sophisticated, so rich with new ideas and fresh thoughts. His illustration of nanotechnology has been highly influential and his writing seems to be the state of the market for SF. Good stuff.

This has been on my shelf a while, I think a friend sent it to me. I have to admit, this is a dense read sometimes in the way that hard sci-fi can be: Glazing over at "tech speak tech speak tech speak." If you fall of the tech-speak train you start to glaze over a bit and get confused, or at least I do. I'm sure all the technology is masterfully crafted and is visionary, I just couldn't 100% follow it. It's like sometimes authors TRY to be obscure in their writing in order to be "highbrow" to rise about the genre or something.

That said, something about this book REALLY gripped me, I definitely was drawn into the character of Nell, and even though the society and tech confused me a bit, I just skimmed forward a bit and got right on track. Her character was beautifully realized and very emotional. I can't say why it was so riveting, it just was.

The end of the book felt a bit rushed to me, considering the pace of the book previous, but this is certainly a deeply realized and profound book. I feel that one day I'll read it again and "get" more of the nanotechnology parts. I would love to read another book in this universe and about Nell considering how much work I put into absorbing it all! Highly recommended.

Philip K. Dickensian Claves

Neal Stephenson's second novel features remarkable science fiction and fantasy world-building and character invention, but falls down when it comes to the action surrounding the characters. Little takes place until the last 50 pages of this 500 page work. Even then, it's group action rather than personal. The protagonists perform an individualised role in a larger battle.

Set in the mid-twenty-first century, today's world of nation states has ceased to exist and been replaced by smaller racial/tribal/cultural societies (“Claves"). The focus is the regions around the outskirts of the South China Sea, like New Chusan, New Atlantis/Shanghai (inhabited by Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Americans, Neo-Victorians [Vicky's]), Source Victoria, Pudong, the Chinese Coastal Republic (the result of a rebellion like Mao's Chinese Revolution), the Outer Kingdom, the Middle Kingdom, the Celestial Kingdom, Nippon, Han, and Hindustan.

The Neo-Victorian characters seem to be relics of the British Empire. Their sovereign is Queen Victoria Ii. These sections of the book are almost Dickensian, while the science fiction components reminded me of Philip K. Dick. In short, it's often Philip K. Dickensian.

The Nanotech Feed

The world has made significant progress in the field of nanotechnology:

n  
n  “Nanotech materials were stronger. Computers were infinitesimal. Power supplies were much more potent.”n  
n

A Feed line supplies everyone with molecules that can be assembled into more complicated structures by “matter compilers" (which sit under red diamond domes) that could “take just about any kind of recorded information and transmogrify it into something else.” Data can be converted into products, even food (like rice).

n  
n  “Atoms [can] build themselves into machines, buildings, and whole worlds.”n  
n

Conflicts between the regions are supposedly regulated by a Common Economic Protocol. And there are conflicts, especially over the ownership and use of data and the products derived from it. The rebels wish to replace the Feed with a more benign Seed.

Things and Entertainment

Control of data means control of every aspect of life.

One of the characters remarks:

n  
n  “There are only two industries. This has always been true. There is the industry of things, and the industry of entertainment...After people have the things they need to live, everything else is entertainment. Everything...”n  
n

Refreshing Nihilism

Lord Finkle-McGraw commissions nanotechnological engineer John Percival Hackworth to make the “Young Lady's Illustrated Primer" for his grand-daughter, Elizabeth. This magical book is a computer/encyclopedia/compendium with which the reader can interact and grow as she gets older and more educated/intelligent.

It contains Grimm-like fairy tales and fantasy stories about ravens, dinosaurs, dukes, kings, queens and castles (e.g., Castle Turing). Hackworth makes an illicit copy for his own daughter, Fiona. However, it is stolen and finds its way to Nell, a poor and disadvantaged “thete" (a low class person), “a ragged little thete girl". (She's the most overtly Dickensian character.)

The Primer can enhance the reader's personality, if not necessarily their native intelligence. It could also encourage them to be more subversive in the pursuit of their non-conformist life goals and entrepreneurial spirit.

Lord Finkle-McGraw hoped that the Primer would help Elizabeth overcome the “stodgy tradition of her parents". He wants something less didactic and more “refreshingly nihilistic” than typical children's literature and what they are taught in the “best" schools:

n  
n  “The difference between stupid and educated people is that the latter know more facts. But that has nothing to do with whether they are stupid or intelligent. The difference between stupid and intelligent people – and this is true whether or not they are well-educated – is that intelligent people can handle subtlety. They are not baffled by ambiguous or even contradictory situations – in fact, they expect them and are apt to become suspicious when things seem overly straightforward.”n  
n

Conformity or Rebellion?

Nell makes a lot of progress with the Primer. Somebody asks her:

n  
n  “Which path do you intend to take, Nell? Conformity or rebellion?”

“Neither one. Both ways are simple-minded – they are only for people who cannot cope with contradiction and ambiguity.”n  
n  
n  “In your Primer you have a resource that will make you highly educated, but it will never make you intelligent. That comes from life.”n  
n

The Primer is analogous to an interactive film (a “ractive", c.f. a twentieth century “passive"), which is essentially “the use of tech to convey meaning":

“It is like a little interactive empire, with Elizabeth [or Nell] the empress...”

“A book is different – it is not just a material possession but the pathway to an enlightened mind, and thence to a well-ordered society...”

“Whenever the child uses the book, then, it will perform a sort of dynamic mapping from the database onto her particular terrain...The database...is a catalogue of the collective unconscious.”

Anarchy or Hierarchy?

It's a universe of data, sometimes even a database of universals (such as universal values, like love, that must be learned):

n  
n  “Could it be that the Primer was just a conduit, a technological system that mediated between Nell and some human being who really loved her? In the end, she knew, this was basically how all ractives worked.”n  
n

In the end, those nihilists and anarchists who choose rebellion seek to dissolve “all of the societies that had grown up around the concept of a centralised, hierarchical Feed.” Rebellion prevails over conformity, at least in the twenty-first century of "The Diamond Age".

There is so much that is good about this book. The initial world building, the idea behind the Primer, the main characters, these are all done brilliantly and the story proceeds really well for the first half. But then other stories come into play and confusion sets in - at least in my head it did! - and it is like a roller coaster coming off the rails and crashing very, very suddenly on the last page.

One thing about Mr Stephenson though is that he really has a way with words. He uses real words which no one else has used for decades and he also makes up his own some of which are just brilliant! I like words so I enjoyed all this even though it made reading a slower process than usual.

So I did enjoy much of the book, only getting really lost with the advent of the Drummers, finding my feet again for a while and then becoming totally unable to get my head around the Mouse Army. But that's Neal Stephenson for you. I think he just likes to make your head hurt.

Visionary but flawed

The end felt rushed, and the notion of ethnic phyles frustratingly backward from our present perspective. Worth reading for his vision of the nanotech future.