STEHPENSON KILLS CYBERPUNK! Yup, the crime is committed - in the name of Justice, no less - early in this story which can be read as a distant sequel to Snow Crash, and Stephenson forges ahead with a Victorian-Era-flavored post-Cyberpunk story; Child of Cyberpunk, perhaps. As usual, Stephenson crams in so many ideas that the book fairly bursts at the seams. But even with a throwaway ending that feels too rushed, the Hugo and Locus awards were very much deserved.

I first read this ~10 years ago and just re-read it as someone reminded me that it predicts the future of reading. And it does - what I love about Stephenson is his high level of prescient-ness. In fact I think it also predicts a lot of the future of nanotechnology and entertainment.

The Young Ladies Illustrated Primer is a dynamic book with an AI in it. Imagine Alexa or Siri in 5-10 years, smart enough to make up stories on the fly and answer questions about or even redirect the storyline. The YLIP is designed in the book for a 4 year old girl, Fiona, but Nell and a few other girls end up with them also. Maybe this resonated with me as I have a 4 year old girl and wish this existed for her. What's particularly powerful about this, is the story was able to be adaptive to the problems in Nell's life, and give her strength and confidence at moments when she needed it. Some cool trivia: Project Fiona was the codename for the Kindle. There is now a building at Amazon in Seattle named Fiona.

One of the pieces of magic of the Young Ladies Illustrated Primer was that for Nell and Fiona's editions, there were live actors ("ractors") on the other end, reading all the lines 1 on 1. This put a level of personalization and human connection into the story for the girls that wouldn't have been possible otherwise. Learning about the marketplace of ractors was particularly interesting and it's hard to think such a thing won't exist in 2-5 years as VR takes off. Would you rather watch the movie Harry Potter or live act out the scenes with 2 friends as Harry, Ron, and Hermione, and have professional actors play the other characters? You can imagine this being a big form of entertainment of the future.

The nanotechnology described in the book was also fascinating. Describing a world of robots and drones too small for the human eye to see, doing tasks and even fighting each other. Massive wars we perceive as "particularly dusty days". Poisoning or taking control of another person is as easy as getting them to inhale or injest some nanobots. The drummers were a particularly interesting notion of hive-mind, connecting multiple humans together through nanobots attached to their synapses on their brain. And then of course you have nanobots creating other bots, which led to this great quote:

"The Victorian system used Darwinian techniques to create killers adapted to their prey, which was elegant and effective but led to the creation of killers that were simply too bizarre to have been thought up by humans, just as humans designing a world never would have thought up the naked mole rat."

But of course the biggest implication of nanotechnology is the ability to manipulate molecules and thus - given The Feed (which I somehow provides a stream of molecules & energy for manipulation) - you can make anything in a Matter Compiler (MC). This is kind of like what they had in Star Trek, and what 3D printing gives us .0001% of today.

The book is largely about what would happen to society if MC's were invented and much of the need for farming, manufacturing, etc was eliminated. Poverty would become even more prevalent, as would crime, governments would collapse, and of course, a class divide would emerge as never before, driven by those who have technology and those who don't. And of course, badass engineers like Hackworth will rule the day (kind of). I suppose in a way the book is about the fear of what will happen if technology progresses too far and leaves masses of humans without a purpose in life. Parking lots and chaos.

“These were rice paddies before they were parking lots. Rice was the basis for our society. Peasants planted the seeds and had highest status in the Confucian hierarchy. As the Master said, “Let the producers be many and the consumers few.' When the Feed came in from Atlantis, from Nippon, we no longer had to plant, because the rice now came from the matter compiler. It was the destruction of our society. When our society was based upon planting, it could truly be said, as the Master did, “Virtue is the root; wealth is the result.' But under the Western ti, wealth comes not from virtue but from cleverness. So the filial relationships became deranged. Chaos,” Dr. X said regretfully, then looked up from his tea and nodded out the window. “Parking lots and chaos.”

Me encantó la historia pero a la vez no lo disfruté como debiera. Por un lado el mundo neovictoriano y la historia de Nell me parecieron geniales pero por el otro no me pude concentrar en la lectura por razones personales y tardé muchísimo en leerlo. Siento que mi lectura fue superficial y poco concentrada y que me pierdo de parte del contenido. Pendiente de relectura!
También, es el menos denso en cuanto a referencias tecnológicas y eruditas de los libros de Stephenson que leí. Incluido Snow Crash. Lectura más ligera y apta para todo público.

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


After an underwhelming experience with "Snow Crash" (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...), I decided to give Neal Stephenson a second (and possibly final) chance with “The Diamond Age”. I have come to accept that some sci-fi writers are idea guys (or gals), and that amazing ideas don’t necessarily wield amazing books, and that’s OK. And the idea of what is basically a Dickens story-line in a cyberpunk universe is nothing if not interesting! I was also curious to see what Stephenson would do with a female lead, because his female characters in “Snow Crash” were kind of awful…

Nell’s life begins like something you’d expect from a character in “David Copperfield”: her father is a petty criminal convicted and executed for assault, so she is raised by her neglectful mother Tequila and older brother Harv. They live in the Neo-Victorian society, near a Shanghai that belongs to the British Commonwealth. She accidentally gets her hand on a unique book, the “Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer”. This book was created by this society’s very best engineer, as a secret project commissioned by a high-ranking lord, who meant it for his grand-daughter so that she could lead what he describes as an “interesting life” – meaning a life lived on one's own term and not on those dictated by one's society. Naturally, this work was never meant to fall into the hands of a poor young girl from the slums… In parallel, we have the story of Mr. Hackworth, the creator of the “Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer”, who wants a better life for his own daughter: he understands that the class struggle is a very real problem that few people can hope to transcends, and he finds it his duty as a father to equip his daughter as best as he can, even if that means doing something not-quite-legal… The smaller story-lines of Judge Fang, the magistrate who gets tangled in Hackworth’s case, and Miranda, the voice of the Primer, make the book a rich and multifaceted story.

I really enjoyed the format, but then I am an absolute sucker for Victoriana – with or without nanobots! The prose also had an elegance that simply wasn’t there in “Snow Crash”; maybe Stephenson was trying to emulate the stylistic touches of 19th century literature, but whatever he was trying to do, it worked! The world building is vivid and complex, the globalization, social and cultural structures are fascinating - and while the technological aspects can sometimes feel confusing and under-explained (I could understand a decent amount of techno-babble, but some things definitely went over my head), the story and good pacing were strong enough to carry me through those frustrating bits.

As someone who has no greater treasure (and has never known a greater refuge) than my pile of beloved books, the concept of a pseudo-intelligent book being Nell’s best friend definitely resonated deeply. The Primer is every bookworm’s dream; a story that takes care of the reader, teaches them, nurtures them and helps them grow. With its help, Nell learns how to deal with bullies, her mother’s violent boyfriends and learns many skills that will come in very handy in the real world; the Primer become the parent she never had... Perhaps “Snow Crash” struck a stronger chord with gamers, while “The Diamond Age” does a better job of reaching the readers? In any case, I found myself eager to get back to the book at every chance I got!

I read somewhere that Stephenson meant this book as reflection on the effects of technology on child development: it was originally published in 1995, so Heaven knows if that can still have the same meaning as intended back then… My interpretation is more that this is a story about how books can shape someone's character, turn them into resourceful, critical thinking and unique individuals, but I'm obviously biased.

So congratulations Neal: you have redeemed yourself in my eyes with this great book! Even if Hackworth's story-line and the ending get kind of weird, I enjoyed this book so much I can't give it less than 4 and a half stars rounded up!

It has taken me a while to figure out what I think of this book, and I'm still not entirely sure. I finished it with a bit of bafflement - what was what I'd just read actually about? It was entertaining, sure, and the world rich and inventive, the characters interesting, but if I were to tell you what the book were about...I wasn't sure. I think I have a better idea now, but I might just be projecting.

Note: The rest of this review has been withdrawn due to the changes in Goodreads policy and enforcement. You can read why I came to this decision here.

In the meantime, you can read the entire review at Smorgasbook

Neuromancer with nanotech and lazy, badly edited, self-indulgent writing and plot. One could possibly praise Stephenson for explaining how his nano-tech works when nobody else does, but that would be a mistake, because the way Stephenson explains it, it just won't work.

Even worse than the plotting and writing is the conclusion Stephenson draws about the Chinese, which is blatently condradicted by everything the Chinese do in the novel...what a waste of time. Even more frustration occurs because it could have been good - some interesting ideas and characters go to waste.

Dang...what a great sense of world-building!
What a great variety of characters that I had great feeling for!
What great concept in the idea of the primer!
What a great buildup in tension!
What amazing action and a great escape scene!
What inventiveness in correlating the storylines into a rescue!

What a ....
Wait, it's over?
Doesnt it need an ending?
Where did everyone go?
Are they alive?

What a major letdown!

Lemmed it. Not that it was so bad, but I couldn't go further.

The plot is excruciatingly slow, the characters flat. The world-building is adequate, even really good sometimes. But pages and pages of inconsequential descriptions of surroundings and routine gestures and detailed accounts of characters who die soon and have absolutely nothing to do with the plot so far. Maybe I'll pick it up when I'm in a more lenient mood, more tolerant.

Neal Stephenson is apparently not able to write the second half of a book and people tend to forgive him because the first part was cool. I've forgiven him in Snow Crash, because the second part is not that awful, but man, for this book that was not a possibility. And after finishing it you realize that the first part was not that good either.

Neal Stephenson uses cool concepts. What happens if nations are obsolete? What happens if you let an AI raise a kid? Cool stuff. The world where the action takes place is interesting. But now I've finished it, something starts nagging. The characters simply are in the world, but they don't really interact. The society they're in doesn't really affect them. For example Nell, the girl raised by the AI. She lives in a shitty situation, her father died before she could remember him, her mom has a series of bad boyfriends and her older brother is good to her but ends up being a petty criminal. The AI gives her a chance to escape her situation and she hardly looks back even once. But then again, I don't even know what she should look back at, because she is from an empty world. All we know is that her family is poor and probably living in a bad part of town, but the rest of the neighbourhood is basically empty. It is an empty world with only a few people, the main characters, and they have no feelings towards other people.

The same for one of the other characters, Hackworth. I think he is quite obsessed with family values, that's important in the society he is in, but you can't even figure out whether he loves his wife. All the characters are just there to showcase the world, they're not people.

And then I've not even started on how the second part of the book drags along. It has endless pieces of the fairytales the AI tells, even though some excerpts would have been enough to get the point. And suddenly the world outside of the fairytale jumps years in time and the girl is a teenager.  And suddenly she an apparently good looking 16 year old, leaves her sheltered community and becomes a script writer for interactive erotic fantasies. Even though she has no sexual experience whatsoever, it is not mentioned and it is an empty world anyway so there is not even a person mentioned she could have these experiences with, she knows what turns other people on. The interesting stuff in the book is exactly what is not told. It is a story about how technology affects people, but it could have been about robots and you wouldn't notice the difference.

Para leer a Stephenson necesitas sentarte en un sitio cómodo y tomarte un par de cafés para poder seguirle el hilo de lo que cuenta, porque como te despistes vas a empezar a leer en diagonal y no hay vuelta atrás.

En La era del diamante nos dibuja un Shangai del futuro que mezcla steampunk y ciberpunk: una sociedad en la que la nanotecnología lo domina todo pero que socialmente copian los esquemas de la época victoriana. Y como núcleo de todo tenemos a la pequeña Nell, una niña maltratada que se refugia en la lectura de su Manual para poder evadirse de la realidad.

Y este núcleo, el corazón de la historia, es lo que me ha hecho terminar el libro a pesar de los intentos de Stephenson para que lo abandone. Y me explico.

El autor tiene una forma de escribir que no me gusta nada: párrafos larguísimos, sin apenas puntos y aparte, no hay casi diálogos, y se detiene a describir en detalle cosas que no tienen nada que ver con la historia general. (La frase: "Se puso el gorro que le cubría el 75% de su cráneo" me mató.)

El Shangai que nos cuenta no consigue definirlo como algo real. No como ocurre en La chica mecánica, allí Bacigalupi consigue describir una Bangkok del futuro en el que sientes el calor y cómo te pican los mosquitos. Sin embargo, aquí Stephenson sitúa a los personajes en una especie de nebulosa victoriana del futuro que no ayuda a definir la historia.

Pero contra todo esto, lucha la pequeña Nell y consigue que haya terminado el libro para saber qué es lo que le esperaba al final de su querido Manual. Me podría leer un libro entero con las historias que le pasan a Nell mientras lee.

The logical dystopian continuation of a feudal system in a cyberpunk, no wait, the cyberpunk, yes you heard right, setting.

Such a laconic, badass writing style, such a messed up, gritty, sick world. As if China Mieville and Alastair Reynolds created a hybrid and doped it with philosophical undertones. Stephenson thematizes the consequences of nanotech in a Blade Runner style scenario that is coming closer each day, letting and enabling fiction to be history one day, making it seem as if it´s the inevitable fate of human societies to invite, celebrate, and realize each possible dystopian vision. Everything is already on the horizon:

The social injustice, a technological singularity, poverty, slums, redlining, crime, etc. out of control, corporations and organized crime becoming more and more potent thanks to free trade and new inventions, not to forget the lobbyism undermining democracies and escalating media consumption thanks to VR, AR, internet, etc. of course. I don´t even know where, except for the technology that will need a few decades to come, are any differences to reality which once again shows the immense Nostradamusian potential of sci-fi.

We´ve become cyberpunk, that might sound cool, but it´s a freaking nightmare, it´s at the moment becoming so strange that it couldn´t be even used for a movie, script, novel, or series some decades ago because many would have deemed it improbable and exaggerated, especially the stupidity. But it´s no fiction, humans are doing and gonna do all this stuff, this disturbing options will get real Cyberpunk 2077
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lembw...
style.

Stephenson completely lost control over the length and redundancy, wordiness, and infodump detection and preventions systems over his career, Diamond Age and Snow Crash are still the perfect balance of length and content, but others escalated quickly and made him kind of unreadable for bookworms used to less egocentric and unconventional writers. Experiments over a few hundred pages are ok, but if it´s that extreme, many audiences get lost for a reason. I´m a nerd, I can handle it, heck, I love it, but it´s unnecessary that so many people won´t ever enjoy the wisdom and mindblowing ideas Stephenson weaves in his colossi of books that are exhausting to read, but extremely satisfying.

Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...

great story, nice humor, This novel was nominated for Nebula award for year 1995 and won Hugo award, among others.

The genre is post-cyberpunk in the sense that the cyberpunk is about hackers vs evil corporations/state. In post-cyberpunk hackers won and the state is no more: in case of this book instead of our states there are phyles (supposedly from Greek term for clan or tribe), which a person can freely choose – from extreme political left or right to ones, following some cultural/temporal ideal. There is no poverty in our sense – machine feeds can nano-compose food and everyday items for anyone. However, it is far from utopia, there is crime and poverty, just different from ours.

The book starts quite heavily, dumping a lot of world-building on the reader. It definitely adds to reader’s pleasure if one re-reads it later, so dense with ideas the start is. We begin with following two quite different lines, people living is so different circumstances that they can be on different planets: one is the lowly life of not very clever thug and his family; another is nano-engineer catering to the needs of new Victorians, a phyle, which assumes that the staightjacket of Victorian era was the reason for the Britain’s world dominance. The engineer produces a copy of A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer AI (pseudo-intelligence), which should tutor the princess based on old approaches to cautionary fairytales. This primer through the series of [un]fortunate events appears in the hands of the thug’s daughter.

Heavy world-building of the beginning is then replaced by a fine adventure, but like with many other Stephenson’s works it starts to fumble and drag in the later parts, not enough for a reader to lose interest but definitely down from the start.

Just a few quotes:

Dr. X's system was a sort of Polish democracy requiring full consent of all participants, elicited one subsystem at a time. Dr. X and his assistants would gather around whichever subsystem was believed to be farthest out of line and shout at each other in a mixture of Shanghainese, Mandarin, and technical English for a while. Therapies administered included but were not limited to: turning things off, then on again; picking them up a couple of inches and then dropping them; turning off nonessential appliances in this and other rooms; removing lids and wiggling circuit boards; extracting small contaminants, such as insects and their egg cases, with nonconducting chopsticks; cable-wiggling; incense-burning; putting folded-up pieces of paper beneath table legs; drinking tea and sulking; invoking unseen powers; sending runners to other rooms, buildings, or precincts with exquisitely calligraphed notes and waiting for them to come back carrying spare parts in dusty, yellowed cardboard boxes; and a similarly diverse suite of troubleshooting techniques in the realm of software. Much of this performance seemed to be genuine, the rest merely for Hackworth's consumption, presumably laying the groundwork for a renegotiation of the deal
------------
“You know, 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. In this case, you are not making any judgment whatsoever as to the correctness of his views or the morality of his behaviour—you are merely pointing out that he has said one thing and done another. Virtually all political discourse in the days of my youth was devoted to the ferreting out of hypocrisy.
---------------
“There are only two industries. This has always been true,” … “There is the industry of things, and the industry of entertainment. The industry of things comes first. It keeps us alive. But making things is easy now that we have the Feed. This is not a very interesting business anymore.

“After people have the things they need to live, everything else is entertainment. Everything.