Intense but very creative. Crawl out of your narrow view and get a look at this cybernetic chess game. A game where the victorious win control of the human race. This guy has such vivid imagery and the implications of this book are astounding. Mere words can't describe. Try to envision every aspect of the human race, every germ, every sperm, every ovum as part of a super computer code. That which controls the code controls the world. Now and try to make this concept plausible. Neal Stephenson did this magnificently.

«Алмазный век» я читал, когда он только вышел, и ни о каких переводах на русский речи еще не было, но не помню, чтобы что-то запомнил про эту книжку — ну, т.е., она конечно смутно поразила воображение, но контекст, как я сейчас понимаю, был не тот. Потому что читалась она как «научная фантастика», а проходить в голове ей лучше совсем не по этой категории. Сейчас понятно, что за минувшие 20 лет вся эта прогностика слущилась — осталась псевдоанглийская литературная сказка, и на таких условиях роман и стоит воспринимать, мне кажется. В тот момент, когда литература попадает под жанровый ярлык «фантастики», она успешно устаревает, о каким бы периоде предполагаемой истории ни шла речь. Ну, т.е. если литература в этой работе действительно присутствует. Тут как раз этот случай. «Алмазный век» имеет больше смысла читать, когда это уже не фантастика.
Хотя, конечно, в смысле литературы роман Стивенсона — не без недостатков, конечно. Иногда он тороплив и пунктирен, автор явно торопился донести до читателя все свои придумки про нанотехнологии, медиа-гаджеты и те или иные разновидности интернетов, — в ущерб сюжету, который местами питается из обстоятельных нарративов Дикенза или кого ни возьми. Конец у него тоже скомкан и намеренно, я подозреваю, мета-ироничен. Сам по себе, конечно, это роман взросления и становления, а также освобождения и отчасти — того, что за неимением нормальных русских слов можно назвать «woman empowerment» (юная героиня — вообще благодатный элемент, как мы знаем от Льюиса Кэрролла). В общем, образцы для подражания у Стивенсона тут были что надо. И литературная фантазия у него вполне получилась.
В первую очередь — потому, что происходит действие на обломках национальных государств, и даже в смысле прогнозов это одна из самых красивых идей Стивенсона. «Филы» представляют собой культурно-архетипические анклавы, в которые можно вступить более-менее без национальной аффилиации, лишь дав клятву верности некой умозрительной идее, подписавшись на определенные стиль жизни и мировосприятие. (Только жаль, конечно, что нам не показали ниппонцев или индустанцев.) В общем, «филы», как нам сообщает их название, — это по любви, в немалой степени — по любви к литературе: викторианской, китайской, другим. Не вполне, конечно, рай библиофила, но недаром «букварь» там все-таки имеет форму книги, хоть и вполне себе «макгаффин».
Разбирать «Алмазный век» на составляющие литературной сказки (не обязательно, кстати, английской, викторианство там — просто могучий фетиш, хоть нам и нравится) можно долго и наверняка уже делалось не раз. Отметить стоит только одну черту родства: в этом «ином мире, где повсюду волшебство», роль магии выполняет криптография — некая мистическая сила, которой примерно все покоряется, но постичь ее простым смертным героям невозможно. Довольно забавно, с одной стороны, но ведь правда — нас всегда будет влечь к себе тайна. И мы всегда будем стремиться так или иначе повышать степени своей свободы.

Executive Summary: While there are some parts I liked, I didn't enjoy this one as much as the other books I've read by Mr. Stephenson.

Audio book: This book was one that was recommended to me by a few people when I was looking for a new audiobook to listen to. At first I was wondering why, but it eventually became apparent. Jennifer Wiltsie does a few voices and accents. Her voice for Nell is especially good. This is definitely one that works well in audio.

n  Full Reviewn
I have really enjoyed both of the books by Mr. Stephenson I've read. Snow Crash is on my favorites list. Cryptonomicon while a bit slow in places was very enjoyable.

This book took me a bit to warm up to, and unlike the other two books, I didn't enjoy the tangents and side stories nearly as much.

The concept of the Young Lady's Illustrated Primer was really cool. Most of the stuff that directly involved it I really enjoyed. I liked the nested stories. As someone who knows the magic of a good book, the idea of a smart book that not only adapts to the reader, but teaches them is a fantastic idea.

Unfortunately I found most of the rest of the surrounding story and subplots far less interesting and sometimes downright confusing. The other disappointing thing for me was the general lack of humor that I greatly enjoyed in his other books. I was a bit surprised to find everything so serious all the time.

To me this is a book that falls short of its potential. It seems like it was split down the middle among my friends who either gave it 5 stars or 3 stars. I'm sad to say I'm joining in on the 3 stars side, but that doesn't mean you won't find this a 5 star book.

2.5 Stars
Video Review: https://youtu.be/TK6ITg3Q_SM

As someone who adores Neal Stephenson, it pains me to review this one… i not love it. In fact, I didn't even like it. It felt so different than their other work and specifically missing all the magic that makes me love them. I hope my opinion changes on a future read but I'm not sure it will.

I love fiction set in the Victorian era. Sexually-repressive mores and cool, arrogant superiority aside, the Victorians embody a sense of order and etiquette that often escapes us these days. They had protocols for social interaction—protocols embedded in unfortunate distinctions between classes, and laden with the constant threat of small talk about the weather, but protocols nonetheless. The Victorian cadence and diction are so courteous, delightful without being overly flowery. While I would never want to live in the Victorian era, I do admire them for this polished and civil approach to discourse.

So I was pleased to see Neal Stephenson invoke the Victorian zeitgeist in The Diamond Age, where the New Atlantans represent a vision of social order based on principle rather than authoritarian enforcement. Unlike the British Empire of old, the New Atlantans are but one phyle—albeit, one of the most influential—among many; those born into it are free to leave, and those not may, if accepted, take an Oath to Her Majesty Queen Victoria II and join. With such flexible notions of statehood and allegiance, Stephenson has created a middle ground between the localized countries of today and the decentralized megacorporation-states envisioned in some cyberpunk.

Through a neo-Victorian and Confucian lens, Stephenson depicts a variegated world where nanotechnology, coupled with nearly-unlimited energy, means an effective post-scarcity world—but there is still poverty, unrest, and injustice. On one level, this world seems utterly different from ours, with its own jargon, social strata, technology (of course), and conflicts. On another level, it seems remarkably similar to our world, the only difference being that post-scarcity has enabled every ideology to experiment with its own lifestyle (embodied by the phyles) without much fear of catastrophe.

Of course, this is just background. After a certain amount of fussing around with minor characters and establishing some expository details, Stephenson starts telling us a story about people whom we can care about, even when their individual needs conflict. Thus, while it is a tragedy that John Hackworth's illicit second copy of the Young Lady's Illustrated Primer gets stolen before he can give it to his daughter, it is a miracle for its new owner, Nell. As much as we want John to succeed in his goal of raising Fiona to achieve greatness, we also want Nell to grow up into a strong, capable girl who can escape her abusive domestic situation.

Through delightful stories-within-the-story and liberal use of jumps across the space of several years, Stephenson shows us Nell maturing, thanks to a loving older brother and the guiding hand of the Primer. One notable aspect of The Diamond Age was its ability to surprise me: Harv was one of many characters I didn't think I would like but did. He truly cared for Nell, to the point that when he helped her into a better situation but recognized he could not join her there, he essentially threw himself back into the slums so she could stay. Despite lacking any Primer to raise him, Harv turns out a good person, even if his ultimate fate is regrettable.

The character that surprised me most, however, was Miranda. She began as a ractor with a dream of stardom and ended up acting as a surrogate mother, through the Primer, for Nell. Her attachment to Nell, like that of Harv's is endearing in its genuineness. While Nell has a good many people interested in her wellbeing—indeed, a superfluity considering how impersonal and dangerous a world Stephenson makes this seem—Miranda, Harv, and Constable Moore stand out because they care about her as a person rather than a means to an end. To Lord Finkle-McGraw, John Hackworth, Judge Fang, etc., she is just an interesting experiment. To Miranda, she is a little girl (who grows up into a young woman) who needs a mother. Amid so much technology, the characters with personal stakes are the ones who matter most.

Unlike Miranda and Nell, not every character is so well-conceived. Some, like Judge Fang, start off important and then just vanish prior to the end of the book. Others, like Carl Hollywood, begin as minor characters only to vault to centre stage during the climax. Carl vexed me: at first he is just a paternal figure for Miranda, someone who gave her advice about her role as Nell's surrogate mother. Then, suddenly, he is a super-hacker who has a role in orchestrating the resolution behind the scenes. The plot similarly starts spectacularly and degenerates into a somewhat random collection of related conflicts, none of which receive a satisfactory resolution by the time the book abruptly ends. Much as he does in n  Snow Crashn, Stephenson elects to provide no epilogue for his characters' lives, leaving us to wonder who flourishes and who perishes. Although I don't demand that a book tie up every loose end, I feel cheated when I invest myself in a character only for his or her story to stop when it feels like the conflict is barely concluded.

The Diamond Age exemplifies both the positive and negative hallmarks of Stephenson's style. His enthusiasm for technology is evident. His descriptions of that technology, as well as cities and characters, are both full of wonder and witticism. Stephenson enjoys drawing attention to contradictions, contrasting characters' overt reactions with what they really think about a situation, and the result is usually entertaining. And while The Diamond Age, like Snow Crash, depicts humanity as an organism at the society level, it does not entirely feel like a Stephenson book until much later in the story, when Hackworth introduces the concept of the Seed.

Ah, there's Stephenson's theme of information as a viral construct that is capable of reprogramming human society. A precursor appears in Nell's Primer, when she arrives in the domain of King Coyote and begins learning about Turing machines that function on a macroscopic level. To Hackworth, the Seed is a new technology, threatening because of the capabilities it grants to its possessor. To Dr. X, the Seed is a paradigm for social order, a blueprint. To both, it means the end of interdependence of the phyles: splinters will no longer rely on the main Feeds or their Sources controlled by the neo-Victorians. In this respect, while I don't think it quite compensates for the disappointing climax, the thematic aspects of The Diamond Age become most interesting just as one's interest in the plot diminishes.

There is a CBC radio show, Spark, that discusses the impact of new technology on our daily lives (I listen to it as a podcast, of course!). Rather than a discussion about technology, Spark is aimed at a general audience and focuses on the social implications of technology. The Diamond Age reminds me of Spark, because it too is a long look at how technology (like nanotechnology) affects society. It is a serious meditation on what might happen to society as the Internet continues to evolve, as our ability to manipulate nature extends to the atomic scale, and as our desire to find solutions to waste and environmental problems increases in urgency.

Of all his recurring motifs, Stephenson's treatment of humanity as a single organism is the one that intrigues me the most. This is not a new concept within science fiction—Isaac Asimov's civilization-manipulating Foundation series or Herbert's Golden Path spring to mind—but with the rise of memes and memetics, Stephenson's ideas seem timely. Snow Crash explored the idea that information could be transmitted virally, actually compromising a society like a disease compromises an immune system. The Diamond Age focuses more on morality, asking what exactly makes one culture differ from another, and how ideologies are transmitted cross-culturally. Can one hack a society, even one that is not a Turing machine?

Although it is tempting to simplify the conflict as one of Eastern-Western philosophies, it is possible to envision two different sides. Rather than East/West, we have two schools of thought about the propagation of culture to the next generation—a timeless problem. How do you ensure children see that your way of living is the best, even though it has obvious flaws? On one side, you have people like Judge Fang and Dr. X, who see it as the duty of the entire society to ensure that people are brought up to respect the social order and contribute in a useful manner. On the other side, there those like Lord Finkle-McGraw, who grasp that there is no reliable way to educate children and simultaneously ensure their loyalty: either you end up indoctrinating them, or they push away from you and rebel. Thus the desire for an alternative, Finkle-McGraw's elusive search for a systematic subversiveness.

The Diamond Age frustrated me and fascinated me. While I don't entirely agree with Stephenson's ideas, they are intriguing. Yet often, especially because of the lack of a satisfactory conclusion, the story seems to be nothing but a thin vehicle for the transmission of those ideas—it is all substance, heavy on theme and light on the plot. Stephenson may have piqued my interest, but he has to work harder than this if he hopes to hack my mind.

n  n

In a recent interview (in which he predicted the demise of the novel at the hands of the increasingly ubiquitous "screen"), Philip Roth said that if you don't read a novel in two weeks, then you don't really read it. He's talking about the necessity of focus and attention, the dedication required to trick your brain into thinking these characters and places are real, without which you cannot become emotionally and intellectually enmeshed in the narrative, without which the novel has no bite, no pathos, no transformative power. I agree.

Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age was a near thing. I just couldn't get into it. Perhaps it was the sometimes unnecessary minutiae of description, for example a five page description of a mural. Or maybe the disjointed plot, which only kicks into full gear in the last half of the book. Or maybe that I didn't quite believe the world building: in Stephenson's view of the future, nation-states have been replaced by smaller phyles (i.e. communities or organizations), such as the stuffy, archaic neo-Victorians who are the primary focus of the plot. I didn't agree that the rise of ubiquitous nanotechnology would dissolve the nation state or that the world would remain largely poor and polluted [as a comparison, in 1980, 45% of the world lived in poverty; it was 9.5% in 2015].

But then, with about 100 pages to go, it all clicked into place. I understood the appeal of Victorian sexuality: The unwieldy dresses, the coyness, the repression - foreplay, all of it, tease on a societal scale. I understood the Eastern conflict between acceptance of Western technology and Western philosophy: A desire to wield the power of technology without being corrupted by the attendant culture. I realized how little I truly knew about the history of China pre-Industrial age - that I might know the facts but have not developed a clear understanding of the tone or texture of those people. One of the book's primary characters, Hackworth, found his place - he was not just an engineer but a genius and like all geniuses, a bit unhinged. I saw the parallels between Nell's primer, a penultimate choose-your-own-adventure adaptive book meant to instruct young ladies in independent and intelligent thought; her ghost-mother, the ractive (interactive) actress Miranda; and the hundreds of thousands of Chinese girls, orphaned by civil war: Conquering poverty is not just about feeding the belly, it's about feeding the mind. I realized that the stories found in the Primer were not meant to be mere allegories of Nell's life but a story within its own right. A book within a book if you will. Just like the story of our own lives is filled with stories within stories and is itself a sub-story of the larger stories of community, country, and humanity. Stories as Matryoshka dolls.

In short, Diamond Age became more than just a static stamping of ink on a page. It infiltrated my mind and became not just *a* story, it became *my* story, personalized and customized to me, by my own thoughts, just like the stories in the Primer are customized to the reader. The Diamond Age is then a celebration of that great and wondrous paradox of books: their mutability. A million people can read the exact same words and yet each will be reading a different story.

This is the second Neal Stephenson book I have read, the previous one being the marvelously entertaining Snow Crash. Unlike Snow Crash this not an easy read, being the impatient sort I almost gave up on it around page 70, fortunately some wiser heads than mine pulled me back (thank you Goodread friends!). The problem for me is the initial inundation of unfamiliar words, some are of the author's invention, the others are just English words not in my vocabulary!

The book focuses on the trials and tribulations of several protagonists and one central character, a little girl from a poor family called Nell. If the book had been focused on Nell alone it would have been a breeze to read as I like the character and her adventures with her brother in the early parts of the book are relatively straight forward. While I love the setting of this strange future world where nanotechnology pervades every aspect of life, my initial difficulty with the book is that I found one of the protagonists (Hackworth, damn him!) less than endearing and his part of the story hard to follow as he is a genius nanotechnologist and a lot of the technical details Stephenson describes in these chapters go right over my head. Still, the author knows better than I do how his story should proceed and his canvas is too big for just a single protagonist narrative. Anyway, I put the book down for a couple of days to read something much easier (Bujold!) then I was persuaded to get back to The Diamond Age again. By a happy coincidence from the point of my reentry the book switches its focus from the irritating Hackworth to spend a lot of time on Nell and her development with the aid of the high nanotech primer book mentioned in the novel’s subtitle. Another high point for me is Stephenson’s peculiar sense of humor which is based more on cultural oddities rather than witticism or slapstick. For example the dialogue in the tea house scene between a judge and a mysterious Chinese character called Dr X is a subtly hilarious comedy of manners.

However, this is clearly a more serious novel than Snow Crash, one of the theme that resonate very much with me is the right of the disenfranchised to education, enlightenment and a chance of good life. I also share the author's sense of outrage against child abuse, some teacher’s abuse of authority and general spiritual and intellectual deprivation some kids are subjected to. These serious issues are smoothly integrated into the story without ever becoming preachy. Being an extremely well read individual Stephenson has included bits of Confucius philosophy in the narrative, I can't claim to understand it all but the little that I do may have made me just a teensy weensy bit wiser, a definite bonus.

So an entertaining, thought provoking and worthwhile book, it may even give the reader’s intelligence a wee boost. If that doesn’t work you can always eat more fish.

6.0 stars. Among the best books I have ever read (although slightly behind Snow Crash as my favorite Neal Stephenson novel). Neal's books are just loaded with great dialogue, mind-stretching ideas and a world as complex as our own. HIGHEST POSSIBLE RECOMMENDATION!!

Nominee: Arthur C. Clarke Award for Best Science Fiction Novel
Nominee: John W. Campbell Award for Best Science Fiction Novel
Nominee: Prometheus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel
Winner: Hugo Award for Best Science Fiction Novel
Winner: Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel

Full review on AvalinahsBooks. 3 reasons why you should read this:

Reason #1. n  It's A Utopia For Oncen

n  How many times have you actually read a Utopia? Huh?n
(I can hear you silently disappearing into the night, one by one.)
n  Cause you probably have not.n It's all about dystopia! The last utopia I've heard of? I think it must have been the one written by Thomas More. Because after that, it's been one dystopia after another, and frankly? Sick. And. Tired. Which is why I'm so glad to actually read a contemporary Utopia! n  Okay, so those societies might still be struggling here and there, but it's a world that actually works. So there. Bite it, dystopia.n

Reason #2. n  Neo-Victorians!!n

Neal Stephenson has crafted an incredible world here. It wouldn't be possible for me to delve into the details here because (that's why the book is 500 pages long, really!) There are so many cultural groups in this book aside from the Neo-Victorians, but they are focused upon the most (and let's face it. They need to be there for the cyberpunk to actually happen.) Imagine a society that's more technologically advanced than us, but take their tea seriously and transport themselves on mechanical horses. Never forget Victorian costume. I am not sure I would like to live in a society like that, but reading about one? Hell yes please!!

Reason #3. n  The Big Picturen
n  n    n  n
n  You might have noticed that I have lots of love for big picture scifi.n I love it when an author makes you concentrate on the little things, on particular characters, and then twists and turns the events in a way which suddenly enables them to zoom out quickly and blow your mind with the amazing effect it had on society, the environment, the planet, the universe... I am in awe of books that do that. n  Neal Stephenson? He's a master at it.n And n  The Diamond Agen is no exception. This particular story focuses on how small events make big changes come up in societies. And once again, I loved how Stephenson presented this. *claps*

However....
n  I liked this book and all, but...n There's just something it lacks. Maybe that's just good cut-editing. Because at times I felt like maybe it didn't need to be 500 pages long or present so much detail to keep the story going. At times I didn't know quite where it was headed. The language also reinforced that, because it was really genuine with all of the invented or old-world terminology, but some of that sometimes jarred me. n  And considering the book is already 500 pages long, I don't want to be reading it slower than I have to. nDespite this, I still believe it's worth a read! I don't regret reading it and I certainly feel like it expanded my horizons. So I will definitely be reading more of Neal Stephenson's books.

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Suppose you wanted to write a new Victorian bildungsroman about the Boxer Rebellion. It would only be natural that the central plot of the book should focus around the Turing test for artificial intelligence. Now set the book in a future Shanghai, in a world where nanotechnology makes material needs obsolete, at least in theory... And voila: The Diamond Age.

Like Hackworth, the hacker supreme in The Diamond Age, Stephenson seems to be unable to resist anything that is supremely clever. I think that's the quality that sets him apart as a writer. And sometimes, like with this book, the cleverness pays off. I think this is as close to a perfect construction as he has written. Among the various levels of coolness in this book, perhaps the best is the way he starts to merge the book within the book with the book itself.

The book also sports his typical weakness: hit characters rarely leap out and become more than the type he starts with. Here, the level of characterization goes beyond the Hiro Protagonist of Snow Crash. But not by all that much. In the end, instead of becoming a full blown person, Nell becomes Princess Nell of the Primer. And in some ways, Hackworth the hacker becomes the Coyote King. The process is really cool, and it's tons of fun as always. But I still am left with a certain empty feeling that I have at the end of his books. And even so, I can't wait to see what he comes up with next.

I really really really wanted to like this book. But having been reading it for nearly a week now, I'm still only 20 pages in and I just can't get into it.
Sorry James, I know this was one of your picks, but if I keep going with this one, I reckon I'd still be reading it at Christmas. I don't think it's a genre I take to easily, back to crime...

First 200 pages are fantastic. Witty, well written and fast paced. The ending a bit less sharp and inspired. Somewhere between 4 and 5 stars. Reminds me a bit of Gibsons wild early years, which is a big compliment. Great read.