Interesting at first, the book effectively explores how societies might react to the proliferation of nano-technology and ubiquitous access to molecular assemblers.

Yikes.

Ok, so The Diamond Age is ~500 pages of fragmented stories. Although the book begins at a comfortable pace, taking time with each individual narrative and fleshing out the events leading to Nell's story, with each turned page the narrative cohesion drops and the motivations of the characters/events become less and less clear. By the end of the book there are several dropped threads, too many one-off characters, and too many words devoted to event-driven minutiae (while, at the same time, Stephenson minimizes his descriptions of _why_ such events are unfolding).

Put another way, I suppose my biggest complaint is that more and more (as the book goes on), the interesting plot-points are hastily described parentheticals, while the actual plot-points involve characters walking down the street (or looking at a billboard, or whatever).

Impresionante en Criptonomicón, trilogía extensa de narices, Stephenson tambien hace algo decente con esta novela de nanotecnología y política.
Mejor no compararla con Criptonomicón porque pierde de largo, pero a mí en general me gustó el ritmo. El final, no.

World-Building is roughly a 4.5. Plot and Characterization starts at 3.5 and wanders down towards 2-ish. Unfortunate Implications is a 1. Averages out to a 2.

So, in order. Neal Stephenson is one of the master world-builders, and Diamond Age does it quite well. Lots of discussion of nanotechnology, lots of discussion of cultural groupings, etc. This is done very well.

Characterization and plot... I vaguely felt like I was reading two different books. It starts off with one set of characters and a solid if not amazing plot. Then around the halfway point it just goes off the rails. Characters vanish into the ether (Judge Fang, Harv), plots get misplaced (the saved Chinese girls), people cease acting for rational reasons (Nell leaves a safe and loving environment to seek her fortune as a.... porn scriptwriter??? What?) I confess to increasingly skimming the end of the book to try and figure out where the plot threads went.

Unfortunate Implications. First off, characters get raped, and this is made a plot point. Second, it goes for a perception of China that has more than a bit of Yellow Peril to it.

Honestly I feel like if you ended the book at the halfway point, it'd be a solid 3.5 read, maybe a 4. As is... I can see why people like it, but it seems to me to be a triumph of *ideas* over *plot*, and the Unfortunate Implications were sketchy in 1995 and are just flat out unacceptable now.

A book about a book, but this is no Book of the New [Rising] Sun. With its near-future Asian setting, tech-punk mixed aesthetics, airship-ridden skies, and a major case of White gaze, is this the predecessor of The Windup Girl? Fortunately, the rape isn't nearly as porn-y, but there is that moment when you wonder, "Did a white girl just become the ruler of a bunch Chinese people?" '90s diversity = white savior moment. The stitched-together storyline is interesting enough, but upon completion, you may wonder if it could have used a good chopping and redistribution among novelettes. If you must read it, Jennifer Wiltie's performance on the audio version makes it all worthwhile. She's incredible.

A well-conceived near future dys/utopia with interesting characters. What's not to like? The clunky writing. Stephenson needs to take a basic writing course. He obviously worked hard to find just the right vocabulary to express the social and scientific aspects of his world, but ruined it with high school prose.

The climax was especially unsatisfying as the big meeting between two principal characters is described by a third character some distance away. Bleeds all the emotion and satisfaction out of it.

Stephenson writes with genius. I didn't realize the level of his integrity and skill. His research concerning nanotechnology covers an introductory survey. The stories interweave in several lives and peak in the end with a finale of war and action. The novel offers a collage of genre crossovers, including Victorian English Literature, Cyberpunk, Nanopunk, Thriller, Steampunk, and dramatic literary intertwined stories. Stephenson brings great pleasure. He also writes with effort, using literary techniques, rich with metaphors and similes. The one I will remember: he describes an old woman falling on her knees in prayer, who becomes a massive white "pearl" in the mouth of a "dragon." The woman carried a body bomb in the final battle scene.

I was not a huge fan of Snow Crash, despite the widespread accolades, and almost wrote off Stephenson entirely. Boy, am I glad I gave him another chance. This book is crafted much better in my opinion, with the story arc and character development flowing smoothly. And what a great story, with great action, mystery and incredible visions of the future, particularly nanotech and the fracturing of human society in the face of the onslaught of technology.

Eine Kultur, die auf Nanotechnologie beruht, ist vor diesem Roman noch nicht beschrieben worden. Stephensons kühne Phantasie erreicht die Grenzen des Vorstellbaren. Dabei sehr dicht geschrieben. Ironisch und hintersinnig, eine Farce, wie ein Kenner nicht zu Unrecht geschrieben hat. In einem neuen viktorianischen Zeitalter wird ein Mädchen durch ein interaktives Buch, auf das viele Jagd machen, zu einer Heldin. Am Ende des Romans war ich doch etwas ratlos, es gab bei Stephenson wie fast immer keinen spürbaren Abschluss der Handlung.

I finally finished a real book! Freaking COVID. Anyway ...

This has been a must read for a while now. First because I love Neal Stephenson, and second because the product where I work (adaptive math educational software) was designed specifically after one of our founders read this and wanted to pull the ideas from Nell's book into the real world. (And we're succeeding!)

What I took from it: All children can become more with tailored education, regardless of where they come from (yes, I have embraced my employer's mission with the fullness of my being). Neal has definitely improved as a writer, specifically in the human element of his novels (see: Seveneves). Smart is hot.

What I didn't like: Some *very* problematic depictions of rape and it's (nonexistent??) aftermath. The deep dive tech is dense, another area I feel the author has improved greatly over the years. Lots of meandering and then WHAM action ending.

Very glad I read this. Annoyed that it took me three months!

This classic was a bit long-winded and occasionally confusing. The world-building is great: the future Shanghai with its skyscrapers in Pudong looks like today's Shanghai (minus the border stuff that feels more like Hong Kong) compared to my memories of Shanghai the first time I visited, around the same time this book was written. The Pudong was still just residential neighborhoods with a smattering of new construction down by the Onion. Now, well, it is a massive, polluted metropolis. As for the concept of the Diamond Age, I had to seek out what he was referring to in Wikipedia because somehow I missed the author's explanation in the text. Admittedly, reading that glass is more expensive than diamonds at the beginning of the book throws you off a bit.
What worked for me was the nanotech and the idea of the primer itself. What didn't work was the mix of fantasy and reality when it was hard to tell them apart (the Drummers for example). There were so many factions in the book that it was hard to keep track of them. The character building was rather weak despite a pretty strong narrative structure. I guess one really has to suspend one's disbelief for both the fantasy learning represented by the stories told by the Primer and the reality experienced by the characters. I just never felt all that attached to the protagonists. The end in particular was sort of all over the place. I would have given this one 3.5 stars had that been an option.

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DNF at 50%.

NO, NOPE, ABSOLUTELY NOT. F THIS BOOK.

"The Vickys have an elaborate code of morals and conduct. It grew out of the moral squalor of an earlier generation, just as the original Victorians were preceded by the Georgians and the Regency. The old guard believe in that code because they came to it the hard way. They raise their children to believe in that code – but their children believe it for entirely different reasons."

"They believe it," the Constable said, "because they have been indoctrinated to believe it."

"Yes. Some of them never challenge it – they grow up to be smallminded people, who can tell you what they believe but not why they believe it. Others become disillusioned by the hypocrisy of the society and rebel – as did Elizabeth Finkle-McGraw."

"Which path do you intend to take, Nell?" said the Constable, sounding very interested. "Conformity or rebellion?"

"Neither one. Both ways are simple-minded – they are only for people who cannot cope with contradiction and ambiguity."