Nation states are no more, the world is divided in phyles. It’s a post-scarcity nanotech world, a libertarian utopia. But, of course, it’s still a capitalist world upholding artificial scarcity; the powerful are still getting richer and the poorest may not starve, but still live ugly lives in unpleasant, violent places. One of them is Nell, who is four years old at the beginning of the story and with a twist of luck grows up with a primer (A Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer), which is a nanotech-computer disguised as a story telling book intended to raise girls from the phyle of the Neo-Victorians, the richest of them all.
The greatest part of the book is following this dumb 4-year-old becoming a smart, strong child and eventually woman through the help of an AI computer/book with fantastic stories.
The last third of the book seems too short; everything comes to an end too quickly. The first half was 4.5★, the second half 3★, the ending a bit better.

I was expecting this to be more like a sequel to 'Snow Crash' but it fact it is a totally separate book set in a slightly different future. Most of the action takes place in a fictional version of the Shanghai region and does have quite a few cyberpunk elements. The main difference in this world is that nanotechnology has progressed to such a point that everyone has a 'matter compiler' in their house and can make almost anything they want, even food, on demand. All they need is to be connected to 'the feed', a pipeline of raw elements. As you can imagine this result in a totally different economy with a whole new set of problems.

As with most Stephenson books, this is not a light easy read and takes some time to learn the terminology and to get into it. I did find that things got a little slow in the middle. Towards the end there were some metaphysical elements that Stephenson explored in more depth in Anathem.

Not quite what I was expecting and overall I did not enjoy it as much as Snow Crash.

Thought provoking, kind of a slog

If you want to have your hand held through a narrative, this is not the book for you. If you want to take an unguided tour through a fascinating, imaginative world of high technology in a twisted future, step right in!

This is probably the longest I've ever taken to finish a book, but the good parts were so unique compared to other books that I couldn't bear to stop. Part of me wants to re-read it right now to see if the beginning makes more sense, but I need some lighter prose before I try that.

From beginning to end, I was impressed by the Diamond Age. Stephenson seemed prescient at times (about everything except tape drive storage) and his worlds were truly imaginative. I could not help but be drawn into the story of Nell, Hackworth, and the others. There is much going on here, and it builds into a strong story. Strangely for Neal Stephenson, the book could have used another hundred pages. (Someone must have told him that, and now he uses those pages in every subsequent book he's written, whether he needs them or not.)

I will admit it – I did not love all of this book. Plot gets messy, imagination overwhelms rationality. But the parts that I did love, the windows into storytelling bliss, were more than sufficient to outweigh the truly odd machinations of the final third. The genius of Neal Stephenson pops up over and over again, and I was always excited to see what was coming next.

P.S. In the dedication, one line reads: “Douglas (Carl Hollywood) Crockford” Yes, that Douglas Crockford. I wish I knew why...