Another long slog from NS.

“So, all hail Isaac Newton! Let us give him his due, and glorify and worship whatever generative force can frame such a mind. Now, consider Hooke. Hooke has perceived things that no man before has ever perceived. … Newton makes his discoveries in geometrickal realms where our minds cannot go, he strolls in a walled garden filled with wonders, to which he has the only key. But you, Hooke, are cheek-by-jowl with all of humanity in the streets of London. … You are the millionth human to look at a spark, a flea, a raindrop, the moon, and the first to see it. For anyone to say that this is less remarkable than what Newton has done, is to understand things in but a hollow and jejune way, 'tis like going to a Shakespeare play and remembering only the sword-fights."

#3 returns again to some of the characters from #1, and I appreciated that but I'm not a big fan of Eliza and I still found the prose very long-winded. I decided to take a break from the series after this one and have yet to start book #4.

Definitely my favorite of the baroque cycle so far!really starting tot get into it and the characters etc. all of the stuff between Newton, Leibniz, etc was super fun and interesting.

Finished this 3rd book in the series, I enjoyed the book that features things like espionage and science, cryptography, and political intrigue. The question I have, did people really care on this much sexually or is the sex gratuitous. But sex was more free and outrageous than classical, so perhaps the author was trying to depict this difference historically. So while I could have done with a bit less sexual detail, it does fit the time period. Interesting book. The book is rich in science details, features the Royal Society member in the English scientific community. Such characters as Isaac Newton and Liebniz. Its an interesting way to brush up on history.

Consistently high quality.

The stories in Quicksilver and King of the Vagabonds begin to converge as characters begin desperate gambits to ensure that their preferred candidates sit upon the throne of England. Deviating from the style of the previous books, Odalisque combines traditional storytelling with with epistolary, journal entries, and a short play. Definitely the cleverest book of the series so far!

This is the final book in Volume 1 of The Baroque Cycle and I am very pleased to say that Stephenson wraps things up very nicely while still leaving me wondering what happens further on.
This book contains both the evolving stories of Daniel Waterhouse and Eliza during the tumultuous 1680's. Charles II has died and there is a new king of England, however, of course, things are not that simple. A new word is born, Revolution, or at least, given new meaning. Not only a "revolving around" but now a Revolution as we commonly know the word today, as an "uprising". And Daniel and Eliza, although both in completely different parts of Europe, are quite in the middle of everything.
Neal Stephenson writes so clearly about these sophisticated political situations and, also, the ideas of Natural Philosophy at the time, that I have no problem understanding and following along. One thing I would like to mention that this first Volume has taught me, and that is that humanity in the late 17th century could be just as polite, nice, charming, vicious and vile as it is today.
There is so much quality to match the quantity of this massive Volume, so if the sheer size of the books of The Baroque Cycle scare you, I can assure you it is more than worth your time.

More superb writing and story craft by Stephenson. I’m loving these Baroque cycle novels!

Woody Hayday

Até pode ser muito interessante pelos acontecimentos descritos mas não cheguei bem a perceber qual era o objectivo desta história.
É certo que não li os volumes anteriores e talvez esteja aí o meu problema. Talvez este livro seja melhor apreciado tendo lido os outros.

This series gets better with each installment. I listened to the unabridged audio version and the combination of Stephenson's detailed prose with Prebble's witty narration is unbeatable.

Least enjoyable of the pieces of Quicksilver - didn't enjoy the current of espionage nor the epistolary style - missed instead the dialogue, the scientific leaning, the comradery of characters.