This entire series was fantastic! This was a great end which had involvement from all the characters previously introduced in the first two and left no loose ends. One of the best series I've read in a long time. ( )

This is the third and final volume of the Baroque Cycle, Stephenson's grand and enormous work. This volume takes up where the first volume began before flashing back thirty years earlier to fill in a couple thousand pages' worth of backstory. Natural Philosopher Daniel Waterhouse arrives in England on a mission for Queen Sophie and Princess Caroline, the German Hanoverian heirs to the British throne. England is in turmoil, as Queen Anne is dying and the Tories and Whigs maneuver to get their chosen heir to the throne. Meanwhile, Jack Shaftoe, King of the Vagabonds, is working on behalf of the King of France to undermine the British Mint.

All the threads that wove throughout the first two vast volumes finally come together here, in an intricate, funny, exciting conclusion. I love these books, and, strange as it may seem, was sorry to see the story end, even after nearly three thousand pages. ( )

Man I can not for the life of me finish this series... The first book was very interesting with Leibniz and Newton, but it just started to drag with these other swash buckling comedic characters and love affair... ( )

The final volume of this series manages to wrap up all the loose ends and come to a satisfactory outcome all round. Stephenson continues to have believable characters set in their period, while having the occasional anachronistic moment as a counterpoint. His grasp of the period and the detail of his knowledge is overwhelming – I found only one obvious error (there are no humming birds in India). After about 2,700 pages, I was sad to put this series down. Read November 2008 ( )

This is the third book in Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle - well, the last three books, since Stephenson actually wrote eight books that made up the cycle which were then published to form a trilogy. Here the majority of the action takes place in London, where virtually all of the protagonists we have been following end up bringing the story to a mighty conclusion.

The basic plot is that of a murder mystery, but comprises many other components. Daniel Waterhouse has completed his epic trip back across the Atlantic at the urging of Princess Caroline. She wished him to bring about the reconciliation of those two mighty Philosophers Leibniz and Newton. In the process of which he ends up stumbling across Jack's scheme to debase English currency (which he is being blackmailed into by the King of France and the dastardly Edouard de Gex). Trying to summarise the plot - the many strands and the different events - is difficult without having to repeat what happened in earlier books or flick through many pages trying to remind myself of exactly who Saturn was and why the Tsar of Russia made an appearance.

The cast of characters is enormous and it can be difficult to keep them separate at times, although our main characters have become extremely three dimensional. Daniel, Eliza (although she makes a small appearance in this volume), Jack, Isaac Newton, Dappa, Bob Shaftoe, Ravenscar, Princess Caroline, Leibniz - all these characters become beloved and it is of interest to see what happens to all of them.

The three volumes as a whole - the Baroque Cycle - are a truly amazing achievement. It is nigh on 3000 pages dense with facts, with ideas, with characters, with exciting escapes and political machinations. We are shown the beginnings of the world system that we know today - with law enforcement, political parties (Whigs and Tories), real estate and, of course, currency. Either this was written as a fact or Stephenson came up with an extremely clever idea in that currency is called such because of the current of money flowing into London, in this case. There are many such moments during all three books, where you marvel at the level of research and detail that has gone into every element of the story.

It is interesting that these books are almost always shelved in the fantasy/sci fi section but, barring the presence of Enoch Root and his little procedure (I shall not say more, for fear of spoiling certain things!) they are more historical in nature.

One of my disappointments in this and the previous books is the pacing - we can go from thrilling page-turning events into a deep philosophical discourse and this can make the reader grind to a halt. Despite the exciting nature of the plot in general, there were times when I felt as though it was a struggle to read any further, and this is a sad fact when considering that this should be a series read by everyone. It is a classic in the making - or would be, barring the slow and turgid prose at times. Having said that, it didn't do Tolkien any harm and some people may, in fact, find this one of the charming aspects of Stephenson's writing.

I am extremely glad that I read this series, but I shall not be embarking on a re-read for many, many years - if at all. However, I do have the notion that the characters and events will niggle and stay with me - the mark of a book that has had a big effect on me. This should have been a five star experience, but I keep it to four stars purely because of the difficulty of the reading. Recommended (with reservations!) ( )