Quicksilver

https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/3784740.html

I must say I was dismayed as I contemplated the 916 pages, but it actually flew past rather well; the narrative, rambling between the late 17th century in Europe and the early 18th century in America, pulls in all kinds of intellectually stimulating thoughts about the geopolitics, economics and scientific theories of the day, with flashes of nerdy humour. Now that I'm a bit more of a Samuel Pepys fan than when I first read it, I wished we'd heard more from him, but you can't have everything. By glorious coincidence, as I reached the final chapters I was spending a weekend in The Hague, staying a stone's throw from the Huygens House (now demolished) and the Binnenhof (very much still there) where a substantial part of the story is set. It's rather a borderline call as to whether it's really SF (indeed, it may not even be clearly a novel), but the Clarke jury seems to have been satisfied. ( )

The first time I tried it, I bogged down partway ... this time, though, fresh off a re-read of Cryptonomicon, I got right into and through it. I sighed a little at Stephenson being cute by having it be about still more forebears of the families he introduced in Cryptonomicon, but okay, whatever. He's an author who's occasionally too clever, and I knew that going in.

The plot's as Baroque as the title would imply, and the amount of fictitious history threaded through what's obviously obsessively-studied real history makes for a book that requires an investment of attention ... but it's Stephenson, so it's funny and smart-alecky in enough places to keep it lively, over all. ( )

Returning to Quicksilver to finally put the Baroque Cycle to bed once and for all, I have to admit that it's a lot better than I remember. I'd probably throw four and a half stars at it if I could.

The first third of the book, also entitled Quicksilver, is a great ride through both 1600s London and 1700s ocean travel (the 1700s bit being a frame story for the rest). Daniel Waterhouse, reluctant Puritan and nascent scientist, is a bit hard to get a read on at first, but quickly grows into an interesting character. This section probably has the most "fictional character was present for a historical event/coined a modern idea" to it of the entire book, but Stephenson handles these well and they tended to get more of a smile from me than a groan.

The second third, King of the Vagabonds, is almost entirely an adventure/road, following Jack Shaftoe, Vagabond extraordinaire, and Eliza, a woman he rescues from certain death. This has the infamous Stephenson ending (i.e. things just drop), but it does feel somewhat earned and not just poorly written.

Finally, Odalisque ("a female slave or concubine in a harem, esp. one in the seraglio of a sultan of Turkey" - a title choice I'm still ruminating over) drops Jack to switch between Daniel (now something of an advisor to the king) and Eliza (now something of a financial guru/spy). This is the part of the book where the wheels start to come off, I think. Stephenson doesn't convey a lot of the action happening in Eliza's story very well, despite inserting a map of central Europe right there in the book, and his decision to skip over parts of the run-up to the Glorious Revolution makes Daniel's story feel really disjointed.

Overall, really, that's probably the worst thing I can say about the book is that it feels like Stephenson had 3 really good books in him but there's just a little bit of connective tissue missing that would elevate this entire thing and make it really great. On my first pass, I was really unsure of how I felt about the fact that so much of the book was returning to territory from Cryptonomicon (Waterhouse, Shaftoe, Eliza, Qwglhm, etc) -- I don't really mind most of it, although I'm really sick of Stephenson's pet character Enoch Root. It's a really fascinating, really fun ride with some memorable characters, and I guess that's all I really ask for. ( )

This is how you do historical fiction! A wide-ranging tale covering the history of royal families, court intrigue, early espionage and cryptography, scientific invention, finance, etc. Epic in every way. ( )

tried 2x and couldn't finish