Quicksilver - Neal Stephenson

Let's be clear about something: Neal Stephenson is probably smarter than you.

One look at his back-catalogue and you'll see the impressive array of his undertakings to date.  His cyberpunk novel Snow Crash, now considered a classic in many circles, was a visionary meshing of virtual reality and Sumerian myth.  Yes, you read that correctly.  It's the sort of thing you come to expect from him.  He's examined Quantum computers, nanotechnology, life as software, code decryption from the World Wars, and online multiplayer gaming.  He's constructed entire civilisations with their own science and philosophy.  And in every instance, Stephenson has managed to construct a compelling narrative.

I mention all of this in an attempt to relate the scope of Stephenson's imagination.  It's no surprise then, when I tell you that the Baroque Cycle is perhaps one of the most ambitious works of speculative fiction you'll find on the market today.

An examination of the history of the world, Quicksilver includes in it's cast of characters Isaac Newton, Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz, Robert Hooke, William of Orange and many other influential characters from history.

It's a history text which examines the formation and proliferation of some of the world's most important scientific theories.  The inner workings of some of the world's most influential political events.  The history and evolution of religion and its place in the world.  Witness the birth of calculus, the creation of the reflective telescope, the romantic notions of the Royal Society of Fellows toward alchemy and dare I say it, the system of the world.

All of these events are told through the eyes of Isaac Newton's friend and room mate Daniel Waterhouse, the vagabond Jack Shaftoe and a virgin slave turned Duchess and spy, Eliza .

Stephenson, with his flawless prose and his flair for humour, knows exactly when to lighten the mood, when to raise the stakes and when to exercise a little self-mockery.

By no means however, should you consider this an easy read.  About a third of the way in you'll think to yourself:  It's demanding.  It's weighty.  It's intimidating.  It's all of these at once.  At this point, Quicksilver is a difficult beast to master.  But fear not, because help is on the way - in the form of Half-cocked Jack Shaftoe, an old world thief and vagabond of the highest order.  It's at this point that Quicksilver becomes fun.  Now you're reading something weighty and dense and intelligent that is also exciting, romanticised and excitingly, romantically funny.  It's a riot.  It's rewarding.  It's spectacular.

And all of this comes just in time, because if it hadn't, then quite honestly I may have missed the ride.  Because waiting on the other side of Quicksilver is volume 2 of the Baroque Cycle, The Confusion.  You see, in reviewing Quicksilver, The Confusion may be its biggest drawback.  Because while Quicksilver is a great set-up for what is the most imaginatively ambitious and complex series I've ever read, it is at the end of the day, just that.  A set-up.  A thousand page set-up to what I consider a 10/10 book (The Confusion)

So while I would give the Baroque Cycle itself a 9/10 and tell you that it left me in absolute awe of Stephenson's skill as a story-teller, author and researcher, I've also got to be honest and tell you that Quicksilver, although great, is the weakest of the series.  Of course - relatively speaking.

My score - 8/10