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Quicksilver (Baroque Cycle, Bk 1)
Quicksilver - Baroque Cycle, Bk 1
Author: Neal Stephenson
Quicksilver is the story of Daniel Waterhouse, fearless thinker and conflicted Puritan, pursuing knowledge in the company of the greatest minds of Baroque-era Europe, in a chaotic world where reason wars with the bloody ambitions of the mighty, and where catastrophe, natural or otherwise, can alter the political landscape overnight. — It...  more »
ISBN-13: 9780060593087
ISBN-10: 0060593083
Publication Date: 10/1/2004
Pages: 960
Rating:
  • Currently 3.5/5 Stars.
 84

3.5 stars, based on 84 ratings
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Book Type: Paperback
Other Versions: Hardcover, Audio CD
Members Wishing: 0
Reviews: Member | Amazon | Write a Review

Top Member Book Reviews

Sianeka avatar reviewed Quicksilver (Baroque Cycle, Bk 1) on + 114 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 4
Another big thick book from Neal Stephenson. If you like his style, this new book, first in a series of stories, will not disappoint. He deftly intertwines the stories of three main characters, richly delving into each character's history and exploits. If you've never read Stephenson, this is one of his historical fictions, bringing to life the time period of Sir Isaac Newton and the scientific community of the late 1600s to early 1700s. You'll get insights into the lives of some famous historical figures that you never imagined, including kings and noblemen, famous early astronomers and philosophers, beggars and villains. There are also references to characters that appear in other Stephenson novels.

Despite the length, I was sorry to see it end and look forward to reading more in this series.
reviewed Quicksilver (Baroque Cycle, Bk 1) on
Helpful Score: 3
Monumental doesn't even begin to describe it - it took me an entire week to finish it. A tale of the beginnings of science as told through the eyes of an historical witness. Perfectly told, replete with incredibly obscure amounts of facts, fiction and fantasy.
reviewed Quicksilver (Baroque Cycle, Bk 1) on + 6 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
A fun book. Don't be scared by it's many pages--you couldn' trust a short book that lables itself as Barroque anyway. Half-Cocked Jack is quite the character, and you find yourself rooting for him in the most unlikely situations. This is a great book for anyone who likes involved plots and a lot of characters.
reviewed Quicksilver (Baroque Cycle, Bk 1) on + 9 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3
An absolutely absorbing book! Set in Baroque era Europe, Quicksilver chronicles the travels of a young member of the "Royal Society" a secret society of scientists or "natural philosophers."
reviewed Quicksilver (Baroque Cycle, Bk 1) on
Helpful Score: 2
I've loved all of Stephenson's other stuff, but I couldn't finish this one. There are several main characters, and it takes a very long time for the connections between them to become obvious (I made it through almost 800 pages and some of them were still unconnected - I guess he was leaving something for the other two behemoths in this series). The action is not as fast-paced as Cryptonomicon. The story is about earlier generations of the same families as Cryptonomicon, and again Stephenson weaves historical people in, including Ben Franklin, Newton, Leibniz, and many members of the British royal society.
Read All 14 Book Reviews of "Quicksilver Baroque Cycle Bk 1"

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reviewed Quicksilver (Baroque Cycle, Bk 1) on + 43 more book reviews
The book is a little difficult to get in to - definitely not a book you can constantly put down and pick up (i.e. short car/subway rides, etc).
reviewed Quicksilver (Baroque Cycle, Bk 1) on + 61 more book reviews
If you are a Neal Stephenson fan, you will love this series - very deep plots and great characters, set it the late 17th / early 18th century, mainly in western Europe, but with adventures all over the world.
reviewed Quicksilver (Baroque Cycle, Bk 1) on + 30 more book reviews
Historical novel set in Europe, 3 books in one, very fast-paced. I really liked the story about the scientist, Daniel Waterhouse, and the early days of the Royal Society. The other two characters weren't as interesting but on the whole the book was entertaining.
reviewed Quicksilver (Baroque Cycle, Bk 1) on + 49 more book reviews
Stephenson is too good a writer for anything he produces being junk and this isn't. But for a writer of such exuberance, wit and charm to write such a slogging, ponderous book such as this was very disappointing to me. In the pages where Jack Shaftoe shows up there are glimmmers of Neal's talents, but much of the rest struck me as his looking for validation by the scholarly crowd out there.

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Baroque Cycle  1 of 2

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