From: Omixochitl2002@yahoo.com
apw wrote in
news:dlGeb.4125$qK1.3939563@news2.news.adelphia.net:
> Has anyone here read QUICKSILVER by Neal Stephenson? I just picked up
Halfway through the Odalisque section right now.
> a copy and am interested in opinions of Stephenson fans toward the
> book. I have read a couple of online reviews and they make it out to
> be a nearly complete departure from the cyberpunk genre. It is
It's not cyberpunk at all, unless
a) you count the many references to cryptography and economics as CP
and/or
b) you think _Cryptonomicon_ was CP (_Quickilsver_ is a distant prequel)
and think everything in the same series must be in the same genre
> described as a meandering historical fiction, and unlike
> CRYPTONOMICON, which flips between the past and the contemporary,
> QUICKSILVER is set entirely in the 17th century.
Some bits are in the early 1700s (18th century).
> I am wondering if it has a Steampunk feel to it, despite that it takes
Not really.
> place well before the age of steam. Perhaps we'll have to coin of a
> new literary category.
Yeah, maybe. Other thoughts:
- Better and more coherent than _Cryptonomicon_ (the characterization's
more memorable) but still not as good as _Snow Crash_ and _Diamond Age_.
- Eliza's way more interesting than Amy Shaftoe, but still nowhere near
as badass as Y.T. or Nell.
- This time the random observations are shoehorned into the plot more
smoothly instead of being major digressions. So, rather than the
Business Plan and the Captain Crunch, lots of info on pre-latex condoms.
- Some bits are in script format, and there are lots more quotations all
over the place. This makes it seem a bit faster-paced.
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
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