The Diamond Age

Finn

Not alternate history, but what do you all think of it? I just finished it.

Stephenson is my favorite author, and I like this book. It did end a little abruptly, and I can only imagine that the Celestial Kingdom will (deservedly, for its xenophobic massacres) fall if the Drummers do not continue the ritual of the Seed. Frankly, I hope they don't, the phyle system seems stable.

The New Atlantans fascinate me. Not because they've simply chosen to go with Neo-Victorian aesthetics, but because they have decided it's a good idea to live by a very strict, and somewhat outdated, moral code. They have chosen to do so in reaction to the (perceived) immorality of our times, which strikes me as a position I can respect but do not agree with. For one thing, I honestly did not see much evidence that their society is overtly sexist or bigoted like the Victorians, and as they state themselves they have hypocrisy only on the personal level everyone does, and not to the extent the Victorians had that has led our Moral-Relativistic time to condemn the Victorians so severely.

I think I would remain a thete. I don't see why my part of the world would be as horribly trashy as the thete society in the Leased Territories. You make an artificial island just off the coast of Shanghai and fill the phyle-less slums with unemployed Americans and of course it'll be trashy.

Nell's phyle, the Mouse Army, has a bright future ahead of it. The Primer can be replicated, and that is how that phyle can propagate. And I see of no reason why the Primer can't be adapted for young men as well.

The nanotech didn't seem so ridiculous, merely microscopic rather than ridiculously tiny. Also, it didn't go with the ridiculous grey goo concept or even mention it, which I liked.
 
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Kaiphranos

Kaiphranos

Donor
I've read it a couple of times. I find the idea of "phyles" pretty interesting--cultural groups built around something other than geographic proximity, but more specialized than vague notions like "class."
 

Dizcorp

Good book actually. Spiritual (if not actual)* sequel to Snow Crash, which I thought was a lot more fun although not necessarily higher in quality (it was madcap).

Enjoyed the concept of phyles and Neo-Victorian technopunk,

I will have to check out Stephenson's other works at some time or other.

* Miss Matheson does make a reference to "chiselled spam" at one point - part of an advertising slogan referred to by Y.T. in Snow Crash, implying the two characters are the same person.
 
Electric Monk

Electric Monk

Max Sinister said:
I read it too, found it interesting, but didn't like the ending. It was way too rushed and also quite squick-y.
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Although Stephenson continues to maintain the endings in his books are exactly the way he wants them, they are almost invariably terrible.

Zodiac, I think, is the only one with a decent ending. Diamond Age, Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon (my personal favourite), and IIRC because I only read it once the Baroque Trilogy all had pretty bad endings.


I rather enjoyed the Diamond Age back in the late '90s, but I haven't read it again like I have with most of his books so… I dunno.
 

Finn

Electric Monk said:
Although Stephenson continues to maintain the endings in his books are exactly the way he wants them, they are almost invariably terrible.
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He always stops like a page after the climax. At least the Baroque Cycle gave a half-assed stopping point for each major character, but we never actually got to see the reunion of Jack and Eliza, which had me apoplectic. They are my favorite fictional couple, their brief contact in Confusion had me in tears.
 

Constantinople

Banned
Dizcorp said:
Good book actually. Spiritual (if not actual)* sequel to Snow Crash, which I thought was a lot more fun although not necessarily higher in quality (it was madcap).
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It is an actual sequel. Something like 80 years in the future. The consequence of an anarcho-capitalist cyberpunk society is a nano-punk psuedo anarcho capitalist society based around Phyles!

It's a ridiculously cool book. Both books are. The descriptions of Atlantis/Shanghai are really quite amazing.
 

Constantinople

Banned
Finn said:
Stephenson is my favorite author, and I like this book. It did end a little abruptly, and I can only imagine that the Celestial Kingdom will (deservedly, for its xenophobic massacres) fall if the Drummers do not continue the ritual of the Seed. Frankly, I hope they don't, the phyle system seems stable.
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Agreed! You should read Snow Crash. It makes the references to a collapsed society at the beginning of the century make more sense. Anarcho-capitalism evolved into a strange phyle-based free-market run world system.
 

Finn

Constantinople said:
Agreed! You should read Snow Crash. It makes the references to a collapsed society at the beginning of the century make more sense. Anarcho-capitalism evolved into a strange phyle-based free-market run world system.
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I have read Snow Crash, I know it's his Magnum Opus and all but to me it's my least favorite of the ones of his I've read (Snow Crash, Diamond, Cryptonomicon, Baroque).
 

sarapen

Anathem's ending was not so abrupt as his other works, so it might be that Stephenson is slowly learning how to write endings. That book is more enjoyable if you have at least a passing familiarity with philosophy after the 19th century. I think I'll check out his new book Reamde one of these days just to confirm whether he's managed to get climax and denouement down.
 
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