In Amsterdam, Eliza’s involvement with the stock market provides another layer, covering the virtualization of money, the application of higher math to the world of high finance, and the critical role current news plays in making and losing fortunes.
Book three, “Odalisque,” alternates between the continuing adventures of Daniel Waterhouse at the court of James II in London and Eliza, who has been installed as a spy at the court of Louis XIV at Versailles. Whereas “Quicksilver” was fascinating, concerned as it was with the development of modern scientific institutions—well within Stephenson’s purview—and “King of the Vagabonds” is an amusing romp, a page-turning swashbuckling tale, “Odalisque” bogs down among the court intrigue at both Versailles and Whitehall Palace.
It may well be that all of the political machinations have a purpose. It frequently seems as though Stephenson is expanding his interest in power and ambition to cover purely political striving, but is not yet sure how to proceed. It may be that his ideas in that realm are less well-formed or less iconoclastic than his views on business and technology.
Book three, “Odalisque,” alternates between the continuing adventures of Daniel Waterhouse at the court of James II in London and Eliza, who has been installed as a spy at the court of Louis XIV at Versailles. Whereas “Quicksilver” was fascinating, concerned as it was with the development of modern scientific institutions—well within Stephenson’s purview—and “King of the Vagabonds” is an amusing romp, a page-turning swashbuckling tale, “Odalisque” bogs down among the court intrigue at both Versailles and Whitehall Palace.
It may well be that all of the political machinations have a purpose. It frequently seems as though Stephenson is expanding his interest in power and ambition to cover purely political striving, but is not yet sure how to proceed. It may be that his ideas in that realm are less well-formed or less iconoclastic than his views on business and technology.
It also seems that he is maneuvering his characters into place for events in the remainder of the trilogy. There must have been a simpler way to manage that, one not involving hundreds of tedious pages of the goings-on at court. Though perhaps in this, too, Stephenson is setting the reader up for a larger payoff down the line.
At the end of Quicksilver, not much is known of the fates of the primary characters. The book ends with a mock-cliffhanger: Daniel Waterhouse on the operating table in 1689. But as the book opens with Waterhouse alive and well in 1713, it is not much of a cliffhanger. Eliza has migrated from Versailles to Whitehall. Jack Shaftoe is offstage but pointedly not dead.
At the end of Quicksilver, not much is known of the fates of the primary characters. The book ends with a mock-cliffhanger: Daniel Waterhouse on the operating table in 1689. But as the book opens with Waterhouse alive and well in 1713, it is not much of a cliffhanger. Eliza has migrated from Versailles to Whitehall. Jack Shaftoe is offstage but pointedly not dead.
Quicksilver feels as though its shortcomings are substantial; newcomers to Stephenson should certainly warm up by reading Cryptonomicon, which is itself a relatively heavy read. Even for readers who devoured that book, however, Quicksilver is slow-going. It may be that hard work now will be rewarded later, or it may be that Stephenson’s admirable reach has finally exceeded his grasp. Only time, and the remaining two volumes of the Baroque Cycle, The Confusion and The System of the World, will tell.
