“Juncto” is concerned with the fortunes of the Juncto as it approaches its recoinage, with their interest in installing Newton as head of the Mint, and also with the financial machinations of Eliza, still living primarily in France and orbiting the court at Versailles. In Quicksilver, the portions featuring Eliza were the weakest point in the book: they were stiffly written, and all of the court intrigue led nowhere. In The Confusion, Stephenson has finally warmed up to this material. The writing is much more engaging this time around, and the storyline pays off.
Were it not for the necessity to digest Quicksilver before swallowing this book, or for the cliffhanger of an ending (genuine this time, unlike Quicksilver’s), The Confusion might be the most engaging of Stephenson’s serious novels. As it stands, as the middle piece of a longer book, it is superb. But the central sections of all of Stephenson’s novels have been excellent; it is endings with which he displays the greatest difficulty. And the ending is still eight or nine hundred pages distant.
Were it not for the necessity to digest Quicksilver before swallowing this book, or for the cliffhanger of an ending (genuine this time, unlike Quicksilver’s), The Confusion might be the most engaging of Stephenson’s serious novels. As it stands, as the middle piece of a longer book, it is superb. But the central sections of all of Stephenson’s novels have been excellent; it is endings with which he displays the greatest difficulty. And the ending is still eight or nine hundred pages distant.
