Alkaiser's Full Review: Neal Stephenson - Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's ...
If you have to skip reading one of the Stephenson's novels, then this would be the one. I picked this up when I went on a big reading binge, and I read it after Snow Crash, and Cryptonomicon. Like I said, this is probably Stephenson's worst, but it's a lot better than Gibson's latest, so that's not necessarily going to be a slam on a book.
The concept that is at the core of this book is nanotechnology. I was intrigued with Stephenson's idea of the not-too-distant future where matter compilers and decompilers are found in every household, and you pay for your matter "feed". (A concept similar to the 'Net and bandwidth.) Nanomachines with very complex functions can be made into an aerosol and do things that a normal man, computer, or cell isn't capable of.
While working at a large assembly plant, one of the characters designs a book, A Young Lady's Primer. This is the key object in the story. It's a big interactive book where the story changes based upon the current situation of the girl, as told by her inputs. The story is given voice by an actor behind the scenes who is motion captured in real time, thanks to, you guessed it, nanites.
The characters and their unknowing interaction with each other keeps the story going. The little girls who have been given the books all end up using their books for different things, and the main actress and the child who she is acting for develop a bond, despite never having seen each other that one could liken to meeting someone over the 'Net. Seeing these relationships develop and the characters grow up is makes the book good up until 3/4 of the way through.
It's at about this point where something happens to Stephenson...he needs to finish the book, got sidetracked onto another project, just got bored, whatever...in any case, all that development shoots down the tubes and compresses itself into one of the weakest, most anti-climactic endings I've read in a long time. I read and reread it hoping to get some more meaning out of it, but to no avail.
I recommend getting the book, because books are cheap, and because it's good most of the way through. Hopefully, knowing that will make the book less of a disappointment for you, but definitely check it out.
Set in 21st century Shanghai, this is the story of what happens when a state-of-the-art interactive device falls into the hands of a street urchin nam...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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