technocraft's Full Review: Neal Stephenson - Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's ...
The Diamond Age is described as Neo-Victorian, where old-school technology and high-tech live together. If you've read The Difference Engine (Bruce Sterling and William Gibson), same thing. Heavy focus on nano-technology.
There was a lot to like in this book. The characters are vibrant (I _love_ the central young girl and her brother) and engaging. The plot is fresh and insightful. I found Zodiac and Snow Crash to be more enjoyable, but this book is deeper in scope and sometimes gets lost in minutae. The passages with the girl and the Turing machine (a sub-story in the Primer) are very cool as is most of the book regarding the girl and the Primer.
If you like any of the "cyber-punk" authors but demand a good emotional story, you'll really enjoy this book.
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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