The System of the World (The Baroque Cycle, Vol. 3)
by Neal Stephenson
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Book Summary Information
Author: Neal StephensonEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-09-06
ISBN: 0060750863
Number of pages: 928
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Book Reviews of The System of the World (The Baroque Cycle, Vol. 3)
Book Review: One of those memorable works you are sorry to finish
Summary: 5 Stars
The Baroque Cycle is one of those worthy multivolume sets that enjoyably kidnaps you from your life and ravishes your brain. I spent almost three months plowing through it. By the time I was done, it was thoroughly ingrained in my mind, leaving me with a great curiosity to learn more about the period.
This third volume, "The System of the World", brings to a satisfying finish the story of Puritan-bred scientist Daniel Waterhouse; Half-Cocked Jack Shaftoe the King of the Vagabonds; and his lifelong torch Eliza the Duchess of Qwghlm. This last volume has just as involved a plot as its predecessors. We resume the story at the outset of 1714. Unlike the other two this one's action takes place in a single year. Waterhouse arrives back in England on the mission he undertook in "Quicksilver", coming at the request of Princess Caroline of Hanover - a friend and onetime protégé of Eliza's - to settle the longstanding dispute over who invented calculus between Leibniz and Newton. Waterhouse finds himself, as ever, swept up into politics as his patron Sir Roger Comstock now heads the Whig party - and as Waterhouse is the subject of a bombing attack as he arrives in London. England's currency, stabilized by Waterhouse's long-estranged friend Newton, the Master of the Mint, is now the target of a complex and subtle plot to devalue it. Those who finished the second volume, "Confusion", will of course recognize the plot there put upon Jack's shoulders by "Leroi" in return for the safety of Eliza and her children. But the coinage may be under attack from domestic enemies as well: Tories, who oppose the emerging global business system, supporting instead the traditional economy, favoring the nobility, of wealth tied to land. Who shall succeed the aging Queen Anne - the Whig-backed and Protestant Hanover dynasty, or the latest Catholic Stuart claimant to the throne, the French- and Tory-backed James the Pretender - is the prize looming as the parties jockey for position.
The target of the plot is the Pyx - an inviolable safe where samples of new coins are deposited by the Mint, which can be checked randomly for the proper weight and purity. And, in the background, there are still those interested in the fate of the legendary Solomonic Gold treasure Jack and his gang of galley slaves had seized in "Confusion"; the alchemists who have lurked around the fringes of the story; and the coming industrial age embodied in the newly invented steam engine.
Along the way we meet some new characters. Eliza's oldest, Johann, is now a swashbuckling young gentleman (the book actually notes the origin of the word "swashbuckling", as it does so many other expressions dating to the time) and the paramour of the now fully-grown Caroline, who stands to become Princess of Wales if her Hanover father-in-law George prevails and becomes the new King of England. Waterhouse finds a guide to London's mean streets in Peter Hoxton, a two-fisted clockmaker with underworld connections and a spirit of philosophical inquiry. We also meet up with some old characters. The African mariner Dappa wages a PR battle upon slavery, backed by Eliza. With him is the tough Dutch captain Van Hoek. Jack's sons Jimmy and Danny emerge improbably at all the right moments.
One high spot is Jack's inventive assault on the Tower of London. Another is Daniel's springing of three captives from jail. And Stephenson keeps finding novel and, well, yes, baroque ways to dispatch bad guys. One gets it in a gentleman's duel conducted with artillery, and another with a stringed instrument. A good guy is treated to a Rockefellerian death, dying "in the saddle" with his mistress, a beauty of Zeta-Jonesesque stature. And topping it all is the thrilling escape at the book's climax. After reading so far, the outcome of such fateful episodes is no longer in doubt, yet Stephenson continually finds inventive ways to make them enjoyable.
As expressed in my earlier reviews, I continue to wonder about the trilogy's length. The globe-sprawling plot, with its profusion of scientific, philosophical, financial and historical detail, ultimately justifies its own weight. But Stephenson might have considered trimming his innumerable landscape descriptions that slow too many passages. While they are generally fine writing, the cumulative weight is just too much. He could have easily cut 100 or more pages from each volume with barely any loss of plot, character or other critical detail, just by giving us fewer visual descriptions.
But this is a minor quibble. This is one of those memorable works I was sorry to finish, as it put an end to a world I had come to enjoy.
Summary of The System of the World (The Baroque Cycle, Vol. 3)
England, 1714. London has long been home to a secret war between the brilliant, enigmatic Master of the Mint and closet alchemist, Isaac Newton, and his archnemesis, the insidious counterfeiter Jack the Coiner. Hostilities are suddenly moving to a new and more volatile level as Half-Cocked Jack hatches a daring plan, aiming for the total corruption of Britain's newborn monetary system.
Enter Daniel Waterhouse: Aging Puritan and Natural Philosopher, Daniel has been on a long and harrowing quest to help mend the rift between adversarial geniuses. As Daniel combs city and country for clues to the identity of the blackguard who is attempting to blow up Natural Philosophers, political factions jockey for position while awaiting the impending death of the ailing queen, and the "holy grail" of alchemy, the key to life eternal, tantalizes and continues to elude Isaac Newton.
As Newton, Waterhouse, and Shaftoe each circle closer to the object of Daniel's quest, everything that was will be changed forever ...
This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.
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