From Neal Stephenson, the author that is also well noted for two of his other novels: Snow Crash, and Zodiac, that seem to have swept the nation being Cyberpunk bestsellers, comes his newest addition to the enticing genre of Science Fiction: The Diamond Age: Or A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer.  The book takes us on a rollercoaster of events moving on a fast paced journey towards the future, involoving a lot of unexpected twists and turns, keeping its readers constantly at the edge of their seats.  It encompases the reader and entagles them in the cyberspace world, giving them an inside look into a world that is an intense mixture of happenings from fairy tales to bloody battles and civil wars.  One of which they would not otherwise come to know, unless this unique alluring story was read.

     The Diamond Age, is centered around many main characters, whose stories eventually become intertwined, dependent on eachother with the progession of the novel.  The first of the characters to be introduced is John Percival Hackworth, an neo-Victorian engineer, one of the best to say the least.  Hackworth is met by the Equity Lord Finkel-McGraw early on in the story and this is the point where The Diamond Age quest begins.  Lord Finkel-McGraw, taken by Hackworth's intelligence and engineering abilities, bestows upon him a "project" to be completed as an aid in the education of his grandaugther, Elizabeth.  Unbeknownst to Hackworth, the completed project would fall eventually fall into a young girl's hands, other than the one it is intended for, eventually causing a very large turn of events.  Finkel-McGraw belives that the educational system is devoid of educating children to their full potential and therefore bestowes upon Hackworth the task of creating a book to do so, known formally as: A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer.   Lord Finkel-McGraw intends to give the finished product to his grandaugther, Elizabeth, in hopes that as she reads the book she will be extremely well educated, therefore reaching her full potential.  Hackworth agreed to create the Primer, but what Lord Finkel-McGraw did not predict, was Hackworth's plan to replicate the Primer, in hopes of giving his daugther Fiona a copy so that she may too recieve the finest education.

     Stephenson then introduces us to his main character, Nell.  Nell, is the daugther of a delinquet named Bud and his girlfriend Tequila.   She finds solace and comfort in her older brother Harv, who attempts to teach Nell much about the world in which they live in.  Harv, also acts as Nell's protector from Tequilla's many male suitors which eventually introduce to her, at a very young age, the depressing harsh realities of the world. Incecent beatings and rape are only a few of the ways that Nell is effected.  This does not happen for very long, as Harv defeats the last of his mothers boyfriends, and runs away with Nell.  As Harv is exposed to life on the streets, he becomes a member of a Thete gang.  Hackworth, unseemingly being at the wrong place at the wrong time comes in contact with the gang and is brutally attacked, beaten and mugged.  In the process, Harv manages to steal one of Hackworth's possesions, a leatherbound book, which he gives as a present to his sister Nell.  Uknowingly, with this, Harv has provided Nell with the key to her future, and it is in her hands that she holds the fate of the word.

     The Primer begins to play an intricate part as it educates the three girls separately, with drastically different outcomes.  Although the book is a fairytale of sorts that comes to life through interactive illustrations and Ractors voice mechanisms, the girls are molded and educated not only by the Primer but by her life experiences as well.  Due to the dramatically different lifestyles of each of the girls, they individually take to the Primer; and therefore, their knowledge and education serves different purposes as they also take differently to its teachings in which their decisions lead them down very different paths.

     In order to cover up his crime (the copying of the Primer) with the disposing of the code encrypted Mites that had been embedded into Hackworth's flesh, he seeks the assistance of a so-called "reverse engineer", Dr. X.  Dr. X only adds to the already entagled mix of events, as he too tries to replicate the primer for his own use. Although, with this duplication there is a slight difference, that of harbored ill-intentions.  Hackworth and Dr. X, although both engineers by trade, are very different characters with drastically different plans in regards to the use of the Primer.

     The two engineers could be commonly described as Forgers and Hackers.  The Forgers (Hackworth), basically created new technology and quickly moved on to create the next (so on and so forth), whereas the Hackers (Dr. X), focussed on technology at a stand still rate, hacking the systems until they could manipulate and create in the systems what the Forgers overlooked.

     A world that has been formed based on the personal interpretations of the principles set by Confusious is one that the characters have come to know.  The battle between the people that live their lives by the rules and terms of the rebellious Celestial Kingdom, and the terrorist group also known as"The Fists of Righteous Harmony", are radically different from those people of the Coastal Republic inlcuding its various Phyles and Tribes.  These neverending differences will eventually come to a head as the story progresses.

      Neal Stephenson does a spectacular job depicting the intricate workings of the nanotechnological system advances of cyberspace.  His imagication comes to life on the printed pages of The Diamond Age as he introduces us to things such as the Matter Compiler: a machine that outputs any request from that of a matress to a piece of food, the Mediatron: an pseudo-advanced version of the television, and the invention Hackworth is noted for before his creation of The Primer, Mediatronic Chopsticks: which display various small mediaglypic advertisements.  Stephenson inticingly invites us all, no matter which genre of literature favored previously, to embark on an interesting cosmic journey with Nell to see what the future holds for her in, The Diamond Age: Or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer.