Shannon Darbee

Book Review

          The Diamond Age is primarily a work of science fiction. It gives a great look into the future, that we may have in the next century or two. Neal Stephenson presents science fiction with nanotechnology and a good reflection of the Victorian Age, to its readers. The setting is in Shanghai and in Chinese territories.

          Stephenson shows many different aspects of the new spread of nanotechnology in the book. The clouds of mites that would fly and gather information and also examine your insides. These mites had a lot of fancy little jobs. But there was also a downside to these mites, because they could give humans viruses. A major group that are wealthy and the fact that everyone wants to imitate them are the Victorians. They live like the old Victorians and share the same values.

          The Diamond Age focuses on the everyday life of four main characters that have very different backgrounds. Lord Finkle-McGraw is one of the Victorians. He realizes how bad the world really is for a child and decides to make an interactive book for is daughter. The book would serve as a teacher and broaden her imagination to another world that she can live in. John Hackworth, a scientist, was assigned to create a copy of the Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer. John wanted to make a copy of the book for his daughter, which then got stolen and fell into the hands of Nell. Nell is a young girl, whose brother, Harv, protects her and gave her the book as a gift. She then finds comfort in the book and also gets her education from it as well. Miranda is the ractor from Nell’s book. Ractives are actors who play along in these interactive scenes. The audiences can chose who they want to see, what they want, to participate and etc. For instance, Miranda is playing along as the narrator for Nell’s book and goes along with her reactions to things.

          Nell learns a lot from the primer. It answers all her questions and helps broaden her understanding of life. If someone now had this book to teach you everything you need to know about the world and was made just for you, to read a fairytale all about you. A book that could teach you how to read, fight, survive and function in the society you live in. A book that incorporates your loved ones into your fairytale, while at the same time educating you on fables.

          Stephenson goes back and forth throughout the story between the different characters, which could cause the reader to get lost. He adds a helpful statement of who and what they are going to be talking about next when he is changing to another character, which helps the reader a little to understand what, is going on. The nanotechnology is confusing to understand sometimes which can irritate the reader if they don’t understand what they are reading.

          Stephenson writes fairly well and gives a great incite into the world of nanotechnology. He showed the two different worlds, the poor people in the Chinese territories and the Victorians, the simple life. He wrote many different fairy tales from the Primer and gave Nell a new meaning for life. Overall the book is a good read and will keep you wondering what will happen next.