Quicksilver

It took me almost 12 weeks to get through the 915 pages of Neal Stephenson’s Quicksilver — that translates to 76.25 pages per week, slightly less than 11 pages per day. That’s an unusually long time for me to read a book this size, and it was due to the fact that it’s a pretty complicated story with lots of different characters, historical detail, colorful language, and many hidden links — a very complex piece of work, and not an easy read.

And after all this time, I find out that it really is only one third of a story. Truly amazing.

I can’t wait for the next volume …

Comments

On March 18, 2004 2:49 PM, Jan Pridal said:

I haven’t yet bought Quicksilver but if it’s half as good as one of Stepheson’s previous novels - ‘Snow Crash’ I would not hesitate a single moment.

I remember to really enjoy reading that well-composed story where virtual reality is built upon the theme of Sumerian myths, especially because I was deeply immersed myself in study of old Sumerian civilization these days. I even liked the story more than Gibson’s Neuromancer.

I’ve also read Diamond Age which was a little disappointment for me but probably just because I had expected something else more aligned with previous novel.

BTW have you read anything by Robert Holdstock?

On March 18, 2004 3:11 PM, Stefan Tilkov said:

Strangely enough, I don’t know any of Stephenson’s SciFi novels - Quicksilver is only the second book by him I’ve read, after Cryptonomicon (which I also enjoyed very much). A colleague has recommended Snow Crash, too, so that’s likely to be one of my next purchases. (And I loved Neuromancer, so if it’s considered to be better, I will definitely give it a try ;-))

I don’t know Holdstock; thanks for the recommendation, though (if it was intended to be one).