This is part one of Volume One, entitled Quicksilver, of The Baroque Cycle. This was fascinating. There are not many other works that so truly fit in the Historical Fiction category that I have found to be so utterly fascinating. It’s as if Neal Stephenson somehow traveled through time to the mid to late 17th century and came back to generously tell us about this exciting, thrilling, disturbing and even sometimes humorous time period.
One of my favourite aspects to this book was sharing the joy and often, dissatisfaction, that comes with discovery. After all, what a time period to be alive in. This story is mainly told from the perspective of Daniel Waterhouse who happens to be a friend of Isaac Newton, a natural philosopher and also a member of The Royal Society of London. However, currently Daniel is remembering all of this while boarding on a ship trying to make it’s way out of the Massachusetts Bay and back to England 30 years later. This may sound confusing, it’s not, its awesome, trust me! There are even pirate fights!
Long story short, if you love learning about history and what discoveries led to our current way of life, you have to read this series. Also, you should read it because Neal Stephenson shows off his amazing skills in conveying the feeling of this insane time period in his writing.
I highly recommend this! Thanks for reading my review and happy reading!!!
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