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The Diamond Age

Bantam Spectra

Lowest used price: $1.00

Average customer rating: 4 stars

A modern sci-fi masterpiece

The Diamond Age is quite simply amazing, and the Stephenson novel I come back to most. Envisioning a far future where nanotechnology makes almost anything possible, as opposed to the very near future of Snow Crash, allows it to stand the test of time without ever feeling dated. As great as Snow Crash was and still is, like a lot of cyberpunk novels, many of the concepts have already come to fruition in reality, making it slightly less mindblowing than reading it upon its first publication in 1992.

I don't think we'll have to worry about that with The Diamond Age anytime soon. And besides the innovative uses of nanotechnology, there is a captivating story here about a little girl named Nell, destined to become just another "thete," or street urchin, lost among the throngs of people in Shanghai. That is until she happens across 'The Young Lady's Illustrated Primer,' an interactive book of the most advanced order, making the finest use of nanotech possible, and designed to give the best possible education to a young girl.

How one small chance occurance can change one's entire fate is the main focus of The Diamond Age. The storytelling is less Gibson and more Dickens here, giving it a wholly unique feel, and making this one of the most original and awe-inspiring novels to come about in science-fiction in the last 20 years, not to mention one of the few Hugo Award winners in recent memory actually deserving of that honor.

The best book I have read in a long time...

This book took me completely by surprise. I bought and began reading it expecting your average Sci-fi/Fantasy novel. I have never been more wrong. The characters and world are so layered and complete that they begin to feel real. I don't think this is the place for a plot summary, but watching young Nell grow up into a woman was one of the most moving experiences I have ever had. This work takes a world where people have been stripped of their meaning and humanity, left only to consume and not to contribute; and shows how one girl, one book, one woman willing to raise a child with love and compassion instead of indifference, abuse or over-indulgence can change lives.

This book is thick, not in just in pages but in its depth. There is no way I could have possibly absorbed and understood the complex science and the very detailed world that Stephenson created on the first reading (though I have an admittedly limited knowledge of modern science, everything I know I learned from Stargate, as they say). There were times when the sheer oddness of what was happening took me out of the story for a moment. That being said, I think this novel does better than anything I have ever seen or read or heard what science fiction is supposed to do: show that no matter what the world becomes, no matter how far we go or how different we look or act, humanity will always be, at its core, the same. The same potential will be born into every child, the same choices will present themselves to each individual: exist, or live.

If you love books and love to read, this book is for you!

The Diamond Age is what I would call techno science fiction. It took a bit to get into the story but then I was hooked. The primary story (at least for me) was the coming of age of a girl, who survives a threat-filled world to emerge as a leader. Credit for her survival goes to a book! But not just any book. This book, designed to help one girl to growup strong and self-sufficient, bonds with its first reader. It knows when the girl is in danger -- immediate or chronic -- and helps her figure out how to survive. The book changes its techniques as the girl ages, finally leaving the decisions solely to her.

The story takes place in a future world but all the problems of the current world are there in some form -- greed, violence, politics, class struggle. But so also are people who make a difference.

Overpriced

As I write this, the Kindle edition is only 50 cents cheaper than the paperback, and text-to-speech is disabled.

Best intro to Cyber Punk out there

I have given at least 20 copies of the book away, and everyone has loved it. The receivers have ranged from total novice to science fiction girls who were curious what it was I read all the time, to my parents who only read Tom Clancy normally. The story is easy, and the writing is delicious.