Quicksilver

Book One of The Baroque Cycle

By: Neal Stephenson

Narrated by: Neal Stephenson (introduction), Kevin Pariseau, Simon Prebble

Length: 14 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

In this first volume of Neal Stephenson’s genre-defying epic, Daniel Waterhouse, fearless thinker and courageous Puritan, pursues knowledge in the company of the greatest minds of Baroque-era Europe in a chaotic world where reason wars with the bloody ambitions of the mighty, and where catastrophe, natural or otherwise, can alter the political landscape overnight.

The Baroque Cycle, Neal Stephenson’s award-winning series, spans the late 17th and early 18th centuries, combining history, adventure, science, invention, piracy, and alchemy into one sweeping tale. It is a gloriously rich, entertaining, and endlessly inventive historical epic populated by the likes of Isaac Newton, William of Orange, Benjamin Franklin, and King Louis XIV, along with some of the most inventive literary characters in modern fiction.

Audible’s complete and unabridged presentation of The Baroque Cycle was produced in cooperation with Neal Stephenson. Each volume includes an exclusive introduction read by the author.

Listen to more titles in the Baroque Cycle.

©2003 Neal Stephenson (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

“[The “Baroque Cycle”] will defy any category, genre, precedent, or label – except genius….Stephenson has a once-in-a-generation gift: he makes complex ideas clear, and he makes them funny, heartbreaking, and thrilling.” ( Time)

“A book of immense ambition, learning, and scope, Quicksilver is often brilliant and occasionally astonishing in its evocation of a remarkable time and place.” ( Washington Post Book World)

NS_suoerfan

The story is amazing. It sucks royally, however, that the three books of The Baroque Cycle were split into multiple profit centers for sale as audiobooks.

Awesome book

This is the third time I’ve listened to this book and will be the third time I’ve listened to the series. It is honestly my favorite. The protagonist Daniel Waterhouse brushes elbows with the greats of his time, both real and fictional. Stevenson writes with a sense of wonder at the great minds of our past like Newton and Liebnitz. The narration is smooth and shares the authors enthusiasm.

Great book/audiobook but...

I read the Baroque Cycle when it came out and enjoyed it greatly. It's not meant as a history so much as an entertainment and listening to it is a real treat. However, when I read Quicksilver it was a 1000+ page book so i should have known better when this Quicksilver was only 20 hours. What I'd forgotten was that the book I read had three "books" that included one called Quicksilver. These sub-books are published by audible individually. So I feel a bit cheated.

Here are the volumes and books, so expect to spend 8 credits for the whole cycle.
Quicksilver, Vol. I of the Baroque Cycle
Book 1 – Quicksilver
Book 2 – The King of the Vagabonds
Book 3 – Odalisque
The Confusion, Vol. II of the Baroque Cycle
Book 4 – Bonanza
Book 5 – The Juncto
The System of the World, Vol. III of the Baroque Cycle
Book 6 – Solomon's Gold
Book 7 – Currency
Book 8 – The System of the World

Imp of the Perverse Embodied in Brilliant Fiction

This series must be contemplated as a unified whole. This review is for the entire BAROQUE CYCLE.

Sorry Neal, I was wrong. For me Neal Stephenson was a bit of an acquired taste. My first Stephenson exposure was with SNOWCRASH, a zany over-the-top Sci-Fi farce with quirky characters, tight plotting and fascinating ideas—try an ancient software virus in the human brain. My next Neal Stephenson encounter was THE DIAMOND AGE and this was for years my last. It was not until revisiting SNOWCRASH now as an audiobook (narrated by the superb Jonathan Davis) that I realized that anyone able to reach such dizzying fictional heights once deserves more than one strike. It was after this that I listened to ANATHEM; strike two. But there was one more title that had received acclaim that I first had to tackle before relegating Stephenson to one-hit-wonder status: CRYPTONOMICON. This was a home run; different from SNOWCRASH in almost every way but still wonderful, and really long. From this I learned three things: (1) Stephenson was not easy to pigeon-hole; and (2) He could handle fictional works in the long form; and (3) If you are not preoccupied with plot advancement, the rabbit trails can be quite scenic. So, once I learned that many of the characters in CRYPTONOMICON had ancestors in THE BAROQUE CYCLE, I determined to tackle the whole lot back-to-back, as if it were one giant novel. QUICKSILVER is the first audio installment of THE BAROQUE CYCLE, which is here divided into seven installments. In print form it is broken into eight books published in three hefty volumes.

I could tell from the comments of other listeners that this huge tome is not for everyone. If you require fast tight plotting, this may not be for you. If you enjoy witty repartee between vagabonds, kings, courtiers and thieves then this may be the mother lode. I liken Neal Stephenson to Gene Wolfe; another writer who can keep my interest just by the brilliance of his prose. It was in the middle of ODALISQUE, book three in the cycle, that I realized I didn’t much care that the plot was just creeping along, and that side trips to follow the numerous cast of characters kept taking me away from the one I liked best. I was enjoying the show and didn’t want it to end. This is truly not seven different novels, but one huge novel tied together by recurring characters and one vast and very satisfying story arc.

This accomplishment by Neal Stevenson is just the thing that the term magnum opus was coined for. Mr. Stevenson demonstrates his ability to manage a vast narrative alternate history and retains his focus over two-thousand six-hundred eighty-eight hardcover pages, through one-hundred fourteen hours of audiobook narration; yet the feel and texture and pacing is consistent throughout the entire work. Amazing. If you decide to tackle this tome you will be rewarded. It may cause you to rethink the whole audiobook medium.

I really enjoyed Stephenson’s insights into the politics of the scientific community, revolving around Isaac Newton. The fusing of Natural Philosophy (science), Alchemy, commodity-based monetary theory, rags-to-riches character transformations, and court intrigue make for a fascinating experience. Listening to this series is like taking a time-travel vacation to the eighteenth century. The shabby, muddy, miasmic grunge of the period’s living conditions sometimes remind me of Monty Python and the Holy Grail or Jabberwocky, with associated punch-lines. This is a very different world from the one we live in but I began to think I might understand it a little better and found that, in some ways, it might not be so bad.

If you are at all interested in free-market economics, and commodity-based monetary theory then one of the long-term story arcs will be of intense interest to you. Stevenson explores the impact of the foundation of the central Bank of England upon the flow of gold. And his deft insertion of an Alchemical component into the mix creates an enjoyable element of mystery. This is the story-line that required one-hundred hours to tell.

This is a Science Fiction work because the alternate-history angle with Alchemy infecting the realm of science will appeal to the SF fan. If you were provided with a plot outline or given some character sketches you may think this an historical novel, and it could be read from that perspective. But Science Fiction readers don’t as a rule read historical novels, but they will read this, therefore, whatever qualities it possesses, justify the SF label.

—PERSISTENT THEMES OF THE BAROQUE CYCLE—
Predestination versus Free-Will is on everyone’s mind
The debate between Protestantism versus Catholicism had a huge political impact
Geocentrism versus Heliocentrism is the only thing everyone can agree upon
Commodity-based Monetary theory makes the world work
Court Intrigue and witty conversations provide joy in every circumstance
Meritocracy rags-to-riches stories abound
People can endure much if they have hope
Vagabond underworld versus Persons of Quality show we have much in common
Alchemy counterpoised with Natural Philosophy revel the nature of science
Encryption and secret writing have long been employed
True love makes life worth living
Courtly liaisons show the shallowness of the ruling class to whom society is entrusted

Simon Prebble does yeoman’s work on this production. To my ear he nailed every single pronunciation of every word in the course of over one-hundred hours of narration—no mean feat. His character voicings are subtle but immediately recognizable. His talent allows him to even give convincing alternate pronunciations of words to the different characters that are appropriate to their individual personalities. The more foppish English characters habitually emphasize different syllables than the lower class characters. Despite the deep quality of his voice Simon Prebble handles both male and female character voices convincingly. His voice has a limited range but I was constantly amazed at how he could make subtle alterations in inflection, diction and pacing to effectively distinguish the various characters in a conversation. Simon Prebble achieves the desirable state of occupying the place in your head usually reserved for your own internal sub-vocalizations when you are reading a print book to yourself. This is a high achievement indeed and makes this a soothing book experience.

Narrated by Simon Prebble (Main text)
Kevin Pariseau (Chapter epigraphs)
Neal Stephenson (Introduction)

Dry Historical Fiction, Now 3 for the price of 7!

Warning, Audible is selling 3 books split into 7 audiobooks. If you're on budget I'd recommend buying the 3 print editions. It's an odd choice on Audible's part as historical fiction penned by a famous sci-fi author occupies a fairly small niche in the literary world. In light of my frustrations, I did mostly enjoy Quicksilver.

Neal Stephenson is one of my favorite writers so I purchased this even though I'm not a avid reader of historical fiction. While I enjoyed how this story brought me back in time, I feel it lacked much of a plot. Obviously he had to stay true to the non-fiction timeline but this installment at least failed to carry any spark of excitement. I hear the later books have more adventure and interest but Quicksilver hasn't inspired me to spend 6 more credits on the journey.

I loved the chance to experience some early foundational experiments of the natural philosophers and I think any science buffs would enjoy reading this history. Still it's rather dry for a Stephenson novel and probably my least favorite of his works(I've read 6 in total). I doubt I'll finish the series.

Interesting

Somewhat hard to follow if you are neither a history buff nor a mathematician or physicist. But still very interesting. Makes me want to go back to school so that I can understand the story better. It also would have been easier to follow if the narrator could do more than two voices.

an interesting book but not my style

I thought story was well written and exceptionally performed but I was unaware of this series being historical fiction, which turned me off.

good setup

that's what I think this is, a setup to abgrand story ahead,if you enjoy lots of character depth....this bodes well.

Engaging and incredibly detailed story

I found myself surprisingly invested in a period of history for which I didn't care too much about

incredible production values

These are by far the best thing Stephenson has written, and Simon Prebble does an incredible job narrating, managing to have a distinct voice for every single character, of which there are dozens. so good!