The Diamond Age

By: Neal Stephenson

Narrated by: Jennifer Wiltsie

Length: 18 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

In Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson took science fiction to dazzling new levels. Now, in The Diamond Age, he delivers another stunning tale. Set in 21st-century Shanghai, it is the story of what happens when a state-of-the-art interactive device falls into the hands of a street urchin named Nell. Her life, and the entire future of humanity, is about to be decoded and reprogrammed.

©1995 Neal Stephenson (P)2001 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

• Hugo Award Winner, Best Novel, 1996

• Locus Award Winner, Best Novel, 1996

"The Quentin Tarantino of postcyberpunk science fiction." (The Village Voice)
"[He] is the hottest science fiction writer in America." (Details)

Not bad, worth a listen

Not as good as his original tech thrillers (Daemon, etc) but an interesting take on future tech, without the traditional global apocalypse storyline. My main complaint with this and many other "popular" novels is the introduction of swearing in the text. Please leave these out, it's one thing to have in print, easy to skip over, very different to having them read out loud. Either cut the, out or provide an option for those of us who would prefer non-explicit text.

A must-read example of Sci-fi/Cyberpunk

If you like Sci-fi and/or cyberpunk then you _must_ read this book. Sephenson paints the picture of a future world that with very beautiful parts, and very ugly parts. The story is compelling, ensuring that you keep reading long into the night waiting to see what will happen.

The world Neal imagines makes so many things possible, there ehere a number of moments when you realize just what is possible and natural in such a world. Plus a number of moments where you're left awed and shocked at the same time at developments in the story made possible by the world Stephenson has created.

Like the other books of his that I've read, the ending is a little disapointing. But the voice of Wiltsie helps to keep the exceitment going right through the entire story. Wiltsie does a wonderful job with charicter's acents and voices, making them all sound unique and using emortional ephasis appropritely.

Another Stephenson masterpiece.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I will listen to it many times in the future. Jennifer Wiltsie is a terrific performer who masterfully brought this book to life. I look forward to listening to more books narrated by her.

Engaging, Refreshing and unique

I fell upon this book after reading other reviewers comparisons to Gibson's work Neuromancer. While I enjoyed Gibson whole heartedly, I actually found this book to be much better than that series. The scifi aspects can be very in depth, yet they seem to make sense, and at the same time the story as a whole is very engaging as it takes the reader from a story of one little girl but also but expands out to an intercultural level. The imagery is great and many of the conversations within the book are thought provoking.

On top of all of this, Jennifer Wiltsie did an amazing job with the reading.

Complicated, Convoluted, Engaging, & Entertaining

The author is a genius, which means it's sometimes a little difficult for me to follow the twists and turns of his stories - which doesn't make them any less entertaining! This one is no exception, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. The ending could have been a bit more polished, but it was okay, and is why I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 (endings are important to me). The narrator did a wonderful job and allowed me to immerse myself into the story without being snapped out by bad narration. The only actual criticism is a technical one... There are a number of audio glitches in it which, in my opinion, should have been cleaned up before publishing, as they really DO detract from the immersive experience. Fortunately, though there are several, they're all brief, so I was able to get back into the story pretty quick. Maybe there should be a rating score for "Audio Quality" or some such.

knightofeffect

With this earlier entry in his career, I am nearing finishing the Stephenson bibliography.

Similarly to his other works, the universe he paints in Diamond Age is dismally vibrant with multiple well developed characters and engaging storylines.

However, I almost took a star off for the ending. As is also reminiscent of his other works, at can seem as if Stephenson grows uninterested in a the story and world he weaved as he enters the final act resulting in an ending lacking much of the detail, color, and depth that made the build-up so worthwhile.

Its not that the ending is bad, and I'm not knocking the open-ended mid-thought approach to an ending, but if Stephenson took the care he did with the first 15 hours in the last 3, it would have likely doubled the length of the book. Perhaps he just decided enough was enough and another concept or project had grabbed his interest, but it's a shame that such a glorious tale had a climatic resolution that first brings to mind the word "dwindling".

Actually, I think I did talk myself into taking off a star from the story, but that shouldn't distract anyone from enjoying another great entry in the Stephenson saga. :)

Confusing themes, but interesting characters

The book is set in a world that is never really adequately explained, which makes the political moves confusing and the ending rather unsatisfying. However, the main character is likeable. You are rooting for her throughout the story. Some of the technology is very interesting and thought provoking, but some of it comes off as silly (mechanical horses). I did enjoy the narrator.

I wanted to like it

despite their shortcomings, I enjoyed snowcrash and seveneves well enough. Stephenson might not be great with characters or plot throughlines, but his worldbuilding and ability to extrapolate technologies into the future like a futurist and come up with unique ways that they might be integrated into society are incredible. That's why I was so excited to see his take on a future ripe with nano technology, but this "story" was so hard to get through and since I refused to give up on it, I just wanted it to end.
Stephenson's shortcomings as an author have never been more prevalent to me than in this novel and add much as I want to check out some of his other novels, after this one I'll probably push them further down the TBR list.

Although low quality in production high quality story

There is a low production value here, let’s be frank. Tinny sound, not a good mix, raspy; however this is a masterpiece of science fiction. A cornerstone of the cyberpunk movement with some of the best world building and character development around. A must read, or listen too.

Chapters are hosed

The introduction lasts almost half of the book and the end credits make up the other half. Come on, Audible, you can do better than that!