If you're wondering where I went for the last week... work got incredibly stressful, plus I had to arrange and host a sleepover birthday party for my twin daughters and 6 of their friends. So I took the opportunity to hide in a book. And I finally finished The System of the World by Neal Stephenson. This is the closing book in the Baroque Cycle trilogy, which began with Quicksilver and continued with The Confusion.
This book picks up some twenty years after the previous book, and returns to a plotline from the first: namely, that Dr. Daniel Waterhouse has arrived in England and upon reaching his final destination in London... is nearly blown up by an Infernal Device. Thus begins a murder mystery, as our protagonist attempts to find the who and the why behind this act.
In the meantime, he learns that Jack Shaftoe, aka Jack the Coiner, has been counterfeiting UK currency and escaping capture, to the unending ire of the Master of the Mint and Dr. Waterhouse's college roommate, Sir Isaac Newton. But Jack the Coiner's greatest achievement is yet to come.
Quicksilver was in many ways "backstory" for Jack, Eliza, Daniel and Isaac. The Confusion is mostly a story of Jack's adventures on the high seas, and Eliza's adventures in political intrigue in the court at Versailles.
The System of the World is really Daniel's story; where for the first time we see him emerge from a supporting role to take center stage, both to sleuth out the bombing as well as to lay his own plans. In some sense it's a battle of wits between Daniel and Jack. Who wins? Well, you'll just need to read it to find out.
This was a fun read, and the easiest to follow of the three. It brings a depth to the characters of Daniel and Isaac, as well as Roger Comstock who emerges in a supporting role.
I highly recommend this book, as well as the whole trilogy.
Next up: Open Innovation, by Henry Chesbrough.
6:08:29 PM  ; ;
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