Synopses & Reviews
In the year 1689, a cabal of Barbary galley slaves including one Jack Shaftoe, a.k.a. King of the Vagabonds, a.k.a. Half-Cocked Jack, lately and miraculously cured of the pox devises a daring plan to win freedom and fortune. A great adventure ensues, rife with battles, chases, hairbreadth escapes, swashbuckling, bloodletting, and danger a perilous race for an enormous prize of silver...nay, gold...nay, legendary gold that will place the intrepid band at odds with the mighty and the mad, with alchemists, Jesuits, great navies, pirate queens, and vengeful despots across vast oceans and around the globe.
Meanwhile, back in Europe...
The exquisite and resourceful Eliza, Countess de la Zeur, master of markets, pawn and confidante of enemy kings, onetime Turkish harem virgin, is stripped of her immense personal fortune by France's most dashing privateer. Penniless and at risk from those who desire either her or her head (or both), she is caught up in a web of international intrigue, even as she desperately seeks the return of her most precious possession her child.
While...
Newton and Leibniz continue to propound their grand theories as their infamous rivalry intensifies, stubborn alchemy does battle with the natural sciences, nobles are beheaded, dastardly plots are set in motion, coins are newly minted (or not) in enemy strongholds, father and sons reunite in faraway lands, priests rise from the dead...and Daniel Waterhouse seeks passage to the Massachusetts colony in hopes of escaping the madness into which his world has descended.
Review
"At more than 1,700 pages so far, the cycle is not for the timid. But it continues to surprise throughout." Kansas City Star
Review
"The Confusion is a rousing adventure of action and ideas, funny, gripping and informative. This time, the disquisitions on metallurgy, sailing and the establishment of credit don't seem as oppressive as they did in Quicksilver." San Francisco Chronicle
Review
"The Confusion becomes a brawny, barrel-chested work of beauty...[it] is unparalleled geek literature deeply moving, painfully detailed, replete with big laughs and packed with hyperkinetic adventure." Denver Post
Review
"Stephenson doesn't disappoint those who look to him for fascinating, potentially apocryphal digressions into matters of historical or scientific interest." The Oregonian
Review
"The result is neither confused nor confusing but a dazzlingly orderly display of meaningful intricacy." The Seattle Times
Review
"[B]rimming with a hail-fellow-well-met good cheer, at the heart of which lies a genuinely fun pirate romance." New York Times
Review
"Most impressive of all is the audacity with which Stephenson explores his central theme, the nature of money...The Confusion's plentiful surprises suggest the second-guessing Stephenson is strictly a fool's game."
Time Out New York
Review
"Vast, splendid and absorbing...one cant call anything about the Baroque Cycle "brisk," but the richness of detail and language lending verisimilitude to the setting and depth of the characters should be reward enough."
Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Review
"[Stephenson] might just have created the definitive historical-sci-fi-epic-pirate-comedy-punk-love story. No easy feat, that. A-."
Entertainment Weekly
Review
"As rollicking and overstuffed as its predecessor."
New York Times Book Review
Review
"Help! Im being held captive by an historic...trilogy the size of a Volkswagon. Whats more, I dont want to be rescued."
Buffalo News
Review
"One of the most interesting pieces of current fiction in any genre."
BookPage
Review
"Monumental...combines adventure with Big Ideas and lots of intrigue."
Locus
Synopsis
In the year 1689, a cabal of Barbary galley slaves -- including one Jack Shaftoe, aka King of the Vagabonds, aka Half-Cocked Jack -- devises a daring plan to win freedom and fortune. A great adventure ensues -- a perilous race for an enormous prize of silver ... nay, gold ... nay, legendary gold.
In Europe, the exquisite and resourceful Eliza, Countess de la Zeur, is stripped of her immense personal fortune by France's most dashing privateer. Penniless and at risk from those who desire either her or her head (or both), she is caught up in a web of international intrigue, even as she desperately seeks the return of her most precious possession.
Meanwhile, Newton and Leibniz continue to propound their grand theories as their infamous rivalry intensifies, stubborn alchemy does battle with the natural sciences, dastardly plots are set in motion ... and Daniel Waterhouse seeks passage to the Massachusetts colony in hopes of escaping the madness into which his world has descended.This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.
About the Author
Neal Stephenson is the author of Reamde, Anathem; the three-volume historical epic the Baroque Cycle (Quicksilver, The Confusion, and The System of the World); Cryptonomicon; The Diamond Age; Snow Crash, which was named one of Time magazine's top one hundred all-time best English-language novels; and Zodiac. He lives in Seattle, Washington.