Rating: 
Summary: Engaging, but just a hair flawed
Review: I'm a huge fan of Stephenson, so giving him 4 stars is like giving other authors 20, so I'll start with my summary: a great book which you should buy if you've enjoyed his other stuff. In typical page-turner fashion, this story of nano-technology grabbed me from the start. He delves deeply into establishing the atmosphere and feeling of this near-future earth, to the point where every "scene" is visualized in my head. And, as Stephenson often does, he takes a few seemingly disparate storylines and slowly weaves them together into a big "grand finale." The slight flaw, in my opinion, is that character development is sacrificed so that the story is driven forward. Some of the characters make choices that I don't understand their "motivation" other than that's the decision they need to make in order for the plot to "work". But that is a minor complaint compared to what a great read this novel is. This is a great vacation read, if you're looking to escape into another world for a while.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the most entertaining novels about nanotechnology
Review: Recently, Neal Stephenson has established his credentials as a serious literary writer with the magnificent Cryptonomicon, an extremely entertaining and well-written book about the history and current state of cryptography and computation. However, one of his most unequivocally transhumanist novels is 1995's The Diamond Age.Set at least fifty years in the future (no actual time reference is given), The Diamond Age takes place in an era where nanotechnology has transformed the lifestyles of virtually everybody, some for better and some for worse. Virtual reality "ractives" are a major source of entertainment, and matter compilers linked to a nanotech-based propagation "feed" are available to even the most impoverished of homes. However, despite the apparent panacea of the future economy, there are still problems with crime and political corruption, and few people can be trusted. The story begins in Shanghai, which is home to a large bulk of the world's population. An elite nanotech engineer, fittingly named Hackworth, is secretly commissioned by Lord Finkle-McGraw, a high ranking "equity lord," to create an interactive primer for his young daughter. Hackworth does so, and in the process, realizes the potential of such a creation. He decides to make a secret copy of the primer for the benefit of his own daughter's education, though to do so, it is necessary to evade the immense publicity of the city and find ulterior means of cloning the book...in this case, by entering Shanghai's Outer Kingdom. Upon returning from the relative secrecy of the Outer Kingdom, Hackworth is mugged by a young, impoverished ruffian named Harv who steals, among other things, the primer. Not realizing the full value of the primer, Harv gives it to his younger sister Nell, who immediately develops a deep-rooted bond with the book. From here, The Diamond Age becomes an increasingly complex novel about how the primer affects Nell's life, and how the technology will ultimately affect the lives of thousands of others. All of this, combined with Neal Stephenson's unique literary-but-entertaining writing style makes The Diamond Age a wonderful transhumanist novel. In the realm of science-fiction, its closest counterparts are Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card and the currently hard-to-find The Broken God by David Zindell, though I find The Diamond Age to be superior to either of those worthy novels.
Reviewed by: E. Shaun Russell
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant Nanotech Novel
Review: Readers of Stephenson's SNOW CRASH will not be disappointed by this high-tech yet gritty novel of an oddly Victorian future in which nanotechnology is a reality. Those who enjoy the works of WILLIAM GIBSON, VERNOR VINGE, and newcomer JOHN ROBERT MARLOW should find much to their liking here. (For a radically different view of a near-future world upon which nanotechnology has been loosed, see Marlow's new tech thriller NANO, another 5-star book.)
Rating:
Summary: Its no Snow Crash...
Review: Stephenson does not do endings(well)...Period.
Its important to know this before picking up his books. The only book with an ending that didn't completely [disappoint me] was Zodiac. (Cryptonomicon almosts makes that short list, but not quite). Snow Crash probably had the worst ending of any Stephenson book, but it makes up for it with a story and prose that can only be described as incredible. Diamond Age doesn't quite get that far. Its convoluted, which isn't entirely a bad thing, but unlike SC it drags. It reminded me entirely too much of a Bruce Sterling book (not a compliment). Stephenson's fast paced witty prose is few and far between, the characters are passable, but there definitely are no Hiro's or YT's in here. I guess everyone can't be good all the time. Needless to say though, even bad Stephenson is better than about 90% of the SCi-FI out there and about 98% of the stuff that wants to call itself Cyberpunk. Rumor has it he's working on another book, something a little more Snow Crash-esque after the thoroughly enjoyable (but entirely too 'present day', Cryptonomicon). I'll sit back and wait for it and read Zodiac again in the meantime.
Rating:
Summary: Sci-fi Book of the Decade, Nanotech in 21st Century Shanghai
Review: In the genre of literature that is well over a decade into its Renaissance, this is an important book among important books -- an importance that by definition will not confined to the boundaries of the science fiction world. With The Diamond Age, Or A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer, a remarkably mature Neal Stephenson offers us a vision of our own future, one all too recognizable and believable. Technology and culture collide, race ceases to matter as a means of predicting (or affecting) human behavior, nanotechnology redefines the word "make," while reshaping our daily lives, and the world's peoples, no longer able to distinguish each other by skin color, group themselves into phyles based on shared cultural and moral values, historical tradition, and dress. It's an around-the-corner mid-twenty-first century greater Shanghai. A young thete girl named Nell is destined to become one of the shapers of an even newer, wondrous future when a fantastically sophisticated "primer," a powerful computer in the shape of a book designed to educate young Victorian ladies -- as well as encourage subversion -- unintentionally falls into her hands. The Primer was designed by nanotech engineer John Hackworth (Stephenson's penchant for a nom de pun for his protagonist is slaked once again), an intuitive genius unaware of the extent of his own talents. Nell's life, and the entire world, will never be the same. A hauntingly beautiful book, The Diamond Age exhibits a respectable understanding of Chinese culture, demonstrates in a most original fashion the indispensablity of an ever-present mother in raising a psychologically healthy child (as well as the crucial importance of psychologically healthy children to the future of mankind), and provides insight into questions of law and justice in cultural as well as advanced technological contexts. All of these themes are cradled within a masterfully woven plot, elevated by a brilliant, yet subtle sense of humor. Trascending the argument about how much books like William Gibson's Neuromancer and Nancy Kress' Beggars in Spain either predicted or shaped the near-future they described, The Diamond Age not only shows us, but prepares us for what is in store. Fans of Stephenson's previous novel, Snow Crash, will be both shocked and delighted. A must-read for sci-fi lovers, newcomers to the genre, and armchair social/moral theorists
Rating:
Summary: Completely Original
Review: The Diamond Age is the second of Stephenson's books that I've read. I enjoyed it far more that Snow Crash. While Snow Crash got off to a great start, I didn't enjoy the second half at all. I found myself reading it because it was a groundbreaking book, not because I enjoyed it. I read The Diamond Age because it was a fast-paced enjoyable read AND because it was unique and thought-provoking. The Diamond Age is set is a very plausable near future where nanotech has eliminated basic problems, such as starvation, but its created its share of problems as well. Nasty nanotech devices that can track or kill people require sophisticated nanotech defenses. Meanwhile, all nanotech products are provided be a central feed that both controls what can be delivered, what is free and what costs money, and frees peasents from substistence farming and the poor from working to survive. While this world is harldy a utopia -- as there are still massive economic disparities between the rich and poor and a tremendous amount of crime and pollution -- Westerners on the whole seem happy with this arangement. But there are more than a few who are unhappy or restless. The Diamond Age is the story of what happens when a father who wants a better life for his daughter collides with an entire culture that wants change. Throw in an enormous computer made of human bodies, an interactive storybook that tells a story that takes over a decade to read, an army of teenage girls and a few other interesting characters and you have a compelling and fascinating view of the future. When I first finished the book, I thought the ending was abrupt and disappointing. But, as I started to think about the end, I could see everything falling into place. This is the best book I've read in a while and I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: must-read for SF fans
Review: I've enjoyed other Stephenson books, but this is by far the most interesting. It still has some adolescent hack-and-slash elements reminiscent of Snow Crash, but the remarkably complex social context Stephenson develops in a world fully immersed in nano-tech is fascinating. The emergence of the transnational organizations as the primary replacement for current concepts of nationalism are wonderfully predicive (given the current influence of shadowy organizations like al Quaeda, Microsoft, and Wal-Mart). Almost equally powerful is Stephenson's handling of the Nell character. His choices of language are very appropriate to her age, and are reminiscent in effectiveness to Frank McCourt's handling of his main character in "Angela's Ashes". Highly recommend this book. There is enough depth here that it warrants more than a single read.
Rating:
Summary: I read this book 7 years ago and it still affects me...
Review: ...few books do that. Admittedly at the time of read I would have given the book 3.5 to 4 stars. Lacking in my opinion was a coherent storyline; the book was convoluted, you never knew what the point really was. However, this novel has left a lasting impression on me. Of the numerous "takeaways", the most enduring are these: 1. Nanotechnology will change everything (not so apparent to the public now, much less back in 97). 2. Technology of this magnitude could offer the key to "leveling the playing field" with respect to economic inequity. 3. I devised a business term as a consequence of reading this book that has helped me immeasurably in my career: "attention units". In the future Stephenson posits that marketing will be so efficient that virtually every piece of visual real estate will be covered with what he calls "mediaglyphs"; billboards with audio and video (even on chopsticks). Not saying that I think that's a future I'd like to help build, but it does give you greater appreciation for any venue that could garner consumer attention. And finally, my greatest lesson of all was what the Primer (the supercomputer/teacher designed by the futures equivelant to a Bill Gates for his grandaughter in an effort to stave off the near inevitable corruption of his heirs owing to great fortune); the Primer's number one lesson in all of it's teaching was appreciation and capability in one principal skill; subversion. It taught her how to go "around, under, over" any obstacle with unorthodox, even risky thinking. Cool stuff. Anyway, didn't give anything away of great substance there, but did want to give you a few more reasons from my perspective to read this very special book. Hope this was helpful.
Rating:
Summary: Strong characters meet great storyline!
Review: That just about says it all for this, yet another fantastic sci-fi/high-tech by Stephenson, who is rapidly becoming one of my favorite sci-fi/high-tech writers like Gibson and is welcomed into the ranks of other such books as: "Foundation", "Stranger in a Strange Land", "Neuromancer", "Snow Crash", "Cryptonomicon", and "Darkeye: Cyber Hunter".
Rating: 
Summary: Social commentary over plot; ramblings that go nowhere...
Review: The first third of the book is reasonably compelling... you forgive the tangents as world building and the slow pace as character development. Then all at once the book looses steam and degenerates into busy work. The tangents are irrelevant ramblings intentionally obtusificated for no other purpose than to be explained, concisely and briefly, in the next chapter... leaving the reader to wonder why he didn't just say so in the first place rather than pad his book. One could literally skip entire chapters losing none of what little plot there is, and arguably missing little of the story's richness. Other tangents are self-indulgent allegory which the sharp reader which disassemble in a glance yet be forced to plod through his ponderous analogies in pretentious fairy-tale speak. As a computer scientist, even I didn't find the tales to be interesting illustrations (than compared to, say, a Christian's adoration of the allegory in C.S. Lewis' works). The final major tangent are the large portions of social commentary, which work fine in SciFi, but by this point you wonder if you are being entertained at all- why bother to read this? Any "plot" is fully predictable from the moment their conceits begin save for the moments when the characters fall completely out of their character- at which point, you feel like you're reading a bad dream and promptly forget as the character "wakes up" back into their normal persona. This is a novel (but not much of a story) with a lot of great ideas, a rich world, and initially compelling characters. But their interaction is stifled and the entire plot runs out of steam, chugging along on auto-pilot after the first third-to-half of the book. When at last we get to the end the relief is more because your ordeal is over than the characters. Most of Stephenson's curious ways of writing can be forgiven or even endearing if he just made sure it was all going somewhere... unfortunately, The Diamond Age is burdened with a lot of dead weight. An abridged concise novella version might actually be compelling....
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