Rating: 
Summary: Reading binary code is slightly less interesting.
Review: Mr. Stephenson is a technological visionary. He describes vividly a possible future. But description is his downfall...it drags on and on and on with little concern for plot or characterization. Admittedly I could only stomach the first 100 pages before I had to give it up. It simply wasn't making a whole lot of sense...and I graduated with a minor in computer programming. Frankly, I think Stephenson is one of those authors where people think it's cool to say they read, like they're smarter than the rest of us. Stephenson is very bright, but he's not a writer. A writer, specifically sci-fi writing, incorporates compelling characters and stories with technology. Stephenson nails 1 out of three. If he can get the other two down, if even in small measure, he'd be a stunning writer.
Rating:
Summary: Stephenson has imagination, but no craft
Review: Imangining interesting gadgets and how they might affect society are his only greatness. He does not understand story, and he does not understand people.If he learns the craft of story, he may yet be great. Until then he's an interesting might-have-been.
Rating: 
Summary: Stunning
Review: Having read Snow crash already, I picked up the Diamond Age with no hesitation. I knew I would be in for a rip-roaring good story that would teach and entertain me at the same time. I was not disappointed. Stephenson's knack for incorporating the details of his obviously extensive research without coming off as a pedagogue is unparalleled. The book falls short of five stars for its ending, though, which seems rushed compared to the attention to detail given the rest of the novel. Nevertheless, that's a small quibble for a novel by which I was consistently challenged -- and rewarded for the effort. When it was finished, I was a bit saddened because this was one of those rare novels I wanted to spend more time with when it had come round to its conclusion. Incidentally, the cover art on the British edition is much better than what's shown here.
Rating:
Summary: yecch
Review: I agree with the people who said this book started out great and went downhill. Way, way downhill. I didn't understand the majority of what happened in the second half of the book, and what I did vaguely understand, I found utterly ridiculous. I wish I could see this book through the eyes of the people who thought it was terrific!
Rating: 
Summary: beautifully written but ultimately unsatisfying
Review: The writing is sublime, the premise intriguing, but in the long run this novel just doesn't deliever. Nell, the heroine, is wonderfully drawn but then, for reasons known only to the author, squanders all her years with the Primer for a job in a brothel. And what's with the little girls army? That just struck me as improbable and silly. I also didn't understand the Drummers or what Miranda is doing with them at the end. The endless indepth nanotech discussion and descriptions will delight anyone who is interested in this subject but it makes for boring reading if you're not.
Rating: 
Summary: very good
Review: The best sci-fi book I have ever read that was published after 1980
Rating:
Summary: visionary
Review: Slog through the first 50 pages while you figure out what the heck he's talking about, because it's well worth it. Stephenson's vision of the future is mind blowing. His ability to take technology currently in its infancy and envision where it might go is simply astounding. Diamond Age is far more rewarding than Snow Crash, but still has some of the same problems--the convoluted plot becomes so huge and complicated that it collapses at the end. But even if it had NO plot, it would still be worth reading. In fact, I might even re-read it, something I usually reserve only for cherished books from childhood.
Rating:
Summary: Chaos is the main character in all of Stephenson's work.
Review: Under the nebulous rubric of post-modernism, Neal Stephenson has carved his niche. Readers of his work toil on, heedless of who Stephenson's main characters are, what his central conflict is, why so much contrived techno-babble is necessary at all (except that it adds to his chaotic ambience), and what, if anything, its illogic could possibly mean anyway. (Nell's "Primer" in DA is intelligent and wouldn't need a human "ractor," whom it directs; it could create an image: it is smart enough to interact fully and write its own lines!) Ironically, and sadly, when Stephenson is at his best, his writing is absolutely dazzling; but this occurs piecewise -- a short sequence here ("The Dinosaur's Tale" in "Diamond Age," the "Vickers" story in "Cryptonomicon," etc.), an intro, an image, a choice of words there (teenage girl entering room: "all gangly and awkward and beautiful" DA; "ghost mall" and "franchise ghetto" SC et al.). For the most part, it looks as if even his editors, by the ends of his works, have given up trying to grammaticalize his sentences and cut the fat from his prose. His works need serious streamlining, especially in their middles, where everything seems to break down into a welter of directionless verbosity -- characters getting lost forever, potential plots unraveling before our eyes, endeavors begun in earnest dropped as if aflame with narrative responsibility. Too bad. This guy has a masterpiece or two at his fingertips, if only he were not so in love with his own prolixity.
Rating:
Summary: 5 star start, 3 star end = 4
Review: The first part of the book is captivating, neat ideas, great plot, lots of twists. Then, right after the disenchanted mouse army, it seems like the author just got tired and wanted to finish the whole thing already. From then on, I felt like someone who had stayed too late at the author's party, I was still hungry and could have used a few more drinks, but Neal was yawning, had turned the music off and was starting to sweep up.
Rating: 
Summary: Overrated with a very unsatisfying conlusion
Review: I read the Diamond Age after reading Joe Haldeman's Forever War and Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game back to back. In comparison, the Diamond Age seemed hollow and contrived. There was no effort to create characters capable of genuine emotion, and there was no resolution. Actually, I was unclear to what the whole point of the story was. Was it that great minds will create revolutionary technologies no matter what the consequences? That Chinese really dislike westerners? What was the central conflict even? Some of the hard sci-fi was interesting (though over-relied upon) and the Diamond Age is fast paced, but on an emotional and philosophical level, I was very unsatisfied
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