Rating: 
Summary: THE FINEST nanotechnology novel EVER, but the ending STINKS
Review: After reading the book and the reviews on this page, I must say 2 things. To anyone considering the purchase of this book, RUN, RUN, RUN ! to your bookstore and purchase this jewel of speculative fiction. If you seek cyberpunk excitement, look elsewhere. However, if you are looking for the finest, clearest, razor honed diamond vision of the future of nanotechnology, this is THE book to read. Lucid characters, plot, and just plain perfect writing all contribute to make this the science fiction novel of the year, if not the decade.
The second thing I must say about this book is that the ending SUCKS. Mr. Stephenson, if you have the opportunity to read this review, please take these words to heart. If you wrote the ending of this book as a prelude to a sequel, you did a poor job of it. If, on the otherhand, you are not planning a sequel, then your ending was absolutely idiotic. None of the perfectly woven threads of the story were resolved, and the shoddy construction of the last 20 pages is obviously hurried with no regard to the outcome. If you choose to write another novel, please don't be in such a rush to publish that you abandon your fine work, it is as if a master craftsman of the ming dynasty has crafted the finest of vases then glazed it with Krylon.
Overall, I would recommend this above every other book written in the last 10 years, even over such classics as Greg Bear's Blood Music and William Gibson's Neuromancer. Please keep up the good work, Mr. Stephenson, but please learn how to write good endings for your stories.
Rating: 
Summary: Realistic in the sense that technology hurts more than helps
Review: I program for a living, and so I found the engineer character to be quite real. He was deluded by the false hopes brought on by the hype of mastering technology. The hope of station and wealth, which are really never secure and are controlled by people who are in fact far removed from him.
In Diamond Age, the practitioners of technology usually do not wield the most power or the most money, they are kind of like domestic dogs. Good for certain tasks and better off than the animals the master hunts, destroys, or eats, but still caught in the jaws of greater powers.
All the while, the techies feed a rift of greater division of class and money. It smacks of an echo of the Industrial Revolution and the subsequent reduction of quality vs. quantity (i.e. we can all afford living room sets, but only the most elite can afford tables made of single plank wood, real persian rugs etc.). So again in Diamond Age, the few keep the good stuff while growing in wealth cranking out the crap.
If one is aware, they'll see a similar noose around their own neck during the rise of the Information Age now. Some other kind of deal has been cut, and now another large swath of humanity will get more of less.
So, Diamond Age shows this happening again with the twist of combining mechanical engineers (Industrial Revolution house dogs) and programmers (Information Age house dogs) into the nano-tech engineers of the future. And once again an orthodoxy of British origins starts it off.
So the book kind of rips off history, but that's cool because you can think about it from a more detached perspective, but it has and is all happening now.
The book gets better than the first few pages about some skull-gun crap would lead you to believe. Also, it actually has a focus on the lives of people. This is including a little girl who overcomes a lot of abuse. By sharing her life with us, the book takes on a real human edge, I'd even say technology is not showcased here but acts as props and motivations for characters. In this way it replaces the objects of nature that motivated characters in stories from an earlier time in human histroy.
Most of all, Diamond Age made me stop and think some more about what I am doing to/for people in my line of work
Rating:
Summary: Dif. from Snow Crash but Good
Review: Mainly this book is about a girls journey through life with the help of a Primer a little action but mainly this was a people story it was okay but not a fav if you like emotion read it if you like action dont thats the best advice i can give yo
Rating:
Summary: Impressive
Review: Plenty has been said about the ending, the cool nanotech, and the philosophical lessons in the book, but one thing that struck me as a person of Chinese heritage is his knowledge and precision in his painting of the Chinese behavior, culture, and landscape. Many times Neal surprised me by reminding me of the nuiance in behavior or history that is distinctively Chinese; a few times he taught me things I never knew. The Confusian judical system, the Fists that were based on the Boxer Revolution, and even the painting of a sidewalk beggar all are painfully accurate and completely convincing. Impeccable details and research all lead to a great backdrop for this fascinating story
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, Compelling look at the Future.
Review: Unlike His previous work, 'Snow Crash', which, a fun but not so believeable romp through the near future, The Diamond Age is a very compelling look at what the world may be like in not so many years. Aside from the lustrous background the characters are very life like and involving. The prose is polished and the story moves along at a very satisfying pace.
The story is about a special book made to teach a young girl everything she needs to know. The book ends up in the hands of three very different girls and has three very different results.
Nell is the girl that the book has the largest affect on. Born to poverty, her miscreant brother finds and gives the book to her. The book teaches her to read and how to survive in her world. When she has to flee that world the book helps her learn to solve the puzzles of the world at large. Soon Nell is moving in the elite circles of the Neo-Victorian society.
Larger forces in the world are clashing and rush Nell and the other characters in the book into the memorable climax.
This is one of my favorite books and I recomend it to everyone
Rating: 
Summary: Not as good as Snow Crash
Review: I was very disappointed with this book.
Neil Stephenson has written some truly great novels, Zodac for one, Snowcrash for another. This one, however, left a bad taste in my mouth. The characters were not terribly well developed, but, I thought the world itself, the atmosphere, was wonderful. The ending just left me hanging and wondering where the other half of the book went. Perhaps he's planning a sequal. If he is, then I'll change my rating to about an 8, if he does not, then, I'm afraid I'll have to leave it at a five.
I suggest go read Zodiac. It's a thriller, and a lot of fun.
Rating:
Summary: Not quite more of the same from Snow Crash authour.
Review: Having read Stephenson's fantastic Snow Crash, I immediately ran to the book store and grabbed this, his second novel. At first, I found it such a departure from the rollicking pace of Snow Crash that I stopped reading it and went on to other books. But when I returned to it about a month later I couldn't put it down.
Being Stephenson's view of a society where nanotechnology is the norm, it's based in a further future than the first book. Here, society has balkanized itself into closed sects. The Victorians, for instance, live in an idealized hybrid of Victorian surroundings meshed with high-technology. When a little girl from the wrong side of the tracks comes into posession of the fantastical 'Young Woman's Primer', with moving pictures and live narration from paid actors, she slowly evolves from a street urchin into a revolutionary freedom fighter.
Maybe my initial distaste was coloured by the fact that I had just read the much different Snow Crash. But I'm definately glad I gave it a second chance, because Stephenson develops an even more complete, more futuristic world here. The characters are equally interesting, and the plot has the same meandering quality that keeps you on your toes throughout. However, the book weakens a bit towards the end, where the existentialism goes into overdrive.
All told, however, Stephenson continues to give us engaging concepts on where we might be going as a society
Rating:
Summary: A brilliant mind goes awry...
Review: In this case, I mean Neil Stephenson's mind! :^) When I read this book for the first time, I was stuck. I couldn't put it down, but it irritated me in so many little ways that I had a major dilemma. It was not all sweetness and light. It was not a romping adventure in CyberSpace, as some editors and critics would like you to think. It was a very provocative conduit for a lot of thinking, and for that I am very grateful to Neil Stephenson. This book is about the power of the mind, and the power of attachments. It is definitely worth the read. Buy it
Rating:
Summary: Cyber cool
Review: I did not think I'd like this book. I read the first couple chapters slowly ...over a few weeks...until I was able to recognize the book's potential for great reading. This book is science fiction: with elements of mystery, erotica, thriller, romance, commentary, and good ol' fashioned story telling.
The plot eventually weaves together a number of seemingly dissimilar plot threads and keeps you byting your nails to the very end. (I had to chew plenty of gum to keep from devouring my nuckles.)
Interactive books, nanochips, virtual reality made possible by live actors, crumbling governments, limitless resources, rich and poor, victorian and thoroughly modern, the richness of the book is unbelievable.
If you wish to invest your time to read a quality book, this is it. Get ready to discard your old notions of story and future! Fans of cyberpunk writer Gibson will enjoy this book a great deal.
Rating: 
Summary: Tripe of nearly the worst sort
Review: Another long, wandering tale, poorly thought out and very unimaginative. The clumsy ending just confirms the reader's worst fears. However the future turns out, it definitely WON'T be anything like this "cyberpunk meets The Sand Pebbles". The author has heard of molecular nanotechnology, but can't see past the simplest, most obvious implications. The rest of the book is the same: name dropping, but no real information or knowledge to prop up the boring characters in their uninteresting lives. The author can't even define hypocrisy, which may explain how he had the gall to foist this rag on an already suffering public
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