Rating: 
Summary: Speculations on the century after tomorrow -- good stuff!
Review: Has the cyberpunk genre been doomed since its very premise? This question gains some legitimacy when one examines the base text of the genre - Gibson's 'Nueromancer' - and then sees the same qualities and flaws of that seminal text repeated again and again by promising young authors who have big vocabularies, big ideas, a big grasp on where technology might take us next...yet often-times fail in fashioning a compelling story from the prospects of high-tech dystopia, or produce characters that strain and/or break free their archtypical origins. Such was the dilemma of 'Nueromancer.' Yet Neal Stephenson bucked the trend with his day-after-tomorrow masterpiece 'Snow Crash', creating compelling characters and a strong conflict while dishing out the sci-fi goods in voluptuous quantity. And thus I came to 'The Diamond Age' expecting more of the same. But by one hundred pages in my suspicions were raised: here Stephenson seemed content in world building without presenting any real underlying tension. Still, I did not fret, nor scowled in impatience, for Stephenson has a good ear for dialogue, a sharp sense of character, and his world building is excellent. He both uses and pokes sly fun at the space-opera clichés of the cyberpunk genre, all the while delicately fashioning a strong theme: that of the environmental/conditional programming for the children of the future. Despite the marvelous advances of technology, Stephanson reminds us, there are some core values that really do matter in sustaining a functional society: maternal rearing, emotional education, and strong leaders willing to sacrifice for the greater change. The main character of 'The Diamond Age' (or at least the most prominent) is a street urchin named Nell, who escapes from the squalor of her upbringing by devoting her time to the Primer, a nanotechnological nanny full of myth and moral lessons. As we follow Nell on her virtual and real-life adventures, Stephenson interweaves a dozen other sub-plots around the budding girl, including the political strife that emerges when disparate cultures clash; the logical end-result of the assault of corporate advertising; musings on the nature of culture and society; startling insight into the Chinese mindset-Stephanson has done his homework, and the sheer amount of intelligence and raw talent manifest in 'The Diamond Age' not only sets it apart from the countless futurama derivatives, it makes the book a good read despite a weak novel-form progression. I personally did not find the ending to be poor, unlike some other reviewers on this page. It is powerful, it suits the book, and it leaves many questions open; and for this world, these characters, I found that ambiguity to be much more satisfying than the standard everyone-lives-happily-ever-after. Society continues, life continues, and the struggles therein continue. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Good, but not great
Review: Another Neal Stephenson that startes well, but then gets lost in overly convoluted story lines.This book could have had 150pages cut out of it. Stephenson is great at world-building, but like Cryptonomicon, he bites off more than he can chew, and the result is an uneven book. This is a good SciFi title, but it has its problems.
Rating:
Summary: Neal Stephenson does it again!
Review: I am a big fan of Neal Stephenson, and I think this is an excellent example of his work. It isn't a fast-paced thriller (I read it over the course of a month because I was really busy), but it is still an excellent book. It takes place in a future world here on earth in an intriguing society where, instead of countries, there are societies that you can apply to join, spread out across the world instead of in just one spot. It is the story of a piece of interactive technology -- a book that responds to the reader and the reader's surroundings -- that was created for the granddaughter of a rich tycoon. It is the story of what happens when this book (A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer) falls into the hands of a girl in a poverty-stricken, abusive family. An amazing story, and very thought-provoking. If you liked Snow Crash, you'll love The Diamond Age.
Rating: 
Summary: Can a good book have that bad of an ending?
Review: This is a great book. I enjoyed nearly every minute of it. The nanotechnology is extremely cool, and the writing style is exactly what I would expect from the author of Snow Crash.
And then I got to the last page and wondered what the point was.
I still enjoyed it, I recommend it, but don't expect the ending to make any sense at all.
Rating: 
Summary: Left Me Bored and Hungry
Review: Though Stephenson has some titillating fantasies about nanotech to share, they fail to overcome the lack of a compelling plot. Usually I can't put a good book down. This one I found hard to plod through. The story finally gelled and became somewhat interesting about 2/3 of the way through the book, but even then it never really grabbed me. It seemed as though Stephenson relied on imaginative sound bites of future tech to carry the book, while the story wandered around and really went nowhere.
Two thumbs down. I usually pass on my favorite reads to a good friend. I wouldn't waste his time on this one.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Read
Review: The Diamond Age is another great, thought-provoking and exquisitely written book by the author of Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson. Stephenson has an incredible way with words and pleasantly surprised me with some of those that aren't used nearly often enough. (I've only ever seen the words callipygious, quiescently, and redolent on my daily word calendar.) Stephenson is also incredible at changing the tone of his writing between the story and a story within the story. The Diamond Age revolves mostly around the story of a young girl, Nell, and her book that is an incredible feat of technology, the Young Lady's Illustrated Primer. It is an interactive book that teaches everything from reading to social skills to self-defense. The stories of the Primer remind me of the fairytales I loved reading as a child and Stephenson writes them as if they were just interactive versions of Grimm's Fairy Tales. Stephenson sets up the story of Nell by telling the stories of all of the people that end up affecting her life, directly and indirectly. These stories point out some amazing truths about society and people. In the book, Stephenson discusses the importance of every kind of education, experiencing life and good old book learning. He examines class distinction and social mobility, the good and bad consequences of nanotechnology, and the aspects of true intelligence. Overall, the beginning of this book was probably the best first half of a book that I've ever read, a true page-turner with a great plot and great character development. Unfortunately, the end did not live up to the beginning. Still, it ranks up there with some of the best books I've ever read.
Rating:
Summary: Honestly, I want to give it 4.999
Review: The Diamond Age, or aptly named, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer was great. It combined Stephenson's interesting characters with another unexpected plot just like his book Snow Crash. The tone that the book started with definitely led me way off track. Just like in Snow Crash, the ending and real meat of the plot is nothing like what the beginning of the book suggests.
Without giving too much away, the book revolves initially on the life of a young girl (named Nell) and how it changes through the intervention of a Princess's 'magic' book. However this initial plot is only one of three interwoven plots which also include: an aristocratic nanoengeneer's plight, and an actress, or "ractress" as they're known in Stephenson's world. And of course, Stephenson handles all of these stories with an expert's hand. The book has all the makings for an excellent sci-fi/cyberpunk book: psychological theories, nanotechnology, unique view of future TV, and all sorts of theorized neo-nations. The book almost requires a second reading to get the full effect of all its subtle humor and irony.
For whatever reason you read the book I'm sure you'll enjoy it. It only has one downfall. Towards the middle of the book, it slows down a little. It shifts roles from rapidly progressing through Nell's early life to her middle and early teen years. Out of the two books I've read by Stephenson (Snow Crash and Diamond Age) I would rank Snow Crash just above Diamond Age, just because the book kept flowing at the same rate throughout the plotline. However that matters little because they're both tremendous books.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome book
Review: This and Snowcrash in my opinion are his best books. I have read both of them a few times and continue to find things that I have missed. Stephenson's writing style is more at home in the not-quite reality in this and Snowcrash. Cryptonomicon is good but these are much better. If you like cyberpunk or nanotech-oriented scifi then this is a great book to read.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating scenarios, technology
Review: Having read Stephenson's first novel, "Snow Crash", I looked forward to this one a great deal - and by and large, I wasn't disappointed. The places (Chinese coastal areas, Seattle, London, and a good bit of virtual places) are well-described - particularly the areas found in the Primer (a central plot element, essentially a hyper-wired children's book). The author's envisioning of nanotechnology and how it might affect our lives as it becomes pervasive are both well-detailed and somewhat frightening (particularly in this post-Anthrax climate). If I had a criticism of this novel, it would be that the territory Stephenson maps out is just a bit too grandiose to really be addressed completely. While Nell's adventures in the Primer are well-detailed, some of the real-world events surrounding Hackworth and (especially) the theater troupes and Hackworth's family are almost as compelling, yet glossed over. While every novel is bound to have its incidental characters, I found myself wanting more information about some of those 'sidebar' events.
Rating:
Summary: The best Stephenson Book
Review: This is his best book, no question. It is probably the most interesting science fiction world I've ever seen a story set in, and the details are rich AND relevant. It makes me want to live there. I find the ending a little rushed, and wish he would have spent more time and detail building up to it...but if anything, that needs to be taken as a compliment as it means that I just wanted to spend more time in this story.
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