The System of the World

The Baroque Cycle 8-book #8

by Neal Stephenson

In this concluding volume of Neal Stephenson's epic work, "Half-Cocked Jack" Shaftoe must escape the noose of Jack Ketch; the rivalry between Newton and Leibniz comes to a head; and Daniel Waterhouse pursues his dream to build the Logic Mill.

The Baroque Cycle, Neal Stephenson's award-winning series, spans the late 17th and early 18th centuries, combining history, adventure, science, invention, piracy, and alchemy into one sweeping tale. It is a gloriously rich, entertaining, and endlessly inventive historical epic populated by the likes of Isaac Newton, William of Orange, Benjamin Franklin, and King Louis XIV, along with some of the most inventive literary characters in modern fiction.

Audible's complete and unabridged presentation of The Baroque Cycle was produced in cooperation with Neal Stephenson. Each volume includes an exclusive introduction read by the author.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Audiobook, Historical, Science Fiction Fantasy

368 pages, Paperback

Published November 28, 2006

About the author

Neal Stephenson is the author of Reamde, Anathem, and the three-volume historical epic the Baroque Cycle (Quicksilver, The Confusion, and The System of the World), as well as Cryptonomicon, The Diamond Age, Snow Crash, and Zodiac. He lives in Seattle, Washington.

Reviews

[Darwin8u · Rating 5 out of 5]

““We are all up to something”
- Neal Stephenson, The Baroque Cycle, Vol 3, Book 3



This is the end. Beautiful end. Assayed. The end. The eighth and final book of this series, which also shares the same name as the final volume of this series: (The System of the World). This final book in an eight book series is driven largely by two large and parallel events (the corronation of King George is a mere distraction). First, the hanging of Jack Shaftoe. Second, the Trial of the Pyx (and by proxy, a trial of Sir Isaac Newton). There are other events: the spiriting away of Solomon's gold, the escape of Jack's sons and Dappa (the First mate of the Minerva who ends up caught in a funky antislavery campaign against Charles White (one of the many villians of the book), the death of Roger Comstock (and other deaths ane ressurrections).

Anyway, I enjoyed how Stephenson wrapped this up. It is weird thinking that these three volumes:
1. Quicksilver
2. The Confusion
3. The System of the World

are all essentially prequels to: Cryptonomicon. I enjoyed the dance. It might have been one volume too much. Reading Stephenson, some days, does feel a bit like Peine forte et dure. How about just one more volume? That said, I did read all of the diaries of Samuel Pepys, so I am a glutton for the English Restoration period. I found this a fantastic (often literally FANTASTIC) way of examining the period and systems of science and religion and politics during this period. Obviously, much of the specifics are fiction, but many of the things floating like mouches volantes are grounded in facts. Sometimes, the best way to learn history is not to read it, but to play with it a bit; bend it and examine it under unusual lights and in different heats.

[Stephen Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

My least favourite of the three novels in The Baroque Cycle. Not as heady as Quicksilver, not as exciting as The Confusion. About 100 pages too long.Climax took place about 150 pages from the end. That's one loooooong denouement. I hope Stephenson is planning to connect the events of this trilogy to Cryptonomicon. A Victorian Shaftoe / Waterhouse plot would be simply awesome.

[Mommalibrarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of plots and plans, some tied up early and some waiting till close to the end of the story. A fair amount of swash and buckle for the action novel lover. Some philosophy for the natural scientist. The most amazing thing to me is that the author was able to restrict the knowledge and speculations of the characters to what was known in 1417. Lots of historical atmosphere and information; a few archaic words. A good read.

[Clif Hostetler · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the concluding book 8 of Neal Stephenson's epic Baroque Cycle (3rd book of volume 3 as originally published). Finally in this book Newton and Leibniz are placed in the same room and told by Princess Carolyn to resolve their differences. As depicted in this book, the calculus issue is hardly mentioned at all. The main differences that appear to be contentious are in the areas of philosophy and metaphysics. I am under the impression that the physical encounter of these three individuals in 1914 in London did not actually occur as depicted in this book. However, there are historical records of significant indirect communications between Newton and Leibniz. The following two links provide additional historical information on this subject.

Leibniz and Newton calculus controversy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leibniz_...
Leibniz–Clarke correspondence:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leibniz-...

Of course this is a novel so there's plenty of adventure, mystery and suspense to keep the reader's attention. The two main simultaneous story lines involve (1) the trial of the Pvx and (2) the execution of Jack Shaftoe. If you want to know what Pvx refers to I suggest you read the book. If you want to know if Shaftoe survives his execution you'll need to read all the way into the book's epilogs. I will mention that the Shaftoe character as portrayed on his way to his execution appears to be a Christ figure of sorts.

Thus far in the Baroque Cycle I've felt comfortable considering it to be historical fiction. However, in this book there are a couple of events that push it to the fringes of possibly being science fiction. Let's just say there's a couple (three depending how you count them) of resurrection events which don't comply with biological reality.

Speaking of resurrection, this book finally gives the reader a hint as to who Enoch Root is. He's a character in the book that seems to show up a crucial times in history to tweak events to make sure they go in the correct direction. We also know that he lives forever because he shows up in the 20th century story told in Cryptonomicon. There is a very strong suggestion given in this book that he is the same Enoch described in the Bible (Genesis 5:22-29). If you don't know your Bible stories you'll need to do a little research to learn the significance of that.

In the end we learn that the logic mill doesn't work and the Czar has lost interest in the project. It is concluded that some time will need to pass before the digital computer can be developed. That is obviously a conclusion any 21st century reader can recognize as something that has since come to pass. On another note, by the end of the book there is a working steam engine pumping water out of a coal mine (Thomas Newcomen's engine). That is the technological invention of the era that makes the most difference over the coming 18th and 19th Centuries.

I enjoy Stephenson's style of writing that clearly conveys a picture of time and place complete with clever wit. I know this is fictionalized history, but after making my way through the 2600 pages of the Baroque Cycle (if Cryptonomicon is included, another 1100 pages needs to be added) I can't help believing that if history didn't happen in this way, it should have.

LINK TO Wikipedia article about the Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson.
LINK TO my review of Quick Silver (Bk. 1) by Neal Stephenson.
LINK TO my review of King of the Vagabonds (Bk. 2) by Neal Stephenson.
LINK TO my review of Odalisque (Bk. 3) by Neal Stephenson.
LINK TO my review of The Confusion (Bks. 4 & 5) by Neal Stephenson.
LINK TO my review of Solomon's Gold (Bk. 6) by Neal Stephenson.
LINK TO my review of Currency (Bk. 7) by Neal Stephenson.

[Cryptid · Rating 5 out of 5]

So this is science-fiction author writing tremendously accurate historical fiction. Shelving it among sci-fi is not completely off, but most of the reasons for this are so subtle that you probably won't notice any of them (it would help actually living at the times when the books are taking place). The plot is taking part more or less sometime between 1660 and 1730 and is concerned with a very complex confusion of political and economical evolution of European society at that time... There are three main protagonists all of them fictional: Daniel Waterhouse, Eliza and Jack Shaftoe. From the perspective of narration, Daniel is more of an agent designed to probe the problems of natural philosophy, workings of the Royal Society and the difficult mind of sir Isaac Newton, Eliza's domain is mostly economics and courtly machinations, and Jack is supposed to tell us something more about the regular folk scraping their lives of dirty London (and other) streets with certain prospect of becoming a criminal mastermind some time later. The Baroque Cycle is composed of eight books in which the protagonists try to fulfill these roles added and betrayed constantly by their own personal agendas which tend to also be entangled in other machinations... it gets all so confused (or just mixed together) at times that it's very very hard to explain even the plot of one (of the eight) books after just one read-through (especially for someone who's already managed to forget the most of their high school education in history (which originally took place in central Europe = not England))... but I personally believe that Stephenson did all he could to make this attractive and relatable even for people like me who are not exactly history enthusiasts. He expresses just amazing sense of humor ranging from some ass-kicking courtly dialogues to absolutely ingenious subplot conclusions that I'll remember probably till death fighting an urge to steal and use them somehow. Although a little confused and buried in all the historical details and references I probably don't quite get, I've still enjoyed every second of reading this - there is just so much more that I can appreciate...

[Julie Capell · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s not often that I like a book so much I want to read it over again. With trilogies, it has only happened once before (Lord of the Rings, of course). With really long books, once is always enough (2666). But this Baroque Cycle was simply so astonishingly good, the characters so real, the story so compelling, that I would begin it again tomorrow if I didn’t have two book club books waiting for me and 50 others on my nightstand.

I don’t know how Stephenson managed to sustain the great writing across the nearly 3,000 pages in this series, but he did, right through to the very end. I will mention just two passages that struck me as the best ever in their category: the best sex scene ever, and the best duel ever.

The seduction of Daniel Waterhouse on the Roman chariot in the shadow of the fake volcano is surely the best sex scene ever written. Here is a short excerpt:

“Tilt your pelvis the other way, if you please, sir. There, much better, you’ll admit! Now, leave the rest to me, sir. The balance of this chariot can be a bit tricky. The ride a bit rough.” Indeed, the axle bearings of the chariot of Vulcan presently began to creak as it got to rocking forward and back, forward and back on its wheels. Daniel was old and the ride was correspondingly long but the primo mobile—the body of Miss Barton—was young and as everyone in London agreed, in the most superb condition, and more than equal to the work.

The duel using cannons between Charles White and Dappa, written in Stephenson’s typical hyper-detailed mode, poked a hole the size of a howitzer in the swashbuckling genre and drove right through it. I have seldom laughed so hard while reading. Sheer genius!!

I cannot fail to once again note the SUPERB narration provided by Simon Prebble on the audio book. He gave each character a distinct voice and allowed all the humor to shine through. Listening to Mr. Prebble’s performance is undoubtedly the best way to experience the Baroque Cycle.

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

"System of the World" (vol 3, book 3) is an excellent wrap up for the series. It does a great job of maintaining pace while going back and forth between Daniel Waterhouse and Jack Shaftoe. Book 3 defiantly features and develops Waterhouse more than any of the other characters. It took me a while to warm up to Daniel because he's quiet and unassuming, but he ends up being one of the most entertaining (and strangely mischievous) characters in the series. He's not flashy like Jack, but he's got his own quiet little Imp of the Perverse that makes him a nice compliment to Jack.

One of my favorite things about the Baroque cycle is the lack of clear antagonists and protagonists amongst the primary characters. These roles seem to shift and change depending POV. I love that I wanted to cheer for almost everyone at least some of the time.

I primarily listened to the audio books for the Baroque cycle and highly recommend them. Simon Prebble is an outstanding audio performer, and he does a magnificent job portraying the diverse character personalities.

I hoped to finish this massive Stephenson literary project before the end of the year, and I've completed with time to spare. Hopefully, I have enough time to finish the Cryptonomicon in the next 2.5 weeks. I've been reading it in parallel with "System of the World" volume three and am a little over 50% through ... just 575 more pages to go! I've enjoyed following the original Waterhouses's and Shaftoes (Baroque Cycle) along side their American descendants of the 1940s and 1990s (Crypto).

[Peter Matthews · Rating 4 out of 5]

The System of the World is the gathering of strings from Confusion and Quicksilver. Plots and characters reappear and intertwine distantly and very intimately. Mechanisms like a Logic Mill, a steam engine, a volcano, watches, transits, telescopes and microscopes assist the philosophers of the day to explore hitherto un resolved issues and inevitably reveal more problems and issues as they are understood. Inevitably however, it is the development of a financial system that stands out. The three books have followed a hobbyhorse of Stephenson's: the development of a monetary method from barter to direct value coinage and on into paper money. Fascinating! The whole series is a tour de force
The treatment of the architecture, the vernacular and the accuracy of the geography brings the series alive so that we can smell the Fleet Ditch, Newgate prison and the clustered slaughterhouses and the effluent pouring into Father Thames.
This and its previous volumes deserve major accolades and as for the length -well, the material could also have been made twice as long and still have been interesting and absorbing. For a long novel, a second or third read may help the reader understand the development and want to know more about the background.

[Dave]

This is a simply terrific conclusion to the magniicent "Baroque Cycle" and is best read after Quicksilver and The Confusion. Stephenson's narrative is littered with genius. His research is immaculate, his conjuring of the place, the time, the mood, the language, the smells and sounds of LLondon's Newgate Prison are just fantastic.



All our old favourites are back but this is Daniel Waterhouse's story. Looking back it's clear now that book one was Eliza's tale, book 2 Jack's and book 3 Daniel's. And as their stories are con-fused by fate, by chance, by the mysterious intervention of Enoch Root.



Best of all this book has more, and better action than the previous two, and kicks along at an even more cracking pace. Where book two was all pirates and banking, this is all lurking natural philosophers. The final debate between Newton and Leibniz is simply brilliant. There are a million things to love about this book, and indeed this whole series.. I can't praise it enough.

[MTK · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am finding it hard to believe that I finally finished the Baroque Cycle, but here we are; the 5 stars review is only partly for this book, which was nevertheless excellent, but more so for the author's incredible achievement in creating this vivid universe, where fiction and history blend seemlessly, along with science and religion and politics and magic and economics and adventure, in a fascinating tale that spans decades and continents and philosophies. Naturally, in a story this long (8 book, most of them fairly long ones) the quality will fluctuate somewhat: personally I adored Daniel Waterhouse and especially his relationship with Isaac Newton, and I think the parts of the narrative concerning them were the best, with the Hanoverian political intrigues coming second and Eliza's financial manoeuvres a distant third, while I wasn't that interested in Jack Shaftoe and his sheshanigans, though I admit they were first-rate adventure tales. It's probably a matter of taste. All in all, it's worth taking the time to get through this series. Bravo, Mr.Stephenson!

[Gregory Eakins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Newton was the greatest genius that ever existed, and the most fortunate, for we cannot find more than once a system of the world to establish. - Joseph Lagrange

Stephenson manages to finish this epic series on a high note, following up the two snoozers Solomon's Gold and Currency. There are a lot of plot lines to tie up here, and the author does a solid job of doing just that.

While the writing is close to poetic, and the weaving in of reality makes for an engaging way of understanding history, I feel that this entire series was about twice as long as it needed to be. To finish is a test of endurance - especially for those not particularly fascinated by 18th century economics.

If I were to recommend anything by this author, I would start with a standalone novel like Seveneves and avoid this tome until you've gone pretty far down the Stephenson rabbit hole.

[Ian Durham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, I finished this awhile ago but never wrote a review. Where to begin? I'm not sure I could even do it justice. What a monumental trilogy. It deserves stars just for being written. Add to that the fact that it was actually *well* written and fun to read (as Stephenson's books tend to be) and the five stars were almost too few. That said, I found a few small spots in Volume 2 to run a bit slow, but Volume 3 was a fantastic way to wrap things up. What terrific characters he created. Talk about bringing Newton and his contemporaries to life! It makes you feel as if you could actually relate to them (nevermind the fact that so much of it is implausible). Stephenson manages to be be simultaneously funny (hysterical, even), poignant, insightful, and educational all at once (I mean, who knew how pioneering the Dutch were to the development of the stock exchange).

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, that's it. Neal Stephenson's "The Baroque Cycle" is finished.

This book suffers from the same malady as its predecessors: an insufficiently empowered editor. 'The System of the World' offers a bang-up conversation between Newton and Leibnitz. It wraps its major plot threads. It works. However, there isn't enough story to justify its length and Stephenson isn't a good enough prose stylist to justify his longwindedness.

Still, I give this three stars for its carefully imagined 18th Century Europe. I feel like I got to know Newton and Leibnitz. I understand Monadism better than I had. And I now know a lot about the nuts and bolts of Baroque-era coining.

I read this because a friend from church pressed it into my hands, exclaiming that "The Baroque Cycle" is his favorite work of fiction. I look forward to discussing his why.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stephenson makes beautiful prose in any situation. This whole series is sheer poetry. However, that poetry is mixed with piracy and bawdiness and makes for a story a little too 'real' for my tastes. I fully enjoyed the interwoven histories of coining, currency, finance, chemistry, and even alchemistry. The story is long and drawn out, albeit mixed with interesting tales of a jailbreak, something called the 'trial of the pix' and a formula for raising the dead. All in all, if this wasn't an audiobook, and I didn't have nearly two hours a day in the car to listen, I never would have made it through this book. Still, I liked it, mostly./

[Eduardo Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an amazing ride it's been; 8 books covering the events of the late 17th to the early 18th century through the eyes of amazing characters. It sure has been extraordinary to live through these.

The characters are well constructed, the story is extensive, so vast that it mirrors reality, the language is jaw dropping but, most of all, the depth of its historical underpinnings are what got me going (even through the “slow” parts).

From all the volumes, my favorite was Bonanza: the diverse arrays of characters, the adventures and the humor.

For all history nerds out there, this is one of the most entertaining sagas I’ve ever read. Thank you Mr. Stephenson for the amazing ride.

[John Kitcher · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've just spent the last two months reading the seven books in this set. Wow, what a ride. Stephenson brings a rare magic to characters and places like some kind of dark wizard hell bent on shaping the world before he expires. Jack Shaftoe is possibly my favorite character I've ever come across in a book, and there are so many adventures. I found myself reading pieces of this book and just saying "wow" at the end of the paragraph for the word-architecture and play of characters. The first few books really hit it out of the park but it slowed a little with the last tome (books 5,6,7). A brilliant book about money and what it is.

[Stephen Holmes · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this entire series hard to get into. The second and third books were a little easier, but I still floundered around trying to get through the book. Many of the tangents were uninteresting to me (not a big fan of economics apparently) and hard to get through.

That being said, I did at least feel that the story told in the Baroque Cycle was finished up with this book, and the last half of the novel I found started to grab me and pull me in.

All in all, the series was not the greatest, and I would recommend checking out other Neal Stephenson books first.

[Margot · Rating 4 out of 5]

This took a while, but I loved it. The best part to me was the cultural/scientific/social history that's so real that I pretty much keep an encyclopedia window open at all times to check if what has just been said is part of the fiction or not. I visited Europe this summer, including many sites mentioned in the gook(coincidentally) and the accuracy of the geography is really interesting. The story? It's about what alchemy really is and has done in the world, construed broadly. And it's great food for thought.
And I am very happy to be done reading all of these!

[Dave Stone · Rating 4 out of 5]

WOW! what a huge and epic saga. in one human life span we went from Aristotelian physics to Newtonian. from Alchemy to chemistry. from coins that were worth their weight in that metal to bills of exchange. it was the birth of modern science and so much more. I'm overwhelmed trying to write a review. just blown away by the scope and majesty. what a daunting work to undertake and what a towering success in completion.
and the characters, how vibrant and memorable. Jack and Eliza and Dr. Waterhouse. but by the end of the cycle my favorite character was Dappa.

[Lars Dradrach · Rating 5 out of 5]

The 5 star rating is for the whole Baroque Cycle - A immense work of fiction describing the birth of the modern world as we know it.

This is the very satisfactory conclusion to the whole series, a little bittersweet after following Jack, Eliza, Daniel and so many others for so long.

Maybe this is the time also to praise the spectacular audio adaption from audible read by Katherine Kellgren, Kevin Pariseau and Simon Prebble with introductions by Neal Stephenson himself.

This is the second time i listen to this wonderful tale and probably not the last.

[Jerfus · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a weird book, it had some sections which would make it my favorite of the whole cycle but in the end while it did bring closure to all the threads it didn't feel quite as momentous, perhaps because so much was going on that rather than one climax there were a lot of not-quite-climaxes but rather... Developments? All in all an enjoyable read and Neal Stephenson is obviously not a real person but rather a whole confederacy of gifted individuals writing books under the same pen name because there is no way any single human being can write about orbital mechanics, economy and Babylon.

[Susan Chamberlain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it! I always feel so smart when I finish one of Stephenson's novels; not I can drop tidbits about Leibniz and life in 18th century England into conversation and sound really erudite. I will say that by the time you reach the end of this 3000-page trilogy, you will have forgotten what happened at the beginning, so read the books in close sequence if you can. I promise you will get a good laugh from Dappa's duel if you stick it out.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great payoff to an amazing series. So detailed and wonderfully rich, The Baroque Cycle is a wonder investment of time. I listened to the excellent unabridged audiobook series produced by Audible (2 years ago?) The 8 books end up totally ~125 hours of audio listening, but it is WELL worth it. The series is amazing for giving you a sense of what the world was like at the cusp of the Industrial Revolution.

[Travis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this series continuous from quicksilver to System of the World. I found the series in general to be excellent. Quicksilver was the one book I struggled through. This last installment did a pretty good job of winding things up. There were a couple points I would have liked to have seen in more detail, but not only is that getting into nit picking it probably would require a whole other book to be written.

[Natalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this whole convoluted series immensely. What I "read" were actually the audible.com editions, read by Simon Prebble, who is an absolutely brilliant narrator. Combine his expert reading with Stephenson's witty, complex prose, and you're left with the most entertaining series of books I've come across in a very long time.

[William Showalter · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good concluding novel to the series. Not the best book of the Baroque cycle, but still a good piece nonetheless. System Of The World primarily features Daniel Waterhouse running around being much more clever than he has any right to. I was a bit disappointed, however, that there wasn't any reappearance of Enoch Root.

[Gabriela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Books 1 and 2 were very entertaining and I believe one of the best historical fiction I've read. Book 3 drags a bit, but overall ties the story in very nicely.

The trilogy is supposed to be a prequel to Cryptonomicon, but reading it first kind of lays out the family history of the main characters, so when you start reading Cryptonomicon, its like reuniting with old friends.

[Fiona · Rating 5 out of 5]

I made it!

The Cycle is perhaps a little too wordy for my tastes, but I've learned a lot about the period in history and for the first time am curious to go an find out more about late 16th/early 17thC London. ;)

It was a good yarn, a little long, but satisfying to complete. I might go back at some point and start again - I think it might be easier to follow second time round.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The last book in the series, it is a good conclusion. Overall, the series covers an interesting period in history. I think the author got caught trying to decide what this series would be. In the end it feels like a miniseries about the baroque period but the author kept trying to make a sci-fi. But he is a great writer this is an thoughtful book

[Halle Lieu · Rating 4 out of 5]

“That’s why I was careful to say whenever some great prince sees fit to build it. If not the Tsar, then someone else who will come along after my death.”
”Or after mine, or my son’s or my grandson’s,” Johann says. “Human nature being what it is, I fear that this will only happen when the things that the Logic Mill is good at become important to a war.”