The Confusion

The Confusion by Neal Stephenson.

Last night I completed reading The Confusion by Neal Stephenson. It is volume 2 of 3 of the Baroque Cycle which should really be thought of as a single, 3000 page novel that the publisher has broken up into three large volumes.

Neal Stephenson has developed a great story telling sensibility. He has a great ability to write quality dialogue and present compelling characters with believable motivations. And he's always done well at telling a story with a large cast of characters. Daniel Waterhouse is easily one of my favorite fictional characters in anything I've ever read. I'm fond of the entire Waterhouse clan from Cryptonomicon (the fictional offspring of Daniel of the Baroque Cycle). It's a pleasure to experience such a lengthy tale that is populated by such great characters. Stephenson has clearly immersed himself in the period of the 17th century and makes it vibrant.

I'll have to comment more completely on this particular work once I've finnished reading volume three (which I plan to dive into immediately). So far I've been impressed with Stephenson's growth as a novelist over the span of his output.