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The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer (Bantam Spectra Book) Paperback – May 2, 2000
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Decades into our future, a stone’s throw from the ancient city of Shanghai, a brilliant nanotechnologist named John Percival Hackworth has just broken the rigorous moral code of his tribe, the powerful neo-Victorians. He's made an illicit copy of a state-of-the-art interactive device called A Young Ladys Illustrated Primer Commissioned by an eccentric duke for his grandchild, stolen for Hackworth's own daughter, the Primer’s purpose is to educate and raise a girl capable of thinking for herself. It performs its function superbly. Unfortunately for Hackworth, his smuggled copy has fallen into the wrong hands.
Young Nell and her brother Harv are thetes—members of the poor, tribeless class. Neglected by their mother, Harv looks after Nell. When he and his gang waylay a certain neo-Victorian—John Percival Hackworth—in the seamy streets of their neighborhood, Harv brings Nell something special: the Primer.
Following the discovery of his crime, Hackworth begins an odyssey of his own. Expelled from the neo-Victorian paradise, squeezed by agents of Protocol Enforcement on one side and a Mandarin underworld crime lord on the other, he searches for an elusive figure known as the Alchemist. His quest and Nell’s will ultimately lead them to another seeker whose fate is bound up with the Primer—a woman who holds the key to a vast, subversive information network that is destined to decode and reprogram the future of humanity.
- Print length499 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherSpectra
- Publication dateMay 2, 2000
- Dimensions5.2 x 1.03 x 8.2 inches
- ISBN-100553380966
- ISBN-13978-0553380965
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Editorial Reviews
Review
"[Stephenson is] the hottest science fiction writer in America. . . . Snow Crash is without question the biggest SF novel of the 1990s. Neal's SF novel, The Diamond Age, promises more of the same. Together, they represent a new era in science fiction. People who plow through these mind-bogglers will walk around slack-jawed for days and reemerge with a radically redefined sense of reality."—Details
"Neal Stephenson is the Quentin Tarantino of postcyberpunk science fiction. . . . Having figured out how to entertain the hell out of a mass audience, Stephenson has likewise upped the form's ante with rambunctious glee."—Village Voice
"Snow Crash drew its manic energy from the cyberpunkish conceit that anything is possible in virtual reality; in The Diamond Age the wonders of cyberspace pale before the even more dazzling powers of nanotechnology."—New York Times Book Review
"Diamond Age establishes Neal Stephenson as a powerful voice for the cyber age. . . . At once whimsical, satirical, and cautionary."—USA Today
"Stephenson's world-building skills are extraordinary. . . . The Diamond Age should cement Stephenson's reputation as one of the brightest and wittiest young authors of American science fiction."—San Diego Union-Tribune
From the Inside Flap
From the Back Cover
About the Author
Mr. Stephenson now resides in a comfortable home in the western hemisphere and spends all of his time trying to retrofit an office into its generally dark, unlevel, and asbestos-laden basement so that he can attempt to write more novels. Despite the tremendous amounts of time he devotes to writing, playing with computers, listening to speed metal, Rollerblading, and pounding nails, he is a flawless husband, parent, neighbor, and all-around human being.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
A thete visits a mod parlor; noteworthy features of modern armaments.
The bells of St. Mark's were ringing changes up on the mountain when Bud skated over to the mod parlor to upgrade his skull gun. Bud had a nice new pair of blades with a top speed of anywhere from a hundred to a hundred and fifty kilometers, depending on how fat you were and whether or not you wore aero. Bud liked wearing skin-tight leather, to show off his muscles. On a previous visit to the mod parlor, two years ago, he had paid to have a bunch of 'sites implanted in his muscles—little critters, too small to see or feel, that twitched Bud's muscle fibers electrically according to a program that was supposed to maximize bulk. Combined with the testosterone pump embedded in his forearm, it was like working out in a gym night and day, except you didn't have to actually do anything and you never got sweaty. The only drawback was that all the little twitches made him kind of tense and jerky. He'd gotten used to it, but it still made him a little hinky on those skates, especially when he was doing a hundred clicks an hour through a crowded street. But few people hassled Bud, even when he knocked them down in the street, and after today no one would hassle him ever again.
Bud had walked away, improbably unscratched, from his last job—with something like a thousand yuks in his pocket. He'd spent a third of it on new clothes, mostly black leather, another third of it on the blades, and was about to spend the last third at the mod parlor. You could get skull guns a lot cheaper, of course, but that would mean going over the Causeway to Shanghai and getting a back-alley job from some Coaster, and probably a nice bone infection in with the bargain, and he'd probably pick your pocket while he had you theezed. Besides, you could only get into a Shanghai if you were virgin. To cross the Causeway when you were already packing a skull gun, like Bud, you had to bribe the shit out of numerous Shanghai cops. There was no reason to economize here. Bud had a rich and boundless career ahead of him, vaulting up a hierarchy of extremely dangerous drug-related occupations for which he served as a paid audition of sorts. A start weapons system was a wise investment.
The damn bells kept ringing through the fog. Bud mumbled a command to his music system, a phased acoustical array splayed across both eardrums like the seeds on a strawberry. The volume went up but couldn't scour away the deep tones of the carillon, which resonated in his long bones. He wondered whether, as long as he was at the mod parlor, he should have the batteries drilled out of his right mastoid and replaced. Supposedly they were ten-year jobs, but he'd had them for six and he listened to music all the time, loud.
Three people were waiting. Bud took a seat and skimmed a mediatron from the coffee table; it looked exactly like a dirty, wrinkled, blank sheet of paper. " 'Annals of Self-Protection,' " he said, loud enough for everyone else in the place to hear him. The logo of his favorite meedfeed coalesced on the page. Mediaglyphics, mostly the cool animated ones, arranged themselves in a grid. Bud scanned through them until he found the one that denoted a comparison of a bunch of different stuff, and snapped at it with his fingernail. New mediaglyphics appeared, surrounding larger cine panes in which Annals staff tested several models of skull guns against live and dead targets. Bud frisbeed the mediatron back onto the table; this was the same review he'd been poring over for the last day, they hadn't updated it, his decision was still valid.
One of the guys ahead of him got a tattoo, which took about ten seconds. The other guy just wanted his skull gun reloaded, which didn't take much longer. The girl wanted a few 'sites replaced in her racting grid, mostly around her eyes, where she was starting to wrinkle up. That took a while, so Bud picked up the mediatron again and went in a ractive, his favorite, called Shut Up or Die!
The mod artist wanted to see Bud's yuks before he installed the gun, which in other surroundings might have been construed as an insult but was standard business practice here in the Leased Territories. When he was satisfied that this wasn't a stick-up, he theezed Bud's forehead with a spray gun, scalped back a flap of skin, and pushed a machine, mounted on a delicate robot arm like a dental tool, over Bud's forehead. The arm homed in automatically on the old gun, moving with alarming speed and determination. Bud, who was a little jumpy at the best of times because of his muscle stimulators, flinched a little. But the robot arm was a hundred times faster than he was and plucked out the old gun unerringly. The proprietor was watching all of this on a screen and had nothing to do except narrate: The hole in your skull's kind of rough, so the machine is reaming it out to a larger bore—okay, now here comes the new gun.
A nasty popping sensation radiated through Bud's skull when the robot arm snapped in the new model. It reminded Bud of the days of his youth, when, from time to time, one of his playmates would shoot him in the head with a BB gun. He instantly developed a low headache.
"It's loaded with a hundred rounds of popcorn," the proprietor said, "so you can test out the yuvree. Soon as you're comfortable with it, I'll load it for real." He stapled the skin of Bud's forehead back together so it'd heal invisibly. You could pay the guy extra to leave a scar there on purpose, so everyone would know you were packing, but Bud had heard that some chicks didn't like it. Bud's relationship with the female sex was governed by a gallimaufry of primal impulses, dim suppositions, deranged theories, overheard scraps of conversation, half-remembered pieces of bad advice, and fragments of no-doubt exaggerated anecdotes that amounted to rank superstition. In this case, it dictated that he should not request the scar.
Besides, he had a nice collection of Sights—not very tasteful sunglasses with crosshairs hudded into the lens on your dominant eye. They did wonders for marksmanship, and they were real obvious too, so that everyone knew you didn't fuck with a man wearing Sights.
"Give it a whirl," the guy said, and spun the chair around—it was a big old antique barber chair upholstered in swirly plastic—so Bud was facing a mannikin in the corner of the room. The mannikin had no face or hair and was speckled with little burn marks, as was the wall behind it.
"Status," Bud said, and felt the gun buzz lightly in response.
"Stand by," he said, and got another answering buzz. He turned his face squarely toward the mannikin.
"Hut," he said. He said it under his breath, through unmoving lips, but the gun heard it; he felt a slight recoil tapping his head back, and a startling POP sounded from the mannikin, accompanied by a flash of light on the wall up above its head. Bud's headache deepened, but he didn't care.
"This thing runs faster ammo, so you'll have to get used to aiming a tad lower," said the guy. So Bud tried it again and this time popped the mannikin right in the neck.
"Great shot! That would have decapped him if you were using Hellfire," the guy said. "Looks to me like you know what you're doing—but there's other options too. And three magazines so you can run multiple ammos. "
"I know," Bud said, "I been checking this thing out." Then, to the gun, "Disperse ten, medium pattern." Then he said "hut" again. His head snapped back much harder, and ten POPs went off at once, all over the mannikin's body and the wall behind it. The room was getting smoky now, starting to smell like burned plastic.
"You can disperse up to a hundred," the guy said, "but the recoil'd probably break your neck."
"I think I got it down," Bud said, "so load me up. First magazine with electrostun rounds. Second magazine with Cripplers. Third with Hellfires. And get me some fucking aspirin."
Product details
- Publisher : Spectra; Reprint edition (May 2, 2000)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 499 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0553380966
- ISBN-13 : 978-0553380965
- Item Weight : 1.1 pounds
- Dimensions : 5.2 x 1.03 x 8.2 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #59,735 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #164 in Science Fiction Short Stories
- #294 in Cyberpunk Science Fiction (Books)
- #537 in Hard Science Fiction (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
NEAL STEPHENSON is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the novels Termination Shock, Fall; or, Dodge in Hell, The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. (with Nicole Galland), Seveneves, Reamde, Anathem, The System of the World, The Confusion, Quicksilver, The Diamond Age, Snow Crash, Zodiac, the groundbreaking nonfiction work In the Beginning . . . Was the Command Line, and Some Remarks, a collection of short fiction and nonfiction. He lives in Seattle, Washington.
Customer reviews
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Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the book engaging and thought-provoking. They describe it as an interesting, fun read with engaging characters. The writing quality is praised as outstanding and skillful. However, some readers felt the pacing was disjointed and confusing in parts.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers enjoy the book's readability. They find it entertaining and a great work of storytelling. Many describe it as a serious yet enjoyable read, with a blend of elements from Dickens and fairy tales.
"...original story, makes this one of the most groundbreaking and awe-inspiring novels to come about in science-fiction since Neuromancer in '84, not to..." Read more
"...this level, Diamond Age is interesting, sometimes humorous, and mostly fun to read...." Read more
"For myself, this was the most imaginative and fantastical work by N.S. with the most enjoyable characters and most vividly imagined world...." Read more
"...But at its core, her life, her book, and this novel are works of art. The ending is something out of Dickens or other nineteenth century classics...." Read more
Customers find the book thought-provoking. They appreciate the intriguing science and historical perspective, as well as the intricate, bizarre, and original storyline. The book invites readers to reflect on the characters and situations, describing two fascinating cultures.
"...Besides the innovative uses of nanotechnology, there is a captivating story here about a little girl named Nell, destined to become just another "..." Read more
"...of its futuristic, insightful, science-oriented, and social-fabric reconstructing observations, is not that different from a good Louis L'Amour novel..." Read more
"For myself, this was the most imaginative and fantastical work by N.S. with the most enjoyable characters and most vividly imagined world...." Read more
"...His 22nd century world is a completely convincing, multi-threaded, total-immersion experience, which nearly compels the reader to keep turning the..." Read more
Customers find the book engaging and enjoyable. They say it's worth another read, with a satisfying story and delightful journey. The book is described as fun, inventive, and relevant today.
"...combined with the wholly original story, makes this one of the most groundbreaking and awe-inspiring novels to come about in science-fiction since..." Read more
"...It's worth another read since we've made a little more progress (or regress depending on your perspective) toward the societal structure envisioned..." Read more
"...Highly original, very inventive, and still relevant reading today." Read more
"...Second, the novel tries to sing up the value of a good education, in the form of the Primer, as contrasted with the standard education of the young..." Read more
Customers praise the writing quality of the book. They find the language rich and skilled, with new vocabulary being taught. Readers describe the author as creative and a skilled literary technician. The writing style is dense and detailed, with long, overcomplicated Victorian sentences. However, some readers find the plot fascinating and interesting.
"...as a technology visionary—if not a world visionary—and a skilled literary technician; he is that...." Read more
"Neal Stephenson is one of the most creative novelists in English today...." Read more
"...If it wasn't for the excessively flowery and occasionally indecipherable language used and the overall length of the book, I would go so far as to..." Read more
"...conventions of both western and Chinese cultures, capturing elaborately witty dialogues, devious social strategies and intricate psychological..." Read more
Customers find the characters engaging and well-written. They appreciate the sophisticated plot and character development. The story itself is described as the main protagonist, with several character threads running at once.
"...Snow Crash, he cemented his status as one of the most original voices in science fiction with The Diamond Age...." Read more
"...the most imaginative and fantastical work by N.S. with the most enjoyable characters and most vividly imagined world...." Read more
"...Still a great novel and full of endearing characters with plenty of individual development...." Read more
"...It is well written and the many characters are complex and believable...." Read more
Customers have different views on the plot complexity. Some find it believable and vividly imagined, with interesting characters. They describe it as a masterwork of science fiction with a heavy mixture of technological and dystopian elements. However, others feel the story lacks interest, is disjointed in places, and has abrupt endings.
"This story is post-cyberpunk science fiction, heavy on technology, especially nanotechnology...." Read more
"...of his work, loved almost every minute, but am always dissatisfied with the endings, which are quick and abrupt - seems that after 800 or 1000 pages..." Read more
"...work by N.S. with the most enjoyable characters and most vividly imagined world...." Read more
"...century world is a completely convincing, multi-threaded, total-immersion experience, which nearly compels the reader to keep turning the pages...." Read more
Customers have different views on the book's pace. Some find it a relatively easy read with a brilliant reading performance. Others feel it drags on too long and seems rushed at the end.
"...It's clear Stephenson loves his craft and works hard on his books, but to me it is clear his interests have wandered into some strange areas, that..." Read more
"...Drags a bit at the very end, but like This author’s ””Snow Crash” and “Cryptomacion” a Must read." Read more
"...That's not an easy thing to do, but Stephenson does it beautifully. Maybe that's why I keep coming back...." Read more
"...who can centre such profound questions into the very heart of a fast-paced, satisfying, orphan-child-comes-king plotline, in such a clever way as to..." Read more
Customers find the pacing of the book disjointed and confusing. They mention that characters come and go randomly, the edition of the book is poorly put together, and the last third of the book becomes much too scattered. The separate plot lines are not strong enough to stand alone, and it's tough at first.
"...It starts with three separate plot lines that are not strong enough to stand alone, so you just know they are going to come together...." Read more
"I read it all the way and enjoyed it a lot. BUT. It was very disjointed in places, and many events are unexplained...." Read more
"...Characters come and go, seemingly randomly. Groups of people form strange "human computers"...." Read more
"This was an awesome follow up to Snow Crash, not quite as awesome but still in my top 20." Read more
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on October 17, 2009...of the past 20 years, this is the Stephenson novel I come back to most often. After his amazing post-cyberpunk breakthrough Snow Crash, he cemented his status as one of the most original voices in science fiction with The Diamond Age.
Envisioning a far future where nanotechnology makes almost anything possible, as opposed to the very near future of Snow Crash, allows it to stand the test of time without ever feeling dated. As great as Snow Crash was and still is, like a lot of cyberpunk novels, many of the concepts have already come to fruition in reality, making it slightly less mindblowing than reading it upon its first publication in 1992. I don't think we'll have to worry about that with The Diamond Age anytime soon.
Besides the innovative uses of nanotechnology, there is a captivating story here about a little girl named Nell, destined to become just another "thete," or street urchin, lost among the throngs of people in Shanghai. That is, until she happens across 'The Young Lady's Illustrated Primer,' an extremely rare, interactive book of the most advanced order, making the finest use of nanotech imaginable, and designed to give the best possible education to a young girl.
How one small chance occurance can change a child's entire fate is the main focus of The Diamond Age. It explores such high-concept themes as 'determinism vs. free will' and 'what it is to be human,' with some very clever usage of Turing machines to demonstrate these concepts. The storytelling is less Gibson and more Dickens here, giving it an entirely unique feel, and when combined with the wholly original story, makes this one of the most groundbreaking and awe-inspiring novels to come about in science-fiction since Neuromancer in '84, not to mention one of the few Hugo Award winners in recent memory actually deserving of that honor.
- Reviewed in the United States on October 29, 2017This story is post-cyberpunk science fiction, heavy on technology, especially nanotechnology. Stephenson is touted as a technology visionary—if not a world visionary—and a skilled literary technician; he is that. On this level, Diamond Age is interesting, sometimes humorous, and mostly fun to read. Stephenson's imagination is also heavy on the dark and gritty side of the future; more than I care to read about, so those parts were not as good. I don't think I'm sticking my head in the sand here. I know those things exist in the world and won't go away in the future, but there is a line between acknowledging the part they represent and dwelling on them because they are titillating. But, intrigue—for better or worse—is part of life and we must, as best we can, recognize it and learn to deal with it.
This book in spite of its futuristic, insightful, science-oriented, and social-fabric reconstructing observations, is not that different from a good Louis L'Amour novel, say The Lonesome Gods. I know highbrow, self-proclaimed sophisticates and sci-fi mavens will turn up their noses at this; L'Amour was merely a writer of shoot 'em up, fast-paced westerns. But Stephenson in his own way is no different, he just does sci-fi.
What is the purpose of a book? For many years I read fiction books on a very surface level. It was hard for me to see symbolism and deeper meanings. However, there are always deeper meanings—especially in the best fiction of any genre. How sad if Hugo's Les Miserables was only the story of an overly punished convict and an overly zealous public official! What is the purpose of an automobile? No matter how many accoutrements we load on it, all of which make the experience of being in a car more enjoyable, still for most of us, the purpose of an automobile is to get us from one place to another, at least at this point. The purpose of a book is the same regardless whether it is loaded with skull guns, tag mites, and a primer (book), or horses, six-shooters, and campfires. Where the book takes us is the real reason we read the book. There is no one-destination-fits-all answer to any book. And, the author of a well-written book has no idea what destinations or answers individual readers will find. A good author creates the terrain we move through; what we get out of it is up to us.
I'm not going to expose the plot lines or describe the primary characters, Stephenson does an excellent job of that—read the book. I want to share some feelings and perspectives I experienced while reading. Books—and by extension, computers, in whatever form they may take going forward—hold the foundations of knowledge. We are foolish if we do not take advantage of and learn from those foundations. As Stephenson says in this book, "...a book is different—it is not just a material possession but the pathway to an enlightened mind." However, having knowledge does not mean we are enlightened or educated. Many people can have great knowledge and still be stupid. Knowledge is not wisdom. Enlightenment—which includes wisdom—is learned through the application of knowledge, but you cannot gain wisdom without doing. And some of that doing, maybe a lot of it, will result in failing, but it isn't failure if you keep going. Enlightenment is vital to a good life, and because it is vital it must be completely personalized, individualized. Education through public school programs is an oxymoron, especially when you get to advanced degrees. Job training through public school programs is doable, but never fully adequate. In The Diamond Age, Nell gains an education and enlightenment; in the Lonesome Gods, Johannes does too. We can learn from both of them.
Human nature is what it is. Society always creates frameworks where some people feel like they are better or more important than others. And those that manage to rise in whatever framework a society has established will go to great effort to keep their status and make sure others cannot rise. That is part of the reason social programs created to fight poverty will never work. If those of lower status rise, the high and mighty that run the programs would not be needed. It is a rare group of individuals that not only recognizes this, but willingly accepts it and acts accordingly. That is at least part of why the American Revolution had such a different outcome from the French Revolution. To use Stephenson's words, "...there is an ineffable quality to some technology, described by its creators as concinnitous, or technically sweet, or a nice hack—signs that it was made with great care by one who was not merely motivated but inspired. It is the difference between an engineer and a hacker." Or a credentialed expert and a creator of freedom and opportunity.
- Reviewed in the United States on January 13, 2013For myself, this was the most imaginative and fantastical work by N.S. with the most enjoyable characters and most vividly imagined world. I don't know what happened after this book, but after it came out, each following work seemed to spiral into ever-odder explorations of esoterica of diminishing interest to myself. Cryptonomicon was good, but it left me hungry for Diamond Age and Snow Crash. The Baroque Cycle was glacially slow and I quickly found myself distracted by other books, never to return. Anathema's synopsis held little interest for me and most recently, REAMDE (WARNING: SPOILERS FOLLOW) started out promising then quickly devolved into another tale of Russian mobsters, spies-- and most tiresome of all-- a kidnapping/terrorist plot that consumed the last 3/4ths of the novel only to end with flat predictability.
It's clear Stephenson loves his craft and works hard on his books, but to me it is clear his interests have wandered into some strange areas, that for me are not what I am looking for anymore. I would never suggest to someone to write only for their readers, unless making money were the only import to them as a writer. I will hold out for another novel like Diamond Age to hopefully appear in the future as lately my tastes are misaligned with his work.
The first cover and jacket design on this edition was far and away better than the cut-rate fluff used in later editions. If you can find this version used, the cover is far more visually appealing.
Top reviews from other countries
- Bruce from Toronto Book ClubReviewed in Canada on February 25, 2024
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent sci-fi idea and setting
It seems like every Stephenson novel has a new wonderful idea that he uses to tell a story. The Diamond Age is about an interactive book for girls, that is supposed to educate them in a way that the dull school system does not. There are a number of intersecting plot lines that I really like. I just read the Baroque Cycle recently, and although I must admit those 3 novels are very ambitious, but that it fails to entertain. Diamond Age is much more enjoyable than Baroque Cycle.
-
Johan BReviewed in the Netherlands on December 21, 2024
4.0 out of 5 stars Aardig boekje
Cadeautje zoon
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Markus WReviewed in Germany on October 21, 2023
5.0 out of 5 stars Großartig und inspirierend (für Fans allemale)
Ich lese wenige Romane, dabei selten Science Fiction. Ich bin eher in Sachbüchern und Fachliteratur zuhause.
Aber Neil Stevenson hat es mir seit Jahrzehnten angetan, begonnen "damals" mit Cryptonomicon.
Ich bin kein Literaturkritiker, und würde es mir als nicht-Native-Speaker nicht anmaßen, etwas zum Schreibstil zu sagen, aber subjektiv habe ich mich in seiner (teils scheinbar erfundenen) Sprache immer wohlgefühlt. Seine Art, Geschichten und Charaktere zu weben, ist komplex. Für mich ist aber das herausstechende Merkmal, wie detailverliebt Stephenson die hypothetischen gesellschaftlichen und technologischen Entwicklungen, die die Basis seiner Novellen bilden, ausarbeitet und zu Ende denkt. Ich finde, das gibt den Büchern eine Tiefe und mir immer wieder Grund zum Lachen, wenn ein solcher zu-Ende-gedachter Strang in einer Pointe mündet.
Ich mache hier keine Inhaltsangabe, erzähle nichts über das Buch, außer vielleicht, dass mich darin die Perspektive fasziniert, aus der Stephenson die Frage beleuchtet, was man eigentlich wollen können wird, wenn fast alles machbar und erreichbar ist und nur noch die Phantasie entscheidet; und welchen Wert und welches Ziel Bildung noch haben kann, wenn alles schon gedacht und getan ist.
Ich würde das Buch Menschen empfehlen, die anderen Bildung vermitteln wollen, egal ob beruflich oder anderweitig.
- Sagar VibhuteReviewed in India on October 31, 2021
4.0 out of 5 stars A heady brew!
This book starts heavy and gets heavier. Characters are introduced and by some measure erased fast and plotlines come tumbling out and about.
This is my third or fourth Stephenson book and as with his other works he doesn't play lightly with the readers' attention. If you stick with it the story gets better with each chapter.
The ending is not the strongest ...
- Amazon CustomerReviewed in Mexico on April 14, 2017
5.0 out of 5 stars The original
Diamond Age is a masterpiece and every post-cyberpunk lover probably has already read it. If you're still unsure, give it a try. Everything about it is fantastic.