The Diamond Age: or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer

(4.5 out of 5 stars)

My time with this book started out interesting. I was first introduced to this book in a speculative fiction class I took in college, where we had to read it quickly, so I carved out large chunks of time to power through this book in a few days. My initial thoughts on the book were not super great, overall a “meh” experience. The setting was very interesting, but I didn't find any of the characters or conflicts compelling when I first read it. To me, it seemed more like Stephenson had simply made a glittery playground for his named creations to play around with.

It wasn't until later in the year, when we began re-reading sections and discussing it more thoroughly that I started to form an interest in it. After the class, instead of returning it, I kept it so I could re-read it again. It's amazing how different of an opinion you can have after re-reading a book. It makes me wonder what happened before that made my brain click different this time.

The world-building is definitely unique and makes for a very compelling setting. It takes place in a future where nanotechnology has become integrated into all aspects of life. Limitless resources are now available to the general public. You would think that this would cause the Earth to become a utopia, with everyone finally having free access to everything that they could ever need. The truth, in reality, is that there is still poverty and also rampant pollution. Society has stratified itself into “claves” based on different things (communism, religion, etc.), and those without claves are known as “thetes” are the most vulnerable of citizens.

It's not only in the technology that the world has changed. Different cultures and territories have since been created too. Neo-Victorian culture has since become popular and widespread, and China has multiple new territories, some of them still parts of China and others becoming more independent from the mainland culture.

The world-building is very fulfilled, and exotic while still being grounded, and easy to make comparisons to our current society and how it might progress to this point. The conflict of this story is compelling and rich; Stephenson dives into many questions that he explores through this new near-future Earth. It's not just about technology, but also the question of a stratified society, classism, and western values vs. eastern values. All of these conflicts make the world-building even richer. Citizens in the world do not deal with just one issue that eclipses the entire story (“the big bad empire is coming to conquer us”, “war is bad and we should feel bad”).

The characters are equally diverse and intriguing. There are many of them that get focused on in this novel. Usually, I'm wary of books that jump around to multiple viewpoints. I find myself either really liking it or really hating it. I'm happy to say this book falls in the former category. Most of the characters are legitimately interesting to read about, and they're all used to further the world-building and major conflicts that are explored in this story. Watching step-by-step the process that Nell develops through being taught by the Primer while simultaneously seeing Hackworth come to terms with the consequences of his actions when he illegally copied the Primer for his own daughter was exciting to read. Even the beginning chapter with Bud, a character who is only in a single chapter, set the tone for the story and still managed to be an intriguing character to read about.

Now, onto the cons...

This one, I will admit, is more subjective. I am very much the kind of person who is very hard to please with loose ends. Yes, I've heard all of the arguments supporting them. Real life is full of loose ends. You don't always get answers. You're not owed answers. I agree...but it doesn't make it any easier for me to accept. I at least like to have enough to where I feel like I can be wondering in a satisfied manner. Miranda's storyline, without any spoilers, ends so abruptly to me that I wonder what the point of the ending is when the beginning is so fascinating.

And the ending, as is the case in many books, leaves a lot to be desired for me. Every time I come up to it, I leave with the same disappointing feeling of “That's it. The book's ended, and there's nothing more.” Endings are probably the hardest thing to do in anything, whether it be in books or essays, or movies, so I try not to be too hard on them. I'm not the kind of person who believes that an ending should ruin an entire experience. After all, it's about the journey, not the destination. I think it's because I like this book so much that I wish there was a more satisfying end to me.

All in all, I really enjoy this book and it's one of my favorites. It's honestly made me more interested in Stephenson's other book and ignited a greater desire to read more science fiction books like this. Less “space travel” and more “what's happening on Earth 100 years in the future.” I've got a few more Stephenson books on my reading list now!