![]() Daniel is the heart and mind of this tale, the Logic Mill, the Engine for Raising Water by Fire, the vegetative spirit that animates the beast. The System of the World’s success is predicated on Stephenson’s decision to put Daniel Waterhouse front and center. Drawing from the best elements of the previous two books, Stephenson manages to bring seemingly disparate concepts and characters together in a fashion that feels almost magical––or alchemical. The System of the World, however, is a worthy conclusion to this raucous verbal repast. I’ve had similar troubles trying to follow and parse the machinations of Neal Stephenson’s Baroque Cycle, the first two volumes of which I found to be dense, sprawling, and restrained in their capacity for illumination. ![]() I struggle to think more than one or two moves ahead, can’t easily reposition pieces in my mind’s eye, and am hapless when it comes to sniffing out and thwarting my opponent’s battle plan. ![]() Of the many reasons I do not play chess, the main one is that I’m lousy at strategy. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |