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The Diamond Age cover art

The Diamond Age

By: Neal Stephenson
Narrated by: Jennifer Wiltsie
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Summary

In Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson took science fiction to dazzling new levels. Now, in The Diamond Age, he delivers another stunning tale. Set in 21st-century Shanghai, it is the story of what happens when a state-of-the-art interactive device falls into the hands of a street urchin named Nell. Her life - and the entire future of humanity - is about to be decoded and reprogrammed...
©1995 Neal Stephenson (P)2001 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

The Quentin Tarantino of postcyberpunk science fiction. ( The Village Voice)
"[he] is the hottest science fiction writer in America." ( Details)

What listeners say about The Diamond Age

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Worth the time - if you can deal with the quality

This is, for the most part, a wholly enjoyable audiobook.

Neal Stephenson writes gripping, often very long and complex stories and this is no exception. I don't believe it to be his best - I thought that (subjectively speaking) Reamde was a better story overall - and it is a bit slow getting started but the level of invention and imagination on display is fabulous. Once the world the characters inhabit is described and the characters themselves are introduced it develops an express-train like momentum leading to the perhaps slightly underwhelming conclusion.

The narration from Jennifer Wiltsie is top notch: well characterised and performed. I'm maintaining my performance stars despite common complaints on here about the word "primer" being pronounced "primmer". It may be jarring to the British Ear but that is quite normal in American English.

So why only 3 stars overall? Frankly, despite downloading the best quality version I could, it sounds like the story was recorded over the telephone with even some "old-skool" interference on the line at times to maintain the feel. It may be an old recording and cheap but this is far below the standard I'd expect from Audible.

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43 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

It's good, but

There are lots of things to like about this book, and lots of things to like about the author. He's really imaginative; the worlds he creates are exotic but believable - and Diamond Age is no exception. And the story in many places is really good - at times gripping. There's a but coming though . . . three things. Firstly, the storylines can get so cokmplicated it's at times difficult to follow. Secondly, it is surely impossible to pronounce primer 'primmer'. Probably not he author's fault, granted, and possibly unreasonable but NO. Finally, it's a disappointing ending - the book builds up to a great ending . . . and then it just stops. But overall a good read, loads going on and just about worth the effort.

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28 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Horrible reading.

Thin, tinny audio.

Pronounces “Primer” (a key term, used frequently) “Primmer.” The mental effort required to ignore this is exhausting.

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21 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

I love the story but...

.. was wildly irritated every time the othewise excellent narrator said "primmer" for "primer". Aaargh. I know it's a tiny thing but it was constantly distracting as it's a word that is said rather often.

That aside ("primmer" - bleugh) it's a cracking listen and full of wild flights of nano-tech fancy. Although I did get a bit bored in the company of the drummers. The New Victorian enclave was so much more fascinating.

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12 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Primer or Primmer?

The book is clearly used for "PRIMING" young ladies... Please try to find narrators that can comprehend written English. (If it was Stephenson's intention, I apologise to the narrator.. and want to give the author a little slap) phenomenal story, clearly not a sequel to Snow Crash, despite being subsequent and in the same reality. Spectacular.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Can the narrator actually read?

One of the worst narrated stories I've ever listened to. I'm only a couple of hours in and I don't know if I can go any further. Why will she not say "primer", it's written as "primer", where the hell does she get "primmer" from?
A fantastic story though, just spoiled

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Gives new meaning to “phoning it in”

Another typical Stephenson story: a Dickensian host of characters, philosophical conversations on topics such as education, parenthood, statism, and nanotechnology.

My gripe is with the quality of the audio recording. The engineers made narrator Jennifer Wiltsie sound as if she were recording via telephone! In addition, there were several patches of bad distortion which made comprehension impossible, albeit briefly. The audio is not conveniently divided into chapters: the first “chapter” is titled “opening credits” and lasts several hours! So good luck navigating your way through this lengthy book!
The substandard audio is a real shame because Jennifer Wiltsie is a very talented narrator who manages a great many accents convincingly. No doubt there are many North Americans who can do an upper class British accent, but how many can do Scottish and Geordie, eh? Then there’s the Chinese, Sikh and Oxford-Jamaican-Indian!

Poor show, Audible. This should never have got past your quality control team.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Really enjoyed this...

This is one of my favourite books and I thoroughly enjoyed hearing it read. I have only one gripe and that is this: Being British I am used to the word 'primer' being pronounced 'prime' with an 'r' on the end not 'prim' with an 'er' on the end and I winced every time it occurred.
This does not, however, in any way prevent me from heartily recommending this fabulous audiobook. :0) x

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

the book's good

But the narration suffers a serious flaw: "primer" is pronounced as "primmer" throughout.



I love the book, own it on paper as well, and the narrator has a lovely voice.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

I wish I could be a neo-Victorian nano-engineer

2000 characters is inadequate to describe the number of mind blowing moments in this book where the concepts are revealled in a such a way that you can guess what's going on whilst also setting you up to be blown away at the exact moment that all of the pieces fall into place. Quite clever use of characters that fade into the background, only to turn out to be the main protagonists all along. Innumerable innovations, in particular the book of smart paper sheets connected by a data backbone in the spine; nanomaterial matter compilers that take signed matter feeds, and then underground unregistered feeds reserved for nefarious purposes; and the drummer network, the most ingenious and mind blowing concept. This is all held together by the use of the story within the story of the Primer, and how it plays a part in the conspiracy and revolution. The only problem I have is wanting to be in this world already. Well I guess it isn't that far away.

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5 people found this helpful