Odalisque
Book Three of The Baroque Cycle
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Odalisque
Narrated by:
Simon Prebble, Katherine Kellgren, Kevin Pariseau, Neal Stephenson (introduction)
Buy Now for £18.99
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By:
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Neal Stephenson
About this listen
The trials of Dr. Daniel Waterhouse and the Natural Philosophers increase one hundredfold in an England plagued by the impending war and royal insecurities, as the beautiful and ambitious Eliza plays a most dangerous game as double agent and confidante of enemy kings.
The Baroque Cycle, Neal Stephenson’s award-winning series, spans the late 17th and early 18th centuries, combining history, adventure, science, invention, piracy, and alchemy into one sweeping tale. It is a gloriously rich, entertaining, and endlessly inventive historical epic populated by the likes of Isaac Newton, William of Orange, Benjamin Franklin, and King Louis XIV, along with some of the most inventive literary characters in modern fiction.
Audible’s complete and unabridged presentation of The Baroque Cycle was produced in cooperation with Neal Stephenson. Each volume includes an exclusive introduction read by the author.
Listen to more titles in the Baroque Cycle .©2003 Neal Stephenson (P)2010 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
“Rollicking good fun…Historical fiction driven by the history of ideas… Stephenson is a magnificent chronicler.” ( Wall Street Journal)
“Sprawling, irreverent, and ultimately profound.” ( Newsweek)
Great story
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Third book in a riveting series
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What did you like most about Odalisque?
Love the Baroque Cycle and Simon Prebble's narration of it. Tolerated Kevin Pariseau's curious phrasing of the quotes at the beginnings of each chapter, but really didn't like Katherine Kellgren's interpretation of Eliza - she doesn't match my 'picture' of Eliza at all; on audible.com someone wrote she was 'too arch; too prissy' and I have to say I agree...Eliza doesn't sound like Katherine Kellgren!
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I can add, for those fans, that you will finally get the one thing that was lacking in the previous stories:
Since Neal Stephenson’s sense of irony and ribaldry has a tendency to put the listener at a slight distance from the characters, enabling us to see them in context and through our historically educated eyes, seeing entire situations with a full appreciation of our knowledge as to what will come next, thus, appreciating the sardonic wit of the author. The only negative payoff from this practice has been the tendency of the first two novels to enforce that sense of distance from the characters, regardless of how exciting, thrilling, funny, or simply entertaining their circumstances, or their reactions to historical events. The author seems to have realised this and now, for the first time, to the long list of his literary achievements he can add, “genuine empathy.” This is the first of his novels that have actually moved me. Most particularly, the ending made me cry, which was as much of a surprise to me as it was to the characters in the book!
Also, of great value to me personally, is the fact that the author takes a moment to introduce each novel in his own, apparently American, voice. The fact that his knowledge of this period of history is so scholarly and granular is not a great surprise, as any good academic can glean such depths of knowledge these days, at the click of a mouse. Nor am I surprised at his ingenious capacity to weave his fictional characters with such fine detail, so elegantly into the very fabric of this cloth with such intricacy (See what I did there?). The care and thought he has put into his plotting and environmental story telling is also something I had come to expect by now, from his previous work. So it takes no effort of imagination to believe in the Shafto’s, Waterhouse’s and Eliza, Dutches of various locations depending on which Monarch’s court she appears in, as real people; or at least, we believe that there must have been such people about amid these times, to make things happen as they did. What really astonishes me is Stephenson’s empathy for us Brits.
He really, REALLY gets us! He writes like a witness to events, with a depth of empathy and comprehension frequently missing from even our best historians. He understands the thinking and FEELING of present day Britishness; our response to upheaval, our tolerations, our dry humour, our ingenuity and wit, along with our many failings and manages to transpose this feeling into the period in a manner that is utterly plausible.
This is an author who clearly loves his subject as much as the characters he creates. And for that, I will be eternally grateful; for the entertainment and for marvelling at his use of historical events as though they were conjuring tricks, always introduced in dazzling ways, or as a clever misdirection to thicken the plot, but never failing to amaze and leave the reader filled with admiration for his dexterity and skill.
You just HAVE TO read the previous books first, though! If that impulse that drew you to check this review, to see if this is for you, because you enjoy history, science, philosophy, or just a cracking yarn that can lift you out of your present day concerns? . . . Then you WON’T regret it. Buy this book and the two previous so you can fully enjoy taking the circuitous, baroque, route through the machinations of Restoration (and then, “revolutionary”) England, via various locations in Europe and The Americas.
A Perfect Conclusion . . . So Far . . .
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Swashbuckling and stockbroking
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