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The Diamond Age

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About this listen

 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. Hard Science Fiction Science Fiction Fiction Cyberpunk Mind-bending China

Critic reviews

The Quentin Tarantino of postcyberpunk science fiction. ( The Village Voice)
"[he] is the hottest science fiction writer in America." ( Details)
All stars
Most relevant
I'd read the book some years ago but it was so fresh to have it again as an audiobook. As always with Neal Stephenson, the ideas were mind blowing. The story was so wide ranging and creative and very thought provoking. My only minor criticism of the story was that occasionally nano tech was used as a "with one bound, Jack was free" device. Also the eccentric use by Americans of "momentarily" to mean "in a moment" always annoys. "I'll be with you momentarily" to me means "I'll be with you but almost immediately I'll be gone again" - sorry, one of my pet annoyances with the Americans' usually logical use of language.
Now to the performance. The British accents are excellent apart from the American syllable stresses e.g. CAPillary instead the British caPILLary, a common fault when American readers attempt British accents - why don't American readers just listen to British speakers before attempting to reproduce them? It seems churlish to complain about this when otherwise the British accents are so good but it grates every time.
Finally to the topic almost every listener has complained about. If "primer" was spelt like the reader pronounces it, it would be spelt "primmer", as in strimmer or Rimmer. Again, it grated every time
However, these are carping criticisms on what is an amazing book and a largely excellent performance

The story does not disappoint, performance mixed

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Would you listen to The Diamond Age again? Why?

might have a look at the book to see if there is more to the endind

Any additional comments?

characters got a bit muddled at the end. The book stopped so suddenly i wondered if it was cut short.

Good story, very steampunk but it ended suddenly

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Hmm not my favourite Neal Stephenson story and cringed everytime the narrator said 'primmer'

Ended suddenly without much resolution

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Another well written and wonderfully case Audible buy. Not serious, quite a light 'read', very engaging, although sometimes very odd indeed; 90% would be truly interesting to my 10 yr old if I read it to him, but just a few pieces are (unnecessarily?) 'adult' so it's off limits. Neal Stephnson's imagination is boundless and he brings it to life in the fullest way. The 'revelation' towards the end felt a touch inevitable, and perhaps a bit naive, but that's OK. The actual ending was, frankly, a bit lame after such a racing storyline; as sometimes happens, it felt like the author had had enough (or perhaps had a deadline?). But overall, very entertaining and I'd recommend it to anyone.

A fascinating view of a future

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I'm enjoying the story, I'm even coping with the "primmer" instead of "primer", but towards the end of the book there are multiple sections of several seconds at a time where the audio is completely distorted so the voice is barely understandable.

Quality is appalling

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