I feel as though I need to write three reviews for this book. ...and not because it's part of a trilogy, but because it has three distinct time periods and three plots, none of which are connected except in the most indirect way.

This one's a load, folks. That's not to say it doesn't have three good stories in it, but they are all convoluted, deep and require your full attention while reading. Mix in the shifts from era to era and you stand a good chance of losing track of what happened in one story while you were off a few decades or centuries reading another. As long as you can stay focused (or take notes) you're golden.

Stephenson is one of those authors who weaves his fictional characters into the fabric of history; his characters interact with 'real life' people and events. At times you may wonder where reality leaves off and his interpretation of possible events begins. It's helpful to read this novel with a good working knowledge of 'plague era' London, World War II and relatively current computer and world events modeling to lead you over a few of the bumps. Oh, that's not absolutely necessary, but if you have school age children or you are taking a college history course, you may misspeak some assistance on homework or miss a question or two on a test just because you've bought into his stories in their entirety. All in all it's good enough read for me to have the next volume lined up for this summer...

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Publisher: Avon (November 1, 2002)
ISBN: 0060512806