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Bookish Quotes
"Remember this too: all bad writers are in love with the epic."
Quicksilver (The Baroque Cycle, Vol. 1)
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Quicksilver (The Baroque Cycle, Vol. 1)
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6 journalers for this copy...
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Well, I didn't think it was that bad! Admittedly it was too long - especially as this was just the first installment of a trilogy. I thought I'd give a short description of the novel, hopefully without too many spoilers, to give people an idea of what is to come if they are struggling with the first part and wondering whether it's worth continuing.This volume contains three "books". The first book hopped around a lot between Daniel Waterhouse as an old man in 1713 Boston, and his story in London and Cambridge (England) in the 1660's and 1670's. The Boston side of the story involves him being dragged back to Europe at the request of a Princess Caroline, to resolve what appears to be a scientific dispute between Isaac Newton (portrait from 1689 shown above) and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. We hear about how Daniel gets embroiled in some sea-battles as his ship is attacked by pirates. Quicksilver never returns to this story after the first "book", so I presume the second and third parts of the trilogy will take up the story where it left off. The rest of Book 1 sets the scene of Daniel's puritan upbringing, his student years in Cambridge with Newton, and his involvement with the Royal Society of natural philosophers (what we would call scientists and mathematicians these days). As the book proceeds it turns away from science and moves into the realm of political intrigue, as Daniel gets closer to the London courtiers. Wars are raging in Europe between the major powers of France, England and Holland. Religion is a major issue - the national religion of England is Protestant and any deviations are not tolerated. However a large number of nobles (and the heir to the throne) favour Catholicism and there is growing uncertainty and suspicion. Members of other denominations are fleeing to America to escape persecution. Book 2 goes across to mainland Europe and follows the story of Jack Shaftoe, a Vagabond, as he rescues a beautiful Qwghlmian slave, Eliza, from her Turkish captors, and they travel across Europe together, trying to get rich along the way, and with plans to get revenge on the people who sold Eliza into captivity. Eliza becomes an important figure for the remainder of Quicksilver, whereas Jack's reckless nature leads to his eventual downfall. Book 3 takes up the London story again - this time in the 1680's. Daniel has somehow become closely involved with the royal court. The political instability of Europe is at a peak and this book contains a lot of political intrigue and spying, as well as some scientific breakthroughs - we start to find out what might be the source of contention between Newton and Leibniz. The book hops between Daniel's and Eliza's involvement in the European political turmoil. Princess Caroline (she who drags the elderly Waterhouse back to Europe) is introduced near the end as a 6-year old refugee German princess that Eliza befriends. No doubt she will play an important role in the story to come... I enjoyed the whole volume - especially the parts involving Jack and Eliza, which were almost a comic interlude after the dryness of some of the first book. It was nice to read about 17th century Cambridge as I studied there in the 1980's. I studied engineering which may have made the detailed descriptions of the work of the natural philosophers easier to bear. But I especially enjoyed finding out a bit more about the royal houses of Europe of the time. The last book I read, by another coincidence, was a biography of Mary Queen of Scots. This had the English and Scottish royal family tress from Tudor times to Mary's son, James I of England - the start of the House of Stuart, which is the royal line featured in Quicksilver, and in fact Quicksilver had the royal family tree from James I onward, so between both books my awareness of my nation's history has increased no end! I am often finding links like that between books I read through BookCrossing. Now on to dallasjay as soon as I pack it up and get it to the post office. Thanks CBCD! |
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