In Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson took science fiction to dazzling new levels. Now, in The Diamond Age, he delivers another stunning tale. Set in twenty-first-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.… “NEAL STEPHENSON IS THE QUENTIN TARANTINO OF POSTCYBERPUNK SCIENCE FICTION.…HAVING FIGURED OUT HOW TO ENTERTAIN THE HELL OUT OF A MASS AUDIENCE, STEPHENSON HAS LIKEWISE UPPED THE FORM’S ANTE WITH RAMBUNCTIOUS GLEE.” — Village Voice “SNOW CRASH DREW ITS MANIC ENERGY FROM THE CYBERPUNKISH CONCEIT THAT ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE IN VIRTUAL REALITY; IN THE DIAMOND AGE THE WONDERS OF CYBERSPACE PALE BEFORE THE EVEN MORE DAZZLING POWERS OF NANOTECHNOLOGY.
