Odalisque

Book Three of The Baroque Cycle

By: Neal Stephenson

Narrated by: Simon Prebble, Katherine Kellgren, Kevin Pariseau, Neal Stephenson (introduction)

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.

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 book

I found the addition of Katherine Kellgren as Eliza in the third book a little jarring, after having gotten used to Simon Prebble doing Eliza's voice in the two previous books (and doing a seamless job of it, too.)

Kellgren's Eliza is a touch too arch, too insufferably prissy; not how I imagined Eliza to be. It makes the numerous readings of Eliza's correspondence in this book three of the cycle seem interminable. This stands out because, though this is a ridiculously long work, I rarely lose patience with its length - and I remember reading through the correspondence sections of the third book without any impatience or sense of 'slogging through'.

I think her voice is just a bit too much, like trying to make an entire meal of lemon bars. Makes you long for plain bread. I'm hoping this effect lessens as the books go on.

Outstanding Book - Excellent Presentation

This was a very well written book. Great information, humor, and presentation. I will listen to them all.

Good Story

I like the story, but kept getting pulled out of the narrative during the female letter reading. The bored, I'm too good for you, fake elite accent didn't work for me, especially when describing her baby's death in childbirth.

Slow going but interesting

As mentioned in previous reviews, this series of books is very dense with a lot of characters and story threads. It's hard to differentiate any specific book (other than some of the last in the series), so difficult to say something specific about this particular book. In the early books, there's a heavy reliance on letters written between characters which can be a little dry. The narrator is excellent!

Still can't figure out whether I like this series...

Like the others, hard to start, easy to finish, and I look forward to the next one.