I just found out that The Confusion, the sequel to Quicksilver, is already out in the UK, and comes out in the US in about a week. It looks like it’s more of the same from Quicksilver: endless politicking around 17th century Europe, surprisingly boring piracy (piracy boring? that’s unpossible!), and page after page of the dull antics of the Royal Society. Yeah sure it’s really well researched, or whatever, but… bleah…. and those long, long letters! After how much I liked Cryptonomicon (and Snow Crash (and The Diamond Age (and Zodiac))), I was really surprised at just how bad Quicksilver was.

So I think I’m going to skip this one. I’m sure somebody on some web site I read will read it, and mention if it’s any good.