Book(s) Review - The Baroque Cycle by Neal
Stephenson





A wonderful series of books with rich detail.

I really enjoyed the way Neal Stephenson manages to draw in a series of fictional and actual historical characters to a historical backdrop which manages to feature the Thirty Years' War, the The Great Plague and The Great Fire of London and the War of the Spanish Succession.

He brings historical detail to life, provides a window to a world same yet different to our own, he brings historical figures like Isaac Newton, Gottfried Leibniz and Robert Hooke to life. He describes wondefully the diplomatic intrigues of Europe.

through his three novels he manages to feature an array of important historical figures of Europe, a few I shall mention here:

Elizabeth of Bohemia also known as the Winter Queen



her daughter Electress Sophia of Hanover



Elizabeth of Bohemia's nephew Charles II



Charles II brother James II of England



King Louis XIV of France



John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough who is considered one of the most brilliant military geniuses Britain has produced.



Across his he brings the 17th and early 18th century alive, the transformaton of medieval ideas of feudalism to the modern society we have today. It brings together historical action with cryptography.

The Baroque Cycle I recommend reading if you wish to explore a different avenue and enter into an different world, it encourages you to find out more about the topics the books discusses.