レビュー要約

• 膨大な歴史知識と冒険小説的な展開を結びつける力が支持されている。長大さは読者を選ぶが、シリーズ完結巻としての充実感がある。

レビュー

• 圧巻のラスト。「バロック・サイクル」シリーズ最終巻。

  第一巻で王政復古期から名誉革命までの時代を背景に科学と錬金術の世界を描き、第二巻では名誉革命以降の17世紀末を舞台にした経済小説・冒険小説ともいえる世界を繰り広げてきたシリーズ最終巻は、第二巻の次の時代、アン女王治世下の1714年が舞台である。 この時代のイングランドは、世界史的にはスコットランドを併合し「大ブリテン王国」が成立し、また海外ではルイ14世のフランスを破り、七つの海を支配する大英帝国の足がかりを作っていったのだが、一方で国内では、この年アン女王が後継者を残さぬまま死去しステュアート朝は断絶、それを見越して次の王位継承者をめぐりジャコバイト（名誉革命で追われたジェームズ二世の息子を擁する勢力。ルイ14世と結んでいる）、遠戚であるドイツのハノーヴァーをそれぞれ押すトーリー、ホイッグ間の議会闘争が巻き起こっていた。これに絡み、ニューイングランド植民地（アメリカ）へ渡っていたダニエル・ウォーターハウスはイギリスに呼び戻される。着いた早々に爆弾で狙われたダニエルは、真の標的は造幣局長官として苛烈な贋金取締りを行なっていたニュートンだったのではないかと推理し、調査を開始する。造幣局長官としてのニュートンの最大の敵は、かつて「キング・オブ・ヴァガボンド」と呼ばれていたが、今は愛するエリザを盾に取られ、イングランドの政争がらみで「贋金作りのジャック」として暗躍しているジャック・シャフトーだった。ジャックを執拗に追うニュートンだったが、一方でニュートン失脚を望む者たちが、ジャックを利用して罠を仕掛けていた。 ラスト100ページほどは是非自分の目で結末を確認してほしい。3000ページ近くにもわたる大河小説（？）の幕切れにふさわしい。 ちなみにタイトルは、ニュートンの有名な著作「プリンキピア」の第三部のタイトルですが、造幣局長官としてニュートンが行なった大改鋳に象徴される新しい資本主義経済のシステムであり、またニュートンと対立するライプニッツの思想体系であり、この激動の時代の後に確立する模範的なイギリスの議会制度という政治システムであり、いずれも17世紀の危機の時代、バロックの時代を通じて形成された、新しい世界のシステムという、シリーズ全体を象徴するものと思われる。まさに最終巻にふさわしいタイトルと怒涛の展開だった。

• Wonderful series of books

  Wonderful series of books

• Complex, glittering collision with The Enlightenment!

  OMG. What a read. I finally finished all three in series. A feast of brilliance, wit, LITERALLY an enlightenment to read, of this fabulous, horrible, desperate, glorious, wretched time: connecting a not so ancient world in all it's contradictions. Pirates! Bankers! Slavers! Aristocrats, peasants, soldiers, from every land, despicable betrayals, unflinching devotion, madness & obsession. Romance, War, Fortunes, Death in all it's 1700 A.D. variations. A feat of Poesy, a triumph of the Art of the Historical Novel. I simply could not recommend it more;-)

• A brilliant work, showing enormous skill

  It's densely written and even though it's really very much a work of fiction, there's so much historical scholarship embedded in this. It's dazzling but not for everyone.

• Ciclo Barocco

  Spettacolare. Come i primi due libri del ciclo Barocco. Molto preparato e godibile nella scrittura. Descrive con ironia un periodo cruciale della storia occidentale.

• Worthy ending to an epic series

  In case you're not familiar with the Baroque Cycle: this is the third and final massive book in this trilogy that mainly revolves around Jack Shaftoe and Daniel Waterhouse. Firstly, do not buy this book if you haven't read the other two. Considering each of the three books has well over 1,000 pages, it's a pretty serious investment, but fans of historical novels get far more than their money's worth. Before I wrote the review to this last book, I went through my other two reviews of book 1 and 2, and observed how I wasn't a fan of the first one, then started to really like the second one, and then loved the third one. The Baroque Cycle is so stupendously huge and yet so cleverly written, I found the effect it had on me very much like that of a TV show that started a little slow but then as I began to get to know the characters and settings, began to greet with the warm feelings of old friends having come around for a visit. The third book doesn't miss a step in the plot: it's now Jack the Coiner against Daniel Waterhouse, who can barely hold an ever-more-disgruntled Isaac Newton at bay. The various schemes Jack comes up with are clever, but Daniel has also gotten a lot wiser (he's now in his early 70s, and in that time, that's seriously old). There are still lots of twists and turns, just like in the other two books, but what this last one delivers more than any of the others is laughs! Stephenson's research of London in the early 18th century is impeccable as ever, but now he talks about it like a fond observer, often tongue-in-cheek, and with a heavy sense of irony and surprising cynicism, always at the right time loosened up just enough that readers understand how bad it was to live in that time, but at the same time pointing out the ridiculousness of it all. I was strongly reminded of Terry Pratchett describing the fictional city Ankh-Morpork (which in turn was based on the London of old) in his comedic style. Once again, Stephenson has an eye for both meticulous detail (in his descriptions of the London of old) and the big picture (his excellent analysis of the impact of the late 17th and early 18th century on our economic and social structures today). I learned so much while reading this book, it was almost like a thoroughly enjoyable history lesson. The ending is much better and much less soppy than most of the other Stephenson books, and up until the very end, he surprises with twists and thoughtful plot lines. I was very sad when it ended and I knew there wasn't anything else in this trilogy. I had similar feelings when I finished Patrick O'Brian's excellent adventures that were set about 100 years later, it's the same clever mix of wit, historic knowledge and a great plot line spanning thousands of pages. Overall, this is now amongst my top book series: it starts a little weak, but patience is rewarded, and having read the whole thing I can only recommend it to anybody who likes period novels, a ripping yarn, and lots and lots of reading material!

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