King of the Vagabonds (Quicksilver, Part 2) »

A decade after novelist William Gibson coined the term virtual reality, Neal Stephenson burst onto the science fiction scene with Snow Crash, his own manic take on the interface between man and machine. More recently, the cyberpunk visionary has turned his sights away from the future of technology, and toward the question of how and why it arose the way it did.

A chronicle of the breathtaking exploits of "Half-Cocked Jack" Shaftoe — London street urchin-turned-legendary swashbuckling adventurer — risking life and limb for fortune and love while slowly maddening from the pox. . . and Eliza, rescued by Jack from a Turkish harem to become spy, confidante, and pawn of royals in order to reinvent a contentious continent through the newborn power of finance.

Time magazine

“Genius . . . You’ll wish it were longer.”