| Jack Shaftoe was an Algerian galley slave, but together with several other smart slaves he goes in on a plan on behalf of more powerful interests to steal Spanish silver being shipped from the New World . . . but the slaves intend to keep it for themselves. The "silver" turns out to be gold that financiers and alchemists believe possesses supernatural qualities.
Meanwhile, in France, Eliza has lost her fortune and schemes to make another one as well as to kill the French noble who raped her and sold her and her mother into slavery more than a decade before. France and England continue to flirt with all-out war. This is the second volume of Stephenson's Baroque trilogy. Although many of the historical characters who turned up in Quicksilver (Newton, Leibniz, King Louis XIV, and so on) appear in this book, too, and there's plenty of discussion of macro-economics and the Enlightenment shift from alchemy to harder sciences, more of the plot centers on Eliza and Jack alone. The time period is smaller than that covered by the first book (1696-1702), but geographically The Confusion ranges much farther: from England, France, and Germany to Algeria, Egypt, quite a bit in India, and stops in Japan and Mexico. At 815 pages, it's shorter than the first book, and reads faster. | ||
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Plot & Themes Tone of book? - thoughtful Time/era of story - 1600-1899 - Life of a profession: Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book Job/Profession/Status story Yes Exploring into the wild Yes kind of story - searching for treasure Main Character Gender - Female Profession/status: Age: - 20's-30's Ethnicity/Nationality Main Adversary Identity: - an organization Profession/status: How sensitive is this character? Setting How much descriptions of surroundings? - 4 () Europe Yes European country: - England/UK - France Asia/Pacific Yes Asian country: - India Ice Caps/Sea? Yes Where? - Ocean Misc setting Writing Style Sex in book? Yes What kind of sex: - touching of anatomy - impregnation/reproduction - actual description of hetero sex Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog |
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