This, the second book of Neal Stephenon’s Baroque Cycle, is a big step up from the first.

‘The Confusion’ is a big, sprawling novel with many characters and storylines, two of them not intersecting until the very last page. Set during the Enlightenment, it follows a Barbary galley slave and his mates; Newton and Leibniz and their scholarly peers; and one Eliza, a cunning former slave with a heart set on revenge. It’s a long novel, coming in at just under a thousand pages in paperback, and it has so many threads that I strongly recommend reading it aggressively. This is not a novel to dabble in, but to dedicate one’s self to. I approached it through doubling: I listened to it on Audible and read it on my Kindle. Audible and Kindle seamlessly hand off. Whether I was in the back of a crew van listening while traveling to or from an airport or ensconced in my living room with a cup of coffee and my Kindle, the technology consistently picked up where I left off. This allowed me to keep the novel top of mind, which helped me keep track of all its moving parts.

What did this investment of time and energy grant me? It allowed me to live in the early eighteenth century world of not just Europe, but Arabia and Hindustan and Japan and Mexico and more. It offered me food for thought, as I considered what it may have been like when things like the scientific method were bold ideas, not accepted wisdom. It provided a thrilling adventure, as the galley slaves went from slaves to pirates to kings and back again. All this, plus it gave me insights into the imperial politics of its day.

Granted, ‘The Confusion’ suffers from Neal Stephenson’s compulsive desire to show his work. I mean, I get it, Neal. You did your research. A+. You don’t have to share *all* of it with me.

I found the first book in this cycle, ‘Quicksilver,’ to be too much of a muchness. However, I’m glad a friend pressed this volume upon me. ‘The Confusion’ is thought provoking, educational, and entertaining. Sign me up for the next book in the series.