I'm almost finished with this brick of a book. It's dense, fun, and incredibly well-written. Three main characters share plot-lines, moving us between Daniel Waterhouse, brilliant would-be scholar, politican, and contemporary of Isaac Newton; Jack Shaftoe, vagabond extraordinaire; and Eliza, the former slave, who keeps one foot planted in courtly intrigue and another in European finance. Fascinating and one helluva fun read.

Stephenson has an utterly unique way of composing a phrase and I've had to underline several passages along the way. Some of the best:

"Faith, a better mother than wife, who has a better son than a husband, encompasses a vast sweep of compromises with a pert nod of the head."

"Daniel experienced a faint echo of what it must be like, all the time, to be Isaac Newton: a permanent ongoing epiphany, an endless immersion in lurid radiance, a drowning in light, a ringing of cosmic harmonies in the ears."

"Aside from that, he did nothing noteworthy until much later in the day, when, all of a sudden, he murdered Jacques and Jean-Baptiste."

...so I finished it. Great book. Lots of fun. Ended somewhat abruptly but given that it is a three-monster-tome series, the ending made sense. I'm waiting and hoping that some of my favorite characters will reappear in the next installment.

Highly recommend. Fascinating, fun, and you learn interesting and totally random facts.