The system of the world

The year is 1714. Daniel Waterhouse, a natural philosopher who was at the heart of all major developments during the birth of modern science, returns from the Massachusetts colony to his native England at the urgent request of high-ranking officials, only to find that nothing is as it was before. The ailing Queen Anne, the last of the Stuarts, lies on her deathbed with her succession far from clear, political and religious disputes continue to smoulder, the influence of the Royal Society is waning as Isaac Newton delves ever deeper into alchemy, driven by his desire for the mysterious Solomon’s Gold, the new English currency is threatened by the counterfeiter Jack the Coiner, the infamous Jack Shaftoe, King of the Vagabonds, and across the Channel, the seemingly immortal Sun King watches it all with a smirk. Daniel would prefer to be a mere observer of events, but the infernal machines and other plots placed in his path force him to plunge into London's crooked alleys to unravel the threads and find out who is behind it all. For change is in the air, and there is too much at stake.

In The System of the World, the final part of the Baroque Cycle trilogy, which won the 2005 Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel, Neal Stephenson presents a unique portrait of a time when the old world was transforming into the new.