I really enjoyed the first book, but i had a lot of trouble getting through the next two. For me the pacing just got thrown all out of whack. The baroque cycle is where I mark Stephensons’ work as getting too meandering for me. I’ve enjoyed some of his books after it, but that’s kind of the line I draw between the tightly paced works and the self indulgently paced works.

It's a sprawling and very engaging series that brings to life a number of fascinating historical characters and mixes enlightening bits on natural science, banking, politics etc. with swashbuckling adventure. I'm also a big fan of Stephenson's wry sense of humour and his characters' dialogue. I realise that three 1000-page doorstoppers is quite a commitment, but personally I can't recommend it enough, and since you have the books already, you might as well give the opener a try.

Too much meandering and drawn-out, dry explanations/descriptions is one of the things is one of the possible setback I was thinking about. At least over such a long series.

All that stuff definitely interest me and has me leaning toward using these to get me back into reading. As far as the size of them, it’s not issue. I do prefer longer books as long as they keep me sucked in.

That series are absolutely my favorite of Stephenson's and I wish he'd do more challenging works like that, again.

Just to be clear though, you should definitely read Cryptonomicon first.

These are some of my mom's favorite books of all time.

I'm generally a fan of Stephenson, but I couldn't make it through the first book of the Baroque cycle because I didn't think the lens of historical fiction was a good fit for his "keep reading and maybe there'll be a plot eventually" writing style. Ymmv though.

One of my favorite series. If you are into history of science around then, it is really fun.

I would recommend you read Cryptonomicon, which is a standalone novel and much less of a time commitment. It's a fictionalized-historical-drama about the origins of computing and its world-changing power, crossed with a darkly comic globetrotting WWII adventure. Fabulous stuff.

The Baroque Cycle is all of that turned up to 11: a fictionalized-historical-drama about the origins of Science, crossed with a darkly comic globetrotting pirate adventure. Newton and Leibniz argue about who invented the Calculus and what is the nature of God's relationship with Creation; also sword-fights and explosions.

Eliza and Jack are perhaps my favorite characters in all of fiction.

Perhaps read Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson as a gauge. It's about some of the same subjects, and in a similar style, but only one single book and a bit tighter plot wise than the baroque cycle. If you love Cryptonomicon go ahead and read the baroque cycle.

Just go for it. Will it always be easy? No. But I think you will glad you did. Also, each book is actually 3 books so could easily take breaks to read other things.

I've read every book Stephenson has written....EXCEPT for the Baroque cycle. I've tried 3 different times and just can't get into them. I'll probably try again one day, but for now, there are so many other books on my to-do list, that I'd rather not beat my head against this series once again.

Please post 'Should I read X book''What do I need to know before I read X' questions, in our Weekly Recommendation Thread.

This is one of the interesting and entertaining set of books I've ever read. I loved it. That said,it is definitely not for everyone. It's big, complicated, and sprawling. It covers multiple intertwining story lines over decades and continents.

I'm a sucker for European history (fiction and non), so this really hit my sweet spot, The placement of so many famous Enlightenment period figures, from Isaac Newton to Louis XIV, and others besides, in proper historical context, but still as "real" people was great fun to read about.

I read the Cycle early last year. A few weeks later I thought to pick up the first book and "just read a few pages" because of how much fun it was. I was hooked,and completed the Cycle a second time.

Be aware that is is written in a Baroque style and is very wordy. To illustrate, my son and I have both read the Cycle, and also all the Jack Reacher books. After a passage in the Cycle, I compared the two...

"(Baron von Hackelheber) drew kis left hand up the outside of his thigh, black wool purring under his fingertips, and over the line of tiny silver buckles that fastened the rapier's black leather scabbard to the end of a broad leather strap - a baldric, it is called. - slung diagonally over his body. Continuing up and back, his hand passed under the skirt of his black wool coat, peeling the hem up to expose its black datin lining. He bent his elbows and supinated his wrist. The back of his hand glided up his buttock and over the black leather belt that kept his breeches from falling down, and stopped above his left kidney. He closed his hand on something hard, the handle of his dagger."

.........

".Reacher reached for his knife."

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One last comment -- Half-cocked Jack, the King of the Vagabonds is to my notion one of the great characters in fiction.

Thanks! I’ll check that out and am definitely becoming more interested in reading these!

Thanks! Seems to be a common suggestion. I’ll check the local library for it!

I actually like that they are combined. I prefer being able to “binge read” a series as opposed to having to read other stuff while waiting for the next book to come out (if they aren’t all available)

I hear ya. There were a couple books I tried reading when I was younger and figured I’d go back to them eventually.