Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Book Review of The System of the World (The Baroque Cycle, Vol. 3)

The System of the World (The Baroque Cycle, Vol. 3)
reviewed on + 11 more book reviews


From the back cover: England, 1714. London has long been home to a secret war between the brilliant, enigmatic Master of the Mint and closet alchemist, Isaac Newton, and his archnemesis, the insidious counterfeiter Jack the Coiner. Hostilities are suddenly moving to a new and more violatile level as Half-Cocked Jack hatches a daring plan, aiming for the total corruption of Britain's newborn monetary system. Enter Daniel Waterhouse: Aging Puritan and Natural Philosopher, Daniel has been on a long and harrowing quest to help mend the rift between adversarial geniuses. As Daniel combs city and country for clues to the identity of the blackguard who is attempting to blow up Natural Philosophers, political factions joceky for position while awaiting the impending death of the ailing queen, and the "holy grail" of alchemy, the key to life eternal, tantalizes and continues to elude Isaac Newton. As Newton, Waterhouse, and Shaftoe each circle closer to the object of Daniel's quest, everything that was will be changed forever....