The year is 1714. Daniel Waterhouse has returned to England where he joins forces with his friend Isaac Newton to hunt down a shadowy group attempting to blow up Natural Philosophers with Infernal Devices
- time bombs. As Daniel & Newton conspire an increasingly vicious struggle is waged for Englands Crown: who will take control when the ailing queen dies? Tories & Whigs clash as one faction jockeys to replace Queen Anne with The Pretender James Stuart & the other promotes the Hanoverian dynasty of Princess Caroline. Meanwhile a long-simmering dispute between Newton & Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz comes to a head with potentially cataclysmic consequences. Wildly inventive brilliantly conceived The System of the World" is the final volume in Neal Stephensons hugely ambitious & compelling saga. Filled with a remarkable cast of characters in a time of genius discovery & change " The Baroque Cycle" is a magnificent & unique achievement."