The book is a crazy mixture of cyber- and steampunk so much so that when it was recommended on Writing Excuses they stumbled over the genre. But it takes place in the future so it would probably be more firmly rooted in science fiction and cyberpunk.

I didn't read this book for many years because of the sub-title. It really put me off. Don't make the same mistake :) This is not a children's book it is about a high-tech children's book.

I loved the world-building though I feel that sometimes Stephenson would go a bit too far in the descriptions. There were parts where I started to read "diagonally" across the pages to get back to the action.

Then there are the Drummers which most keenly reminded me of earlier cyberpunk with their psychedelic hive-mind. I can't remember being so confused about what I was reading since my first encounter of William Gibson's fiction. The confusion is actually a good thing in a way. Seeing too clearly through everything sometimes takes away from the stories.

The part I really liked best was the Primer and Nell's adventures with it.

The end came a bit abrupt. I would I have liked to have seen some kind of epilogue wrapping things up a little bit. This was more like a Hollywood final shot.

It's more like 4.5 stars than 5 because there were some parts I more or less skipped over. But it's too well conceived and written for rounding down, so 5 stars.

I am recommending this to anyone interested in either the cyberpunk or steampunk genres. Or anyone who enjoys reading books with a profusion of nano-technologies. Don't mind the title. It's fitting and misleading at the same time.