Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age is a future not far in coming, where battles are fought on a microscopic level and armies are little girls trained by storybooks...

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The basic story of The Diamond Age can be simply summarized as this: "By chance, a young girl living in the ghetto receives a magic book that trains her to become a princess."

The themes, world and characters are anything but simplistic, however. In Stephenson's vision of the future, the world's societal groups are no longer grouped as nations. Instead, the author imagines a kind of repeating cityscape, with multiple Chinatowns, Little Indias, etc., all politically connected through technology but operating mostly independently and mediated by corporate interests. Technology is taken to a whole new pervasive and haunting level, with nanotechnology that permeates the blood stream and the air, little mechanical germs with their own missions. Stephenson's futuristic advertising alone is frightening and thought-provoking, and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Unfortunately, as brilliant as the world building is, I got the sense that the characters got the short shrift in all of this. Stephenson sets up some fascinatingly complex personalities, giving them just enough story to leave you wanting more. Overall, The Diamond Age left me feeling like I just ate a really fancy small-portioned five-star dinner. The story was spiced with powerful exotic flavors, leaving an amazing lingering aftertaste... but didn't do anything to disguise the remaining hunger.

Hopefully a sequel is in the works.

As an added surprise, an announcement in January 2009 stated that the The Diamond Age is in development for the Sci-Fi network (or is that "Sy Fy" now...) as a six-hour miniseries produced by George Clooney, of all people. Stephenson will be adapting it himself, apparently. After reading the book, I have no idea how they will do the source material justice.