Well this one really sucked me in. The kids were at grandma's house for the week so I was able to dedicate some long hours to finishing this novel, which is unusual for me these days. 
 I absolutely loved the intricate world that Stephenson created in the book. Going in, I was expecting some sort of historical drama like Cryptonomicon or Quicksilver, so it was refreshing to be confronted with a 'parallel worlds' earth with some similarity to our own earth, but a wildly divergent history. The whole idea of monks that live in cloisters and can only interact with the outside (saecular) world every 1, 10, 100, or a thousand years is fascinating. 
 I would almost classify this as a 'young adult' book, because it is at the core a coming of age story revolving around the narrator, nineteen year old Erasmus. In general the story moves along nicely and I really found myself caring about the characters. However, some of the more philosophical parts of the book do drag a bit. A few hundred pages could have been removed from this book without affecting the overall story, but I do appreciate the large philosophical questions that Stephenson is trying to explore here. 
 Overall, a great story and a fantastic read. I thoroughly enjoyed Cryptonomicon but gave up on Quicksilver halfway through, so it's nice to see another Stephenson novel that really grabs your attention.