It took a few tries, but I did finally make it through Quicksilver and was able to use that momentum to get through this one as well. It was kind of a chore, since a far greater proportion of this book was devoted to Eliza, whom I find to be a profoundly uninteresting protagonist. It doesn’t help that her storyline is deeply tied with French politics, in which I have a hard time staying interested. Given that I found the obligatory action bits with Jack in Quicksilver pointless and superfluous, it’s a bad sign that I desperately looked forward to his sections in this book. About two-thirds of the way through the book, though, Eliza pretty much disappeared, and we got back to Daniel and English politics. Much more enjoyable.

Anyway, it does do a nice job capturing the insanity of European global trade in the late 17th century. I think I’ll take a little break before I dive into System of the World, but I am going to finish this series. It’s probably too much to expect that Eliza stays gone, but I’ll remain optimistic.