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Charles Stross

Halting State (A Halting State Novel) Mass Market Paperback – June 24, 2008

by Charles Stross (Author)

4.1 755 ratings

Book 1 of 2: Halting State

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“Halting State [is] a near-future story that is at once over-the-top and compellingly believable.” – Vernor Vinge, author of Rainbows End

In the year 2018, Sergeant Sue Smith of the Edinburgh constabulary is called in on a special case. A daring bank robbery has taken place at Hayek Associates—a dot-com start-up company that’s just floated onto the London stock exchange. But this crime may be a bit beyond Smith’s expertise.

The prime suspects are a band of marauding orcs with a dragon in tow for fire support. The bank is located within the virtual reality land of Avalon Four, and the robbery was supposed to be impossible. When word gets out, Hayek Associates and all its virtual “economies” are going to crash hard.

For Smith, the investigation seems pointless. But the deeper she digs, the bigger the case gets. There are powerful players—both real and pixelated—who are watching her every move. Because there is far more at stake than just some game-head’s fantasy financial security…

Book 1 of 2

Halting State
Print length

336 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Ace
Publication date

June 24, 2008
ISBN-10

0441016073
ISBN-13

978-0441016075
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Editorial Reviews

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“As keenly observant of our emergent society as it is of our emergent technologies, Halting State is one extremely smart species of fun.” – William Gibson, author of Agency

“Halting State [is] a near-future story that is at once over-the-top and compellingly believable.” – Vernor Vinge, author of Rainbows End

“The first couple pages had me hooked, and I didn’t touch another book until I finished it.” – John Carmack, lead developer of Doom and Quake, and technical director of id Software

“This is the best fictional take ever written about virtual worlds.” – Raph Koster, designer of Ultima Online, Star Wars Galaxies, and Metaspace

About the Author

Charles Stross was born in Leeds, England in 1964. He holds degrees in pharmacy and computer science, and has worked in a variety of jobs including pharmacist, technical author, software engineer, and freelance journalist. He is now a full-time writer.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ace; Reprint edition (June 24, 2008)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Mass Market Paperback ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0441016073
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0441016075
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 5.8 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 4.2 x 0.87 x 6.8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,560,642 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #3,980 in Cyberpunk Science Fiction (Books)
- #5,326 in Hard Science Fiction (Books)
- #26,044 in Science Fiction Adventures

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4.1 755 ratings

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Charles Stross

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Charles Stross, 50, is a full-time science fiction writer and resident of Edinburgh, Scotland. The author of six Hugo-nominated novels and winner of the 2005, 2010, and 2015 Hugo awards for best novella, Stross's works have been translated into over twelve languages.

Like many writers, Stross has had a variety of careers, occupations, and job-shaped-catastrophes in the past, from pharmacist (he quit after the second police stake-out) to first code monkey on the team of a successful dot-com startup (with brilliant timing he tried to change employer just as the bubble burst).

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T. Gustafson

Pleasantly bizarre

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 2, 2012

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It is always a struggle to sit down and give a concise, understandable review and summary of a Charles Stross' novel, but that is also where the magic lies. His novels are the kind of "blow your mind" science fiction that most of us wish we had created, written in a style that makes you think around every corner, lies some new twist like in the old nautical maps that warn "Here be monsters, or at least some sort of technological marvel or soul-sucking bureaucratic abomination".

Stross has created two of my favorites worlds in his Laundry Files series and now with the near-future augmented reality-driven world of Halting State and Rule 34. Stross transports us a few years into the future with amazingly realistic (and similarly fantastic) portrayal of day-to-day life with technology, where today's frustrations have become the future's frightening normality. Such as 90's films like "The Lawnmower Man" embraced the future being defined by virtual reality, Stross brings us to a near future where always on internet combined with wearable computers in glasses ("goggles") layering our view of the real world with information that is referred to as "augmented reality". Imagine yourself 10 years ago faced with an iPhone 4, then jump forward years to where police record everything for the record, fight crime with the help of law enforcement augmented reality called "CopSpace" and people play espionage in computer-commanded augmented reality games. That, and your clothes have RFID tags in them to tell the washing machine what settings to use.

The story...

Edinburgh detective Sue is called out to an unusual robbery case in what initially appears to be an abandoned shack. Unfortunately, it quickly becomes complicated as the supposed "victim" is a large corporation and the crime was a bank heist of a virtual bank inside an enormous massively multiplayer online game by a band of Orcs. Layers of the onion are quickly peeled to reveal this is more than some online griefing and may be the tip of the iceberg in regards to computer espionage.

Enter Elaine Barnaby, a forensic accountant for the corporation's underwriter who's there to prove that the company was somehow negligent so her employer doesn't have to pay the inevitable claims. She quickly realizes that her live action role playing (LARP) experience does not qualify her to examine a bank in a game world. Jack Reed, recently unemployed game programmer and knowledgable in STL (Structured Treasure Language), is hired to serve as her native guide in these online worlds.

The three quickly discover the theft is just the beginning. The thieves' motivation could be anything from stock market manipulation, griefing on an epic level, or the start of the next world war.

Tom's Two Cents

Every single novel in the Halting State and Laundry Files universes are almost irresistibly bizarre, yet so utterly close to reality that you can just taste the technology (or odd Cthulu mind-devouring monster) around the corner. From the believable evolution of augmented reality, ever-growing business of MMO's and their inevitable absorption of LARP, to the mundane realities of British beuracracy, the "Halting State" universe is disconcertingly believable. You will grow to love (and largely feel sorry for) Jack Reed and his "uber micro" of his online avatars and cringe at the growing romance between him and Elaine. You will boggle and trying to wrap your head around autonomous black-net nodes that allow criminals to exchange information and favors under the direction of a CPU master.

And then you will wish, wish, wish that you could just get your hands on one pair of "goggles" and never take them off.

God, I love this series. And god, do I hate trying to interpret Britsh slang and whatever the heck a "ned" is.

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Brian Goubeaux

A good purchase for cyberprrps.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 12, 2023

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I heard about this series when I was looking at the Cyberprep wiki on Fandom.com. I thought the premise sounded good so I got it. Looks good. Can't wait to read it.

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Wanderer

Hard to get into; hard to put down

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 11, 2008

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This is a near-future novel. It definitely qualifies as SCIENCE fiction. There was nothing fantasy about it. It seems a natural extension of our rapid expansion in a number of areas of IT hardware and software. If you are reasonably familiar with the current state of the art of IT, you'll end up loving Halting State. If you've ever stayed awake until the wee hours pounding out code or playing some computer game, you'll wonder why you didn't write this book.

You'll probably find the book more accessible if you have a bit of computer gaming background. I don't. You also have to get used to some Scottish dialect, some imaginative extensions of today's IT terminology, and some strange applications and hardware. The concept of alternate `spaces' takes a while to get used to so you may get lost at some point. Stay the course. It will be worth it!

You also need to get past a novel written completely in second-person singular. The reasons for that flow from early Dungeons & Dragons scenarios but it took some getting used to, especially since `you' are three characters. Again, stay the course. It all comes clear in the end. I rated it four stars because there's no ramp-up. The author just dumps you into 2018 and turns you loose.

Initially, I found the Halting State difficult to follow and almost put it down on my pile of `mistakes' after reading the prologue and three chapters. That would have been a mistake. It's a learning experience. By the fifth chapter, I was hooked, hated putting it down, and wanted more when I finished the last page. You need to read this book!

3 people found this helpful

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A. MacFarlane

Halting Read

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 25, 2008

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Way back when I was in seminary school, there was a person there who said you could never write a narrative in the second person. I wonder if someone rapped Charles Stross's knuckles then too. This novel is stubbornly written entirely in the second person--the first novel I have ever read written that way. Perhaps it was to imitate the vernacular of video games ("you have picked up a level 7 blunderbuss...") to give the reader a closer connection to the characters. At first it was extremely irritating, often requiring me as a reader to do some subliminal translating before proceeding. However, by the time I had reached the climax of the plot, I agreed that this story could not have been written any other way. It left me with an eagerness to pick up the book again and read it over on some later date.

There has been a few negative reviews of this book--mostly that it starts off at a strong pace, but fizzles at the end. I strongly disagree with that assessment. The denouement was more extended than most modern science fiction, but not nearly as winded as Stross's obvious role-model Gibson has been of late. This is a very well-paced story, with intriguing themes and endearing characters. It managed to do something to me that only David Brin has been capable of: make me wonder what the characters are up to when the book is closed.

4 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Chortick

Another interesting franchise from Charles Stross

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on December 23, 2013

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I love the principal character in this series. The Scot detective has potential, and Charles Stross makes much of it. Although I don't always have a reference point for the colloquialisms and some of what I think are local references, the story ticks along nicely, and I am very much looking forward to the next installment in this series.

Grant

Excellent story

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on June 8, 2017

Verified Purchase

Just re-read Halting State, and it got even better on the second reading.

It had all the elements for me: mystery, thriller, nerds, gaming, crypto, spies, and Scottish accents!

Rod Croskery

Five Stars

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on December 9, 2016

Verified Purchase

Stross is a fine read.

andrew

good price, kinda hooked after the first couple

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on August 24, 2014

Verified Purchase

arrived quickly, good price, kinda hooked after the first couple pages

Matt

Couldn't continue

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on July 31, 2013

Verified Purchase

This book looked very promising, with a captivating synopsis. I couldn't bring myself to read on past the 4th chapter, the writing style feels a little all over the place, and the paragraphs feel like they just drag on.

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