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VINE VOICEon June 29, 2012
Reportedly, Internet Rule 34 is this: "If it exists, there is porn of it." However, while Charles Stross' "Rule 34" has a lot to do with the Internet, it does not have all that much to do with porn. Instead, as in Stross' earlier and loosely related near-future novel "Halting State," the book's focus is on the interface between cybercrime and "real life" crime.
The underlying template for the novel is that of a hardboiled detective story in which the good-hearted but lonely and disillusioned investigator (in this instance, police Detective Inspector Liz Kavanaugh of Edinburgh, Scotland) attempts to solve a murder only to stumble over some of society's deepest and ugliest secrets. Being clever and imaginative and always eager to show off, Stross has no difficulty creating an immense web of secrets that tie together phenomena as diverse as homosexuality and sexual kinks, fiscal hijinks in former Soviet republics, spam, artificial intelligence, small-time criminals, 3D printers (or "fabs"), the dangers of open-source programs, neurological diversity, organized crime, the singularity, the nature of consciousness and free will, credit default swaps, social influence, and bureaucracy and office politics (one of Stross' favorite targets).
In very brief outline, Liz gets called out to the scene of a bizarre murder, only to find out that it's connected to several simultaneous deaths of shady dealers across the globe. Meanwhile, small-time Internet crook Anwar gets a too-good-to-be-true job as the Scottish consul for the government of a breakaway section of Kyrgyzstan, and John, a sociopathic "executive" for "the Operation," a major criminal syndicate, is trying to reboot operations in Edinburgh that include, among other things, production of sex toys for pedophiles. The paths of these three characters repeatedly cross as the death toll mounts and the details of a massive international swindle emerge.
Readers hoping to find new technological wonders in "Rule 34" will be disappointed; virtually everything Stross describes could happen (and may already be happening) today. The rewards for reading lie mostly in Stross' hyperactive snarkiness, his wry observations about the indignities of life as a sexual or racial/ethnic minority, and his unexpected insights into where our wired world is heading. And while the book's final payoff is a bit of a letdown, there's enough mystery and suspense to keep the reader turning pages and wondering how everything is going to come together in the end. Recommended.
The underlying template for the novel is that of a hardboiled detective story in which the good-hearted but lonely and disillusioned investigator (in this instance, police Detective Inspector Liz Kavanaugh of Edinburgh, Scotland) attempts to solve a murder only to stumble over some of society's deepest and ugliest secrets. Being clever and imaginative and always eager to show off, Stross has no difficulty creating an immense web of secrets that tie together phenomena as diverse as homosexuality and sexual kinks, fiscal hijinks in former Soviet republics, spam, artificial intelligence, small-time criminals, 3D printers (or "fabs"), the dangers of open-source programs, neurological diversity, organized crime, the singularity, the nature of consciousness and free will, credit default swaps, social influence, and bureaucracy and office politics (one of Stross' favorite targets).
In very brief outline, Liz gets called out to the scene of a bizarre murder, only to find out that it's connected to several simultaneous deaths of shady dealers across the globe. Meanwhile, small-time Internet crook Anwar gets a too-good-to-be-true job as the Scottish consul for the government of a breakaway section of Kyrgyzstan, and John, a sociopathic "executive" for "the Operation," a major criminal syndicate, is trying to reboot operations in Edinburgh that include, among other things, production of sex toys for pedophiles. The paths of these three characters repeatedly cross as the death toll mounts and the details of a massive international swindle emerge.
Readers hoping to find new technological wonders in "Rule 34" will be disappointed; virtually everything Stross describes could happen (and may already be happening) today. The rewards for reading lie mostly in Stross' hyperactive snarkiness, his wry observations about the indignities of life as a sexual or racial/ethnic minority, and his unexpected insights into where our wired world is heading. And while the book's final payoff is a bit of a letdown, there's enough mystery and suspense to keep the reader turning pages and wondering how everything is going to come together in the end. Recommended.
on January 13, 2014
I am a Stross fan and did enjoy this novel. However, the last couple of chapters did not do the novel justice. I feel like there were a number of loose ends and fairly predicatable outcome - it just seemed that the ending was rushed. With regards to the novel itself, I found certain similiarities to 'Neptune's Brood'. Specifically, fabricating a larger than life scam to bilk governments for billions. Similarities to our humble civil servant, Bob Howard, in the sense that the protagonist is an underappreciated government lackey but with some pretty cool tools at their disposal. Of course, there are also similarities to Halting State given the books' time frame and setting. Although, the Liz character was not a stand out for me in that prior novel centered on gaming MMOs. Overall, this was a great Cyber-Punk novel which even went so far as to give a nod to Neuromancer and how AI's will one day suborn our free will.
on December 3, 2013
In the end, I liked this book. Meaning: I found the last third of it really very enjoyable, enough to warrant 4 stars overall: Things are happening at a fast pace, all the dominoes falling and connecting. For that section, it was hard to put down and a very satisfying read. The first two thirds were OK, nothing special, just setting up of the elements that all play out in the last third. They pull it down a star from 5.
It didn't help the first two thirds that of the multiple points of view used, one of them was someone who was not really all that smart. He kept getting made a part of others' scams, and clearly would eventually take the fall for them. I cringed whenever a chapter came up that he was narrating. He was pathetic. In the last third, even what happens to him gets interesting.
I found the contrast between pervasive high-tech and the ancient Edinburgh architecture to be very interesting (as I did with "Halting State," overall the better book in my opinion). Other reviewers have called the backdrop dystopian. I wouldn't go that far. It's far from Pollyanna-ish, but not a "1984" or other terrible view.
A caution: others also said there was some secret thing that came out in the middle that made sense of everything which came before, and even forced them to re-read it. I kept waiting, and waiting, and... wellp, didn't happen for me.
Oh, by the way: Rule 34 of the Internet (from 4chan) reads "If it exists, there is porn of it." It's meant to point out that yes, there is My Little Pony porn, and anything else you can think of out in the wilds of the Internet. No, this book is not a deep dive into that. Stross does explain the phrase (I bet his publisher demanded that), and there are negative psychosexual elements here, but they're not dwelt on and are intrinsic to the plot. There's nothing worse than, say, a gruesome episode of "Criminal Minds" (the TV show).
Also, as usual for Stross there are some references to things non-internet culturists won't understand. Believe me when I say that for the most part, in this particular book, you will probably *not* want to look them up. Because Rule 34.
It didn't help the first two thirds that of the multiple points of view used, one of them was someone who was not really all that smart. He kept getting made a part of others' scams, and clearly would eventually take the fall for them. I cringed whenever a chapter came up that he was narrating. He was pathetic. In the last third, even what happens to him gets interesting.
I found the contrast between pervasive high-tech and the ancient Edinburgh architecture to be very interesting (as I did with "Halting State," overall the better book in my opinion). Other reviewers have called the backdrop dystopian. I wouldn't go that far. It's far from Pollyanna-ish, but not a "1984" or other terrible view.
A caution: others also said there was some secret thing that came out in the middle that made sense of everything which came before, and even forced them to re-read it. I kept waiting, and waiting, and... wellp, didn't happen for me.
Oh, by the way: Rule 34 of the Internet (from 4chan) reads "If it exists, there is porn of it." It's meant to point out that yes, there is My Little Pony porn, and anything else you can think of out in the wilds of the Internet. No, this book is not a deep dive into that. Stross does explain the phrase (I bet his publisher demanded that), and there are negative psychosexual elements here, but they're not dwelt on and are intrinsic to the plot. There's nothing worse than, say, a gruesome episode of "Criminal Minds" (the TV show).
Also, as usual for Stross there are some references to things non-internet culturists won't understand. Believe me when I say that for the most part, in this particular book, you will probably *not* want to look them up. Because Rule 34.
on March 15, 2012
What happens when you take two steps into the future and combine web culture with spam, 3D printers, and one of the standard rules of the internet provided by the masses of 4chan? You'd find yourself in the middle of Charles Stross's Rule 34, surrounded by augmented reality, sociopathic criminals, and some of the freakiest fetishes you can image.
It's a good novel that offers a slant of a dawn of a cyberpunk time period. The mental gyration the book presents has you wondering what oddity is coming next while slipping more and more of the macro culture of this world into view. The novel is complex, folds over itself, and then breaks down its own walls to fab itself a spiraling ending.
The book is given to us in a slant of second person. It comes across at times as a first person novel in disguise, as if Stross used you instead of I, but it feels like second person done right. I'll admit this was a hardship for me starting the novel. Second person isn't a format I care for but Charles Stross does a good job with the story and after 3 or 4 chapters of adjustment I was on board with the style. I think what made it harder to grasp is that the book jumps characters chapter by chapter. Not knowing the characters' voices during those early chapters was the issue. Once I became familiar with them, the second person narration worked itself out.
Internet culture steeped into reality is one of the key features of this book. Spam, social networks, and how our relationship with each other comes as a central theme. Any character in the story can be Kevin Bacon'ed to another through various channels. This becomes striking apparent at the half way point in the novel, when characters that seemed unrelated start revealing their relationships with various one-degree characters of our core cast.
This is now one of my favorite visions of the future to come. For one thing, it isn't homogeneous. Some characters are deeper into the tech because they have to be for their career. Others are there for their interest as a hobby or past private occupation. Others do it for the money. The tech just oozes but it's not outlandish. The 3D printers exist today so it's not surprising for them to have more exotic materials and components. Spam filters and spam bots are becoming smarter. There's a joke about someday the internet will become sentient. Applying that to spam and spam filters doesn't sound so farfetched. There's no crazy cyberware. There's no direct neural interface net. There's just high tech that's rolled out of what we are already developing today.
WARNING SPOILER TERRITORY
The AI, as presented as a form of antagonist, is somewhat believable. Stross doesn't present a consciousness as we think of in humanity. It's a far more linear gray scale weighing variables type of intelligence. It's a believable near future AI. The on the ground antagonist is interesting, but his place in the story is a little awkward. Toymaker is a bizarre sociopath with unique quirks and beliefs about staying off the grid, but his psychosis mixed with the constant failings at each turn in his arc left me wanting. He succeeds in a few small goals, cleaning up one loose end, getting his new ident setup, getting laid, but most of those either cause him more issues, or are just stupid for the level of intellect as presented for him. There feels like he should have had more especially earlier in the novel. His final take down and strange departure of the monitoring AI on him act as a sort of climax to the novel, but it doesn't feel earned and it doesn't feel like the actual end of this part of the story.
END SPOILER TERRITORY
Despite my hang ups I enjoyed the story, the characters, and the setting. The novel kept it focused on the characters while still giving up a world two steps into the future. I could see this reality happening in the coming decades.
The book manages to cover pretty much all the promises it makes. In truth we're only seeing a part of the story; it's really a side effect of a bigger picture and we're getting the drippings. It's better that way, though, as we're kept to a certain level of darkness to the real "big world" events that caused the murders in the book. We don't lose sight of character and the events that keep us attached. There was a chance here to do a political techno-thriller, but it doesn't quite go behind fringe access. We don't need to pay attention to the man behind the curtain.
I recommend this book on the grounds of a stunning two-steps into the future landscape, interesting character plots, and a chance to see second person done right. The book is a mystery with what might be considered a twist ending, but the clues and resolution can be figured out about half way through. We learn to feel for the various protagonists, their love and hate for their work, their family and relations, and their feelings of the world around them. It doesn't come off as awkward for most of them, and I found myself relating to almost all of them.
It's a good novel that offers a slant of a dawn of a cyberpunk time period. The mental gyration the book presents has you wondering what oddity is coming next while slipping more and more of the macro culture of this world into view. The novel is complex, folds over itself, and then breaks down its own walls to fab itself a spiraling ending.
The book is given to us in a slant of second person. It comes across at times as a first person novel in disguise, as if Stross used you instead of I, but it feels like second person done right. I'll admit this was a hardship for me starting the novel. Second person isn't a format I care for but Charles Stross does a good job with the story and after 3 or 4 chapters of adjustment I was on board with the style. I think what made it harder to grasp is that the book jumps characters chapter by chapter. Not knowing the characters' voices during those early chapters was the issue. Once I became familiar with them, the second person narration worked itself out.
Internet culture steeped into reality is one of the key features of this book. Spam, social networks, and how our relationship with each other comes as a central theme. Any character in the story can be Kevin Bacon'ed to another through various channels. This becomes striking apparent at the half way point in the novel, when characters that seemed unrelated start revealing their relationships with various one-degree characters of our core cast.
This is now one of my favorite visions of the future to come. For one thing, it isn't homogeneous. Some characters are deeper into the tech because they have to be for their career. Others are there for their interest as a hobby or past private occupation. Others do it for the money. The tech just oozes but it's not outlandish. The 3D printers exist today so it's not surprising for them to have more exotic materials and components. Spam filters and spam bots are becoming smarter. There's a joke about someday the internet will become sentient. Applying that to spam and spam filters doesn't sound so farfetched. There's no crazy cyberware. There's no direct neural interface net. There's just high tech that's rolled out of what we are already developing today.
WARNING SPOILER TERRITORY
The AI, as presented as a form of antagonist, is somewhat believable. Stross doesn't present a consciousness as we think of in humanity. It's a far more linear gray scale weighing variables type of intelligence. It's a believable near future AI. The on the ground antagonist is interesting, but his place in the story is a little awkward. Toymaker is a bizarre sociopath with unique quirks and beliefs about staying off the grid, but his psychosis mixed with the constant failings at each turn in his arc left me wanting. He succeeds in a few small goals, cleaning up one loose end, getting his new ident setup, getting laid, but most of those either cause him more issues, or are just stupid for the level of intellect as presented for him. There feels like he should have had more especially earlier in the novel. His final take down and strange departure of the monitoring AI on him act as a sort of climax to the novel, but it doesn't feel earned and it doesn't feel like the actual end of this part of the story.
END SPOILER TERRITORY
Despite my hang ups I enjoyed the story, the characters, and the setting. The novel kept it focused on the characters while still giving up a world two steps into the future. I could see this reality happening in the coming decades.
The book manages to cover pretty much all the promises it makes. In truth we're only seeing a part of the story; it's really a side effect of a bigger picture and we're getting the drippings. It's better that way, though, as we're kept to a certain level of darkness to the real "big world" events that caused the murders in the book. We don't lose sight of character and the events that keep us attached. There was a chance here to do a political techno-thriller, but it doesn't quite go behind fringe access. We don't need to pay attention to the man behind the curtain.
I recommend this book on the grounds of a stunning two-steps into the future landscape, interesting character plots, and a chance to see second person done right. The book is a mystery with what might be considered a twist ending, but the clues and resolution can be figured out about half way through. We learn to feel for the various protagonists, their love and hate for their work, their family and relations, and their feelings of the world around them. It doesn't come off as awkward for most of them, and I found myself relating to almost all of them.
on September 29, 2011
Rule 34 is a near future police procedural novel by Charles Stross.
Disclaimer: Charles Stross writes this whole novel in 2nd person. It drove me up the wall. It's jarring, irritating and made the novel hard to read. If he never writes in 2nd person again I'll be happy as a clam. When I likely read another of his novels it will be despite this.
Rule 34 also marks the third book in a row I've read that was set in the UK. But this time it's Edinburgh Scotland. The title comes from the popular internet meme that states "If it exists, there is porn of it. No exceptions." Probably because one of the three main POV characters, Inspector Liz Kavanaugh, works in the division of the Edinburgh police department that stalks the internet in search of illegal porn. Considering there is some porn today that would make me want to scrub my mind with steel wool, this is not a pleasant job. The other prime POV characters are Anwar Hussein, a former small time crook now part of a scam that involves him being the honorary consul representing a small central asia breakaway republic. And the Toymaker, a functioning paranoid schizophrenic who also happens to to be the front man for a international criminal organization called..er..The Organization.
The book focuses on a series of murders that involve strange coincidences and malfunctions involving common household items that also just happen to be killing many of the prime movers in the spam underworld. All roughly on the same day. The book does an excellent job extrapolating what police procedure might look like 20 years from now, with everything in the cloud, a smartphone in every pocket, and practical applications of virtual reality used to track and present data visually to all the police working on a case. The book starts fairly slow, with none of the major or minor POV characters interacting, but progresses like a whirlpool, moving faster and drawing the characters closer together until they start crashing into each other while the plot reaches it's climax.
Aside from the use of 2nd person I quite enjoyed this book and would recommend it. A solid 4 stars on the Amazon scale.
Disclaimer: Charles Stross writes this whole novel in 2nd person. It drove me up the wall. It's jarring, irritating and made the novel hard to read. If he never writes in 2nd person again I'll be happy as a clam. When I likely read another of his novels it will be despite this.
Rule 34 also marks the third book in a row I've read that was set in the UK. But this time it's Edinburgh Scotland. The title comes from the popular internet meme that states "If it exists, there is porn of it. No exceptions." Probably because one of the three main POV characters, Inspector Liz Kavanaugh, works in the division of the Edinburgh police department that stalks the internet in search of illegal porn. Considering there is some porn today that would make me want to scrub my mind with steel wool, this is not a pleasant job. The other prime POV characters are Anwar Hussein, a former small time crook now part of a scam that involves him being the honorary consul representing a small central asia breakaway republic. And the Toymaker, a functioning paranoid schizophrenic who also happens to to be the front man for a international criminal organization called..er..The Organization.
The book focuses on a series of murders that involve strange coincidences and malfunctions involving common household items that also just happen to be killing many of the prime movers in the spam underworld. All roughly on the same day. The book does an excellent job extrapolating what police procedure might look like 20 years from now, with everything in the cloud, a smartphone in every pocket, and practical applications of virtual reality used to track and present data visually to all the police working on a case. The book starts fairly slow, with none of the major or minor POV characters interacting, but progresses like a whirlpool, moving faster and drawing the characters closer together until they start crashing into each other while the plot reaches it's climax.
Aside from the use of 2nd person I quite enjoyed this book and would recommend it. A solid 4 stars on the Amazon scale.
on April 8, 2014
I have a rule that goes: the first time I read a book is to find out what happens, and subsequent times are to learn why things happened. This story will take at least another reading to grasp it fully, but it will be worthwhile. WARNING: If you cannot divorce yourself from standard middle class morality or if you dislike challenges to it, this story is NOT for you. I think that the negative reviews of this story are from people who cannot divorce themselves from standard morality and cannot read it as a work of fiction that uses very non-standard plot devices. Highly recommended to those who can read it unflinchingly, not recommended for others.
To those reviewers who have claimed that the perpetrator is not revealed by the end of the story, I say that it is revealed. Furthermore, the ending is worthy of the best of Rod Serling's Twilight Zone.
To those reviewers who have claimed that the perpetrator is not revealed by the end of the story, I say that it is revealed. Furthermore, the ending is worthy of the best of Rod Serling's Twilight Zone.
on April 13, 2013
This is a police procedural novel set in Edinburgh, capital of the independent nation of Scotland, some time in the very near future - "near future" as in about 10 years from today, i.e., 2013. This is a future of "3-D" copy machines, near artificial intelligence, and globalization and surveillance gone wild. The story follows Borders and Lothian Detective Inspector Liz Cavanaugh as she is sucked into a highly improbable murder of a person loosely connected to local organized crime.
Liz's usual beat is "Rule 34" violations, which are an internet geek in-joke that have become highly possible and hugely disruptive. "Rule 34" is the internet canard that there is nothing so improbably, unlikely or disgusting that someone hasn't turned it into internet porn. The problem in this near-future is that wild ideas in a society of "replicators" and social fracture and globalization can be imitated by many people very quickly and create all kinds of new dysfunctions.
Because of her Rule 34 beat, Liz learns that other internet scam artists are being liquidated in other parts of Europe. This lead to the introduction of a disgraced Interpol cop - who had a hand in Liz's disgrace a few years before this story - and the two start investigating as other wildly improbable deaths of various internet criminals start showing up. The deaths are all incredibly complex and improbable, and seem to disclose a superhuman ability to plan and/or alter probabilities to bring together circumstances that lead to fatal accidents. They also seem to involve people who are somehow involved in phishing and spamming. In the near future, spamming is the essential industry for criminal enterprise because they need to advertise somehow, and in order to advertise they have interest people with their advertisements, which means getting past the future's highly-developed spam filters, which means developing something that approximates artificial intelligence.
Stross also populates his story with other viewpoint characters. There is Anwar Hussein, a con recently released from prison for his spamming frauds, who has been talked into becoming the honorary consul for the Independent Republic of Issyk-Kulistan. (It is a tribute to Stross's braiding of his story into our world that there really is an Issyk-Kulistan.) There is also the Toymaker, a sociopath who represents the criminal Organization that supplies things that people want and needs the spammers to make people aware of what they want but can't get. There is also Colonel Datka and his boss Bhaskar, president of Khyrgistan, another real country, who seems to have something of a long game being played out.
Over the course of the story these threads develop, weave around each other and finally come together for a satisfying ending.
There were a few problematic elements. First, Stross seems to go out of his way to populate his book with casual, kinky sex. Anwar is unfaithful to his wife with men. One of the fulcrum character who links Anwar to other threads is the "Gnome," who is one of Anwar's homosexual assignations. Liz is a lesbian. One of the fulcrum characters who brings together various threads is Dorthy, one of Liz's lesbian lovers. Dorothy hooks up with the Toymaker for a night of casual sex, involving sado-masochism and "safe words," After he gets what he wants, he casually tosses her out of his apartment, making her feel devalued and used, which gets her to consider whether she was really "raped." The first murder seems to involve some kind of masochistic self-bondage. Stross is either pitching this book for the libertine left, or, perhaps, he is making a point about the continuing deterioration of conventional morality in the near future, or he really thinks all this is normal. I don't think this is a particular issue, because it does seem to project the near-future quality that Stross is aiming at, but for anyone with particular moral issues that this kind of thing might offend, forewarned is fore-armed. For my part, I found the characters' politically correct post-prandial recriminations tiresome.
Another problematic aspect of the book was its use of a second person perspective at the beginning of various chapters. That was confusing and disrupted the flow of the story. It seems that there is a reason for that perspective, which is alluded to by the end of the book. however, that leads to the third problematic feature of the book, namely, the crime was never solved. Things to wrap up, and the Lothian and Borders Police Force think they have gotten their man, but the truth seems to be that there is something else floating around the global electronic ecosystem.
But that may be an issue for a future book.
The story works as both a police procedural and a view of things we may live to see. The story was interesting and gripping, and, as with all of Stross's books to date, I feel it fully justified my investment of time and money.
Liz's usual beat is "Rule 34" violations, which are an internet geek in-joke that have become highly possible and hugely disruptive. "Rule 34" is the internet canard that there is nothing so improbably, unlikely or disgusting that someone hasn't turned it into internet porn. The problem in this near-future is that wild ideas in a society of "replicators" and social fracture and globalization can be imitated by many people very quickly and create all kinds of new dysfunctions.
Because of her Rule 34 beat, Liz learns that other internet scam artists are being liquidated in other parts of Europe. This lead to the introduction of a disgraced Interpol cop - who had a hand in Liz's disgrace a few years before this story - and the two start investigating as other wildly improbable deaths of various internet criminals start showing up. The deaths are all incredibly complex and improbable, and seem to disclose a superhuman ability to plan and/or alter probabilities to bring together circumstances that lead to fatal accidents. They also seem to involve people who are somehow involved in phishing and spamming. In the near future, spamming is the essential industry for criminal enterprise because they need to advertise somehow, and in order to advertise they have interest people with their advertisements, which means getting past the future's highly-developed spam filters, which means developing something that approximates artificial intelligence.
Stross also populates his story with other viewpoint characters. There is Anwar Hussein, a con recently released from prison for his spamming frauds, who has been talked into becoming the honorary consul for the Independent Republic of Issyk-Kulistan. (It is a tribute to Stross's braiding of his story into our world that there really is an Issyk-Kulistan.) There is also the Toymaker, a sociopath who represents the criminal Organization that supplies things that people want and needs the spammers to make people aware of what they want but can't get. There is also Colonel Datka and his boss Bhaskar, president of Khyrgistan, another real country, who seems to have something of a long game being played out.
Over the course of the story these threads develop, weave around each other and finally come together for a satisfying ending.
There were a few problematic elements. First, Stross seems to go out of his way to populate his book with casual, kinky sex. Anwar is unfaithful to his wife with men. One of the fulcrum character who links Anwar to other threads is the "Gnome," who is one of Anwar's homosexual assignations. Liz is a lesbian. One of the fulcrum characters who brings together various threads is Dorthy, one of Liz's lesbian lovers. Dorothy hooks up with the Toymaker for a night of casual sex, involving sado-masochism and "safe words," After he gets what he wants, he casually tosses her out of his apartment, making her feel devalued and used, which gets her to consider whether she was really "raped." The first murder seems to involve some kind of masochistic self-bondage. Stross is either pitching this book for the libertine left, or, perhaps, he is making a point about the continuing deterioration of conventional morality in the near future, or he really thinks all this is normal. I don't think this is a particular issue, because it does seem to project the near-future quality that Stross is aiming at, but for anyone with particular moral issues that this kind of thing might offend, forewarned is fore-armed. For my part, I found the characters' politically correct post-prandial recriminations tiresome.
Another problematic aspect of the book was its use of a second person perspective at the beginning of various chapters. That was confusing and disrupted the flow of the story. It seems that there is a reason for that perspective, which is alluded to by the end of the book. however, that leads to the third problematic feature of the book, namely, the crime was never solved. Things to wrap up, and the Lothian and Borders Police Force think they have gotten their man, but the truth seems to be that there is something else floating around the global electronic ecosystem.
But that may be an issue for a future book.
The story works as both a police procedural and a view of things we may live to see. The story was interesting and gripping, and, as with all of Stross's books to date, I feel it fully justified my investment of time and money.
on July 15, 2013
What I liked.. The premise, society, setting, technology, plot, etc was in-depth and very creative, so I enjoyed that part of the book. The writing and storytelling was well done. You are immersed in the story, seeing threads of it in your own life while reading it.
What I didn't Like.. The characters hero's, villians, inbetweens, were not only complex but many had very very dark sides, all true to life, but more detailed and darker then I usually care for in my stories. Also the characters had complex back stories and side stories going on. The story gave you enough clues in the end to figure out what was going on, but then it just stopped. You had to infer many things to figure out what going on and many story lines didn't receive any sort of resolution. True to life and it makes you think, but not my style of story.
OVERALL: I won't read it again, or similar tales from the same author or others. However I do know a lot of people that really like this kind of story telling and will enjoy this book. I prefer more of old battlestar galactica, and this was more new battlestar galactica. But since it was inventive, efficient, deep, full of real people, and there is a lot of people that like this style of book, I gave it a high rating.
What I didn't Like.. The characters hero's, villians, inbetweens, were not only complex but many had very very dark sides, all true to life, but more detailed and darker then I usually care for in my stories. Also the characters had complex back stories and side stories going on. The story gave you enough clues in the end to figure out what was going on, but then it just stopped. You had to infer many things to figure out what going on and many story lines didn't receive any sort of resolution. True to life and it makes you think, but not my style of story.
OVERALL: I won't read it again, or similar tales from the same author or others. However I do know a lot of people that really like this kind of story telling and will enjoy this book. I prefer more of old battlestar galactica, and this was more new battlestar galactica. But since it was inventive, efficient, deep, full of real people, and there is a lot of people that like this style of book, I gave it a high rating.
on August 11, 2013
I managed to finish this book in the course of two weeks, but I have to admit it had less to do with my enjoyment overall than with my obsession with figuring out how all the pieces in this story fit together. This story is more complex than the first Halting State book, although it benefits from the fact that readers don't need to have read the first book to understand it. This is a stand-alone story with a few references to the original, but the story is more complicated, its narratives woven together sometimes well, sometimes not so well. The characters aren't as enjoyable as the ones in the first Halting State, which detracted from my overall reading pleasure. Also, the hard-boiled narrative sometimes spilled from character to character, making the second-person narrative feel just a little out of place.
Small gripes that added up toward the end, and I admit that some of these gripes are subjective. Regardless, the mysterious storyline is fun, and as the pieces fit together toward the end, I found myself hoping that the main protagonist, Liz, comes back for the third book. I'll definitely read it.
Small gripes that added up toward the end, and I admit that some of these gripes are subjective. Regardless, the mysterious storyline is fun, and as the pieces fit together toward the end, I found myself hoping that the main protagonist, Liz, comes back for the third book. I'll definitely read it.
