6.0 stars One of my ALL tiem favorite novels along with the first book in the series, Singularity Sky These two books together are as good as it gets when it comes to grand, epic space opera The ideas discussed are mind blowing and the author s skill in discussing them in the context of the story is fantastic Te story never slowed down from beginning to end I loved the introduciton of the genetically enhanced ReMastered as an enemy out to defeat the seemingly all powerful advanced AI Eschaton HI [...]

Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography cclapcenter I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP it is not being reprinted illegally Regular visitors will know that I m currently in the process of reading every novel sci fi author Charles Stross has ever written I started last time with his very first, 2003 s Singularity Sky, which told a surprisingly funny and absurdist tale set in the far future, centuries after the human race was split and flu [...]

The first Charles Stross book I ever read was Singularity Sky, the first book in this series I was in a different city, and I m not quite sure what made it jump off the shelf of the used bookstore as something to read while I went to one of my first academic conferences I was, however, baffled by the book itself I thought I liked it, but I wasn t positive, because I finished the book and still didn t understand the underlying principles underneath that particular science fiction universe.Note Th [...]

What starts off as some excellent, mind bending weirdness diffuses into an uninteresting thriller There were too many character threads, and too many of the characters began to talk like one another as the book progressed Not to mention Stross s linguistic tics and frequent cliches which litter the novel s second half The book became a political thriller thinly disguised as SF.Which is all way too bad, because the first chapters are some of the best, most original, fun, off beat SF I have read i [...]

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Reading Iron Sunrise has been a long time in coming, ever since I read Singularity Sky I finally got around to ordering a copy and dug into it when I realized I needed a good science fiction read As usual, Charles Stross delivers on all sorts of quixotic ideas that I love in my science fiction I like the posthuman parts of Iron Sunrise even better than its predecessor, and its action scenes are definitely superior My criticisms of it are similar to the ones I levelled at Singularity Sky too.Thou [...]

Iron Sunrise is a sequel of sorts to Singularity Sky Rachel and Martin are back, but they don t play a part until late in the story The introductory character is Wednesday, a goth chick who goes from seventeen to twenty through the course of the book and who suffers a lot of hardships in between.My main emotion upon ending the book is disappointment Charlie has two problems, and they re becoming apparent the often I read his work This book sets the stage for an ongoing battle between the Escha [...]

Another spy space romp, starring a goth girl who joins up with Rachel and Martin to take on the Borg.

I used to have a religious no quitting policy when it came to finishing books Even if the thing was terrible, I would slog through it till the last page, worried I was doing the author a disservice by not giving it a fair shake Now, however, I m a busy adult with a full time job and a to read list the length of my arm I ve gotten a lot lax about finishing books I don t particularly care for.Iron Sunrise is not a terrible book From what I read, it s okay The first section is actually very engagi [...]

The Singularity happens, immanentizes as a sapient Eschaton, and is or less beneficent Deals with overpopulation mercifully than it might have, thought with a huge disregard for people who were separated by a city from their friends and family on that fateful day But it or less set up communities to succeed and it still takes an interest A little quirky in how it expresses that interest, and a little blind to the potential danger of planets of self engineered ubermenches, but coincidences see [...]

Having only read Stross s SF horror satire Laundry books which I think are a lot of fun, but also very annoying whenever the humor takes the form of actual jokes I figured maybe I would dig him better writing straight faced space opera Well kind of The two stars above are an average half the time I liked it pretty well, and half the time I wanted to throw it across the room.I haven t read the previous one in this series, but the background was pretty clear too clear, because Stross explains thin [...]

Okay, so maybe the second time was the charm.Stross first novel, Singularity Sky was one of those A for effort but a fairly solid B for overall execution, suffering from a lack of focus on which plot exactly I was supposed to be caring about and redeemed mostly by an interesting future scenario and two main characters that seemed like fun to be around They even fell in love too, which is always nice to see.Rereading the novel, Stross must have also realized those two aspects were the keepers and [...]

Charles Stross is a relatively recent find for me, but after reading his truly awesome Laundry series I made it a point to go back and explore some of his other works Iron Sunrise is actually a sequel though the author has said that there will be no books in this universe to Singularity Sky It brings back the two main characters from that story, Rachel and her now husband, and introduces a who new spread of characters slowly weaving the seemingly unrelated plots together The world of these nove [...]

I actually liked this one better than Singularity Sky maybe because it was a bit linear, and spent time on a smaller cast of characters, so it was easier to be sympathetic to them The story revolves around Wednesday also known as Victoria Strowger , a goth teen who happens to be an associate of Herman agent of the Eschaton She and her family are evacuated from their space station home, and on the way out, her incessant Herman prompted snooping causes her to run across a secret that the ReMaste [...]

Una novela cuyo cl max se encuentra al principio de su lectura, la verdad es que ya tiene poco que ofrecer Una estrella es detonada artificialmente para que destruya un planeta, Mosc Los supervivientes achacan el ataque a su vecino, Nueva Dresde Pero, han sido realmente ellos o hay terceros con intereses de por medio Novela ramplona, con personajes planos y malos mal simos de manual Vamos, nada nuevo en el horizonte La historia va dando tumbos hasta un final predecible hasta decir basta Si por l [...]

This is a sequel to Singularity Sky It features two or three of the same main characters, but you need not have read the former to get this It s an interesting story of megadeaths, mind control totalitarianism, and causality weapons research Stross keeps the action fast paced, but the characters are fleshed out and empathetic is that the right word It features occasional over the top brutality that reminds me of Iain M Banks Culture novels Good stuff for SF fans, if you don t mind your stories a [...]

This right here is some pretty awesome hard SF Well, I guess it s hard SF in that all of the sciencey bits make sense, but not necessarily that they drive the story And it s really the story that makes this awesome Despite the multiple plot threads that seem disparate at the beginning of the story, it s a very compelling pageturner of a book Good stuff.

A good follow up to Singularity Sky A basic thriller set in a sci fi backdrop It is probably a bit accessible to the general public than SS was It left me wanting Eschaton Herman , Martin Springfield, and Rachel Mansour The rest of the characters are pretty forgettable.

I liked this one much than Accelerando, and liked some of the characters, but it still didn t warm me up much to this guy s writing.

I really love Charles Stross s work, so I m sad to give this one only two stars All of the characters were just too generic to get invested in I was bored long before I was done reading.

Fairly typical Stross book Enjoyable for the technology descriptions and fictional universe As often with his books I find the story line fairly mundane though.

This is the sequel to Singularity Sky and, like its predecessor, has some fun ideas but gets bogged down in mundane spy activities and becomes a bit messy by the end The image of an artist living as Idi Amin and being largely ignored until he buys a nuclear bomb, isn t quite up with the rain of telephones from SS but is certainly striking although the way the standoff with him is solved is eye rolling and the idea of the Eschaton itself could have gone so many places.The characters are fine, if [...]

Iron Sunrise follows on from Singularity Sky but is a completely separate story The same characters are there, Rachel, Martin and the Eschaton a godlike post singularity AI but the mystery they are investigating is completely different An entire planet has been destroyed along with all of its inhabitants by forcing its sun to go supernova The only survivors are those who were off planet at the time and the occupants of a distant space station evacuated just before the shockwave reaches it severa [...]

No le doy las cinco estrellas porque tampoco es que sea el summum de la ciencia ficci n, o del thriller futurista, pero tampoco os cre is que se queda muy lejos de esa puntuaci n, por lo divertida que es esta historia Por supuesto, no divertida en el sentido de c mica, sino por su capacidad para entretener al lector con una historia que recupera la aventura de la space opera, repleta de acci n y buenos personajes, y en la que la complejidad pol tica y cient fica de la trama lo parece mucho menos [...]

Though a sequel, the only relevant information from the previous book is Two people got married.A great force, the Eschaton, moves huge swaths of the human race onto other planets in time Then puts down a few rules that shouldn t be broken It then has intermediaries help it keep these rules This time, view spoiler a threatening group of militaristic bureaucrats are trying to create their own computer soul archive, and taking over other planets, and the Eschaton doesn t like it hide spoiler.This [...]

Why does future always lead to people fucking like rabbits with reckless abandon Why can t we develop into a society that is nice and creates loving an nurturing families and meaningful relationships instead It s either nazis in space or anarchist creating a flawless utopia with hedonism dialled to 11 There s marginally plot than in the last one but it s still mostly wish fulfilment about post singularity anarchism Despite all this supposed progress everyone acts exactly the same as you d expec [...]

This is the sequel to Singularity Sky, a very neat book that both my best friend from college and I recommend That it begins with the sentence On the day war was declared, a rain of telephones clattered on the cobblestone streets of Novy Leningrad should tell you something about that book Iron Surprise is a bit darker and I think I was a bit less impressed by it, but it s definitely worth reading It seems like it ought to be the second book in a trilogy, but Stross has said he won t write in thi [...]

When this book was published, Charles Stross was science fiction s most recent sensation After years of relative anonymity, he d been shortlisted for SF awards for his novels both SF and fantasy and novellas Iron Sunrise, which garnered the best novel nomination for the 2005 Hugo Awards, is a follow up to Singularity Sky, which was shortlisted for the 2004 Hugo for best novel return return Like its predecessor, Iron Sunrise is 21st century space opera For those unfamiliar with the term, space op [...]

I ve left far too much time between the last one and this one, but I liked it better than Singularity Sky.What I found particularly improved is that the story is not told from the perspective of a super spy all the way through the new POV characters particularly Wednesday bring a refreshing bit of personality that seem absent from Rachel and Martin.

Same experience sloooow start, the a fun second half The first chapter felt like a TV studio boss ordered a quick paced intro Disjointed and stilted Still, it s a fun universe I look forward to reading of his novels.