Reviews

Accelerando by Charles Stross

jake_jo's review against another edition

challenging fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

the concepts and ideas are interesting but the entire book is just technobabble, like a redditor
trying to sound smart as if he understands the future more than us. Each short story doesn’t have an actual arc and the entire collection is loosely tied together to a unsatisfying ending

jameshaus's review

4.0

As big in scope as Death's End. Contains a dizzying array of ideas. When I first started singularity sky, I thought he might be pro-singularity for some reason. I should have figured it out at the end of that book. 3 singularity books later and he's clearly deeply cynical about it. Nonetheless, fantastic book. Fear the Vile Offspring.

mykola's review against another edition

3.0

Жменя цікавих концепцій кинута на тонкий, аж прозорий пергамент сюжету без цілі і розв'язки, щедро посипана технологічними відсилками. Читати було настільки ж "просто", як "Історію Європи". Ти потрібен своєму коту.

johng's review

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

viopgzkx's review

adventurous challenging inspiring reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

singularity, cyberpunk

mensenkinderen's review against another edition

2.0

Not a fan of this novel. Although there are some very interesting ideas in this novel, the narrative ultimate lacks a certain cohesion due to the fact that the novel is made up of separate stories. The excessive technobabble doesn't help either. In spite of this, I still might try Glasshouse or one of his later novels one day.

houlette's review

3.0

I wanted to give this four stars just for the almost ridiculous onslaught of crazy ideas, but the pace kind of slackens in the last third and focuses too much on the character dynamics, which are far and away the weakest part of the book. Still, a fun mind-bending read.

sorbeth's review

slow-paced

1.0

Progressively stranger progress from human to um singularity 

Very strange 

Not appealing 

the ending of macx going off with the toxic obsessive ex is really troubling.  But so is a lot in there.  Kids being wildly violent is fine, the ship wipes the memory and everything is patched up? Also ick. 

Lots of ehhhh

rossbm's review

3.0

Read as ebook
Starts off around 2014 or so. About a Mannfred, a technophile/futurist who will be the main character (plenty of other important ones) throughout the decades as technology accelerates at an exponential rate and something like the "singularity" takes place. Weird AI creatures with godlike powers spawn.

In the first few pages, Mannfred helps lobsters whose brains have been uploaded into a computer escape. The lobsters speak broken English because they escaped by hacking a Russian Windows usernet group, and cobbled together their own translator. It's that kind of book.

What did I think?
This was a reread of a book I originally read in 2010 or so. I liked it, but less that I originally did. I guess it is kind of "hard" science fiction book, but it's hard to take the idea of technology advancing so rapidly seriously. Also, things basically become magic once tech advances far enough. Don't like this kind of genre as much as I used to. Character pretty flat.

Some interesting ideas though. The thought of companies evolving into self aware AI is interesting.

probablyup's review

adventurous challenging funny inspiring mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0