Scan barcode
A review by frasersimons
Halting State by Charles Stross
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Much more approachable than Accelerando, this is more plotty and near future, so its extrapolations, even when missing the mark, are more relatable. It seems like a lot of people were turned off by the use of second person. I liked it.
Three characters are embroiled in an espionage plot concerning, initially, the heist of a bank inside of a video game (invariably a D&D clone). In post cyberpunk fashion, cyberspace is the norm, for both daily life, as well as video games. One of the characters is a video game designer and adjacent fields, who gets hired by another main character as a kind of consultant, since its her job to figure out what happened with the heist, and works for a firm covering liability for the act. And as far as she knows, stealing from a digital bank in a video game should be both impossible, and hardly impactful to a company.
What ensues is an almost coven brothers esk romp that puts privacy rights and social engineering in the forefront. It is a bit silly but the implications are clear and sections were pretty interesting, mainly concerning tech issues. It probably was less silly when published, but since we are beyond this future now, hindsight always does this to scifi. Think of Neuromancer not predicting the cell phone, and how that small thing would blow a lot of plot beats wide open. Some things here—mostly the macro—are almost prophetic, reading correctly where the tech sector and social evolution was going. Others, well, they aren’t happening any time soon, slightly undermining the right parts. But this also makes it somewhat more interesting, having lived through well before and a bit after the projected year and publication. It’s entertaining to see how and why these extrapolations were put in. Just like it’s interesting to see how history actually unfolded.
Because it is all about privacy and participation in curated experiences and narratives, the use of second person fit very well, for me. The reader switching between characters, seemingly embodying them as an avatar, even as they go down the rabbit hole themselves. Then again, generally I don’t mind second person anyhow. It felt effective to me here, though. There’s also a plethora of techno babble, but that’s part and parcel of cyberpunk and harder Scifi, I was prepared for it, based on Accelerando. As is, this is a quirky book I really got on with, but I’m not certain who I’d recommend it to.
Three characters are embroiled in an espionage plot concerning, initially, the heist of a bank inside of a video game (invariably a D&D clone). In post cyberpunk fashion, cyberspace is the norm, for both daily life, as well as video games. One of the characters is a video game designer and adjacent fields, who gets hired by another main character as a kind of consultant, since its her job to figure out what happened with the heist, and works for a firm covering liability for the act. And as far as she knows, stealing from a digital bank in a video game should be both impossible, and hardly impactful to a company.
What ensues is an almost coven brothers esk romp that puts privacy rights and social engineering in the forefront. It is a bit silly but the implications are clear and sections were pretty interesting, mainly concerning tech issues. It probably was less silly when published, but since we are beyond this future now, hindsight always does this to scifi. Think of Neuromancer not predicting the cell phone, and how that small thing would blow a lot of plot beats wide open. Some things here—mostly the macro—are almost prophetic, reading correctly where the tech sector and social evolution was going. Others, well, they aren’t happening any time soon, slightly undermining the right parts. But this also makes it somewhat more interesting, having lived through well before and a bit after the projected year and publication. It’s entertaining to see how and why these extrapolations were put in. Just like it’s interesting to see how history actually unfolded.
Because it is all about privacy and participation in curated experiences and narratives, the use of second person fit very well, for me. The reader switching between characters, seemingly embodying them as an avatar, even as they go down the rabbit hole themselves. Then again, generally I don’t mind second person anyhow. It felt effective to me here, though. There’s also a plethora of techno babble, but that’s part and parcel of cyberpunk and harder Scifi, I was prepared for it, based on Accelerando. As is, this is a quirky book I really got on with, but I’m not certain who I’d recommend it to.