Status
Available
Call number
Series
Publication
Ace Books (New York, 2003). 1st edition, 1st printing. 320 pages. $23.95.
Description
Hugo Award winner Charles Stross delivers a brilliant space opera replete with groundbreaking concepts and energized by an imaginative vision of the future. In the 21st century, the perfection of faster-than-light travel and the rise of a prodigious artificial intelligence known as the Eschaton altered the course of humankind. Now, far off in the vastness of space, the technology-eschewing New Republic is besieged by an alien information plague. Earth quickly sends a battle fleetâ??but is it coming to the rescue, or is a sinister plot in moti
User reviews
LibraryThing member Shrike58
I've read seven of Stross' novels before I read this one, and that was a serious mistake. One reason is because this is a very entertaining read, as an isolated post-disaster civilization that's a farcical, steam-punk, take on the Russian Empire is steam-rollered by a super-technology force that is
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beyond the comprehension of the autocrats. However, I would also have had a better understanding of the basic themes and tropisms that pop up in the following stories that Stross has written. There's the low-key hero who is simply trying to do the right thing. There's the put-upon woman of action, seething under the pressure of stupid gender expectations. There's the fascination with espionage and secret operatives. And, of course, there is then the whole matter of coping when your world is turned upside down, and you had better have an intellectual break-though, or else. I really have nothing critical to say about the book, though I can see where the many info dumps could put off some readers. Show Less
LibraryThing member RobertDay
This novel, Stross' first, is a space-operatic excursion into a universe of strangeness. Humanity has been scattered across the galaxy by an advanced intelligence from the future, the Eschaton, which may or may not be the ultimate development of humanity itself. In the five hundred years since that
This novel concentrates on one particular society, which brands itself the “New Republic” but which is actually a rigid monarchical state along the lines of the late Austro-Hungarian Empire. It has subjugated a number of other human colony worlds, and on one of them, Rochard's World, a neo-Marxist revolutionary group is close to seizing power from the New Republic when a trans-human polity, Festival, suddenly manifests itself and intervenes with a cargo cult-like ability to create advanced consumer goods in return for input – art, music, philosophy, entertainment or just plain stories. The New Republic gets wind of this and sends a space fleet to restore order. On that fleet are two people all the way from Earth: a space drive engineer on contract from Mikoyan i Gurevich and a United Nations weapons inspector on the lookout for people foolish enough to try to circumvent causality and with the mission of stopping them before they cause the Eschaton to descend on their civilization and descend on it hard. That's extinction-level event hard.
This is space opera in something of a steampunk mode. The New Republic's navy has a distinct Edwardian vibe to it; the ships are all mahogany panelling and gleaming brasswork inside, the uniforms are like something out of 'The Battleship Potemkin' and some of the officers' attitudes are not much different. The forms of address used by lower ranked ratings are lifted straight out of Hasek's 'The Good Soldier Sjevk', though in truth it has to be said that unlike Hasek's story of the Dual Monarchy in World War I, the officers are, for the most part, competent but severely blinkered. (Though the Fleet AdmiÂral is in his dotage, which doesn't help matters.) Which leads to the course of the fleet's mission going something like the Russo-Japnese War of 1904-05 (where, in case you weren't aware, a Tsarist Russian fleet left St.Petersberg to sail half-way round the world to attack Japan, encountered and sank a fleet of British fishing trawlers in the North Sea having mistaken them for Japanese torpedo boats, and eventually was defeated by the Japanese seven months later in the Battle of Tsushima.)
The engineer is assumed to be a spy (he is, but not for who anyone thinks); the UN inspector is worse, because she is - Shock! Horror! - a woman. (The New Republic's functionaries are nearly all very 19th Century in their attitudes.) Things are not helped by the presence of a member of the secret police, who is a recent recruit and seriously out of his depth.
Meanwhile, on Rochard's World, the neo-Bolshevik revolutionary cadres are coming into contact with some of the races that accompany Festival as it travels across the galaxy, contacting civilizations, and then seedin copies of itself to spread further. Things are getting distinctly strange.
The novel's style is quite distinct; it started out feeling like some of Stross' novellas from the early 2000s, packed full of ideas and throwing them off in all directions. Characterisation is competent: the naval officers, as I said, are out of Potemkin and Sjevk, the revolutionaries out of Eisenstein's 'October'; whilst the engineer reminded me of Jonathan Harker, the protagonist in Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' and the UN weapons inspector is reminiscent of no-one as much as Lola Montez, the femme fatale spy (based on a real person, though someone romanticised) in George Macdonald Fraser's Ruritanian 'Flashman' novel 'Royal Flash'.
I found this fun: other reviewers have not, mainly because they seem to have taken it too seriously and expected Military SF, a political story or a tale of first contact. It is at the same time all, and none, of these things.
This novel is the beginning a series of novels concerning the Eschaton and the universe it shaped; I suspect that there will be no carry-over of characters into later novels.
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event, humanity has split into many different societies, many of which are in touch with distant Earth. Earth, meanwhile, has recovered from losing 90% of its population and concerns itself with trying to avoid further interventions by the Eschaton, which has warned humanity against trying to leverage the time paradoxes that faster-than-light travel can cause. This it takes a dim view of, and some populations been wiped out as a consequence.This novel concentrates on one particular society, which brands itself the “New Republic” but which is actually a rigid monarchical state along the lines of the late Austro-Hungarian Empire. It has subjugated a number of other human colony worlds, and on one of them, Rochard's World, a neo-Marxist revolutionary group is close to seizing power from the New Republic when a trans-human polity, Festival, suddenly manifests itself and intervenes with a cargo cult-like ability to create advanced consumer goods in return for input – art, music, philosophy, entertainment or just plain stories. The New Republic gets wind of this and sends a space fleet to restore order. On that fleet are two people all the way from Earth: a space drive engineer on contract from Mikoyan i Gurevich and a United Nations weapons inspector on the lookout for people foolish enough to try to circumvent causality and with the mission of stopping them before they cause the Eschaton to descend on their civilization and descend on it hard. That's extinction-level event hard.
This is space opera in something of a steampunk mode. The New Republic's navy has a distinct Edwardian vibe to it; the ships are all mahogany panelling and gleaming brasswork inside, the uniforms are like something out of 'The Battleship Potemkin' and some of the officers' attitudes are not much different. The forms of address used by lower ranked ratings are lifted straight out of Hasek's 'The Good Soldier Sjevk', though in truth it has to be said that unlike Hasek's story of the Dual Monarchy in World War I, the officers are, for the most part, competent but severely blinkered. (Though the Fleet AdmiÂral is in his dotage, which doesn't help matters.) Which leads to the course of the fleet's mission going something like the Russo-Japnese War of 1904-05 (where, in case you weren't aware, a Tsarist Russian fleet left St.Petersberg to sail half-way round the world to attack Japan, encountered and sank a fleet of British fishing trawlers in the North Sea having mistaken them for Japanese torpedo boats, and eventually was defeated by the Japanese seven months later in the Battle of Tsushima.)
The engineer is assumed to be a spy (he is, but not for who anyone thinks); the UN inspector is worse, because she is - Shock! Horror! - a woman. (The New Republic's functionaries are nearly all very 19th Century in their attitudes.) Things are not helped by the presence of a member of the secret police, who is a recent recruit and seriously out of his depth.
Meanwhile, on Rochard's World, the neo-Bolshevik revolutionary cadres are coming into contact with some of the races that accompany Festival as it travels across the galaxy, contacting civilizations, and then seedin copies of itself to spread further. Things are getting distinctly strange.
The novel's style is quite distinct; it started out feeling like some of Stross' novellas from the early 2000s, packed full of ideas and throwing them off in all directions. Characterisation is competent: the naval officers, as I said, are out of Potemkin and Sjevk, the revolutionaries out of Eisenstein's 'October'; whilst the engineer reminded me of Jonathan Harker, the protagonist in Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' and the UN weapons inspector is reminiscent of no-one as much as Lola Montez, the femme fatale spy (based on a real person, though someone romanticised) in George Macdonald Fraser's Ruritanian 'Flashman' novel 'Royal Flash'.
I found this fun: other reviewers have not, mainly because they seem to have taken it too seriously and expected Military SF, a political story or a tale of first contact. It is at the same time all, and none, of these things.
This novel is the beginning a series of novels concerning the Eschaton and the universe it shaped; I suspect that there will be no carry-over of characters into later novels.
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LibraryThing member TadAD
I liked that he actually grappled with the glaring hole in wide-screen space opera: causality violation. Kudos for that. On the other hand, there was just something about the main characters that seemed a trifle teenager-ish despite their advanced ages; they didn't ring quite true to me.
I'm still
I'm still
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trying to decide what I think about Alice in Wonderland meets the Russian Revolution meets Baba Yaga... Show Less
LibraryThing member fishton
I really liked the premise, the story and the characters. Unfortunately the technical explanations he goes into were, at least for me, very tedious and distracted from the story's flow. Parts of the book were like reading a user's manual. But over all the story won out in the end.
LibraryThing member djfoobarmatt
I read the sequel to Singularity Sky, Iron Sunrise, before I read this one. So I was familiar with the basic setting which is that the universe has been populated by humans scattered from earth by a singularity AI. The planets have all since evolved in many different directions and the story works
In this book, our heroes are hanging out in a authoritarian Luddite society (the New Republic) that is about to declare war on a post human information society (The Festival).
The plot focuses on two people from earth who are caught up in the confrontation, attempting to save the New Republicans from themselves. There are side stories following various characters who play a part in events.
I found I didn't connect with the characters too much. Rachel's character is pretty interesting but the others just seem to drift along, pulled by the story without doing much of interest. The story has a kind of inevitable momentum because of the obvious outcome due to the Festival's godlike power. The interest lies in how the characters respond and as I already mentioned, their response is pretty boring - they just get carried along.
Having said that, there are a lot of entertaining moments and fun bits and pieces. The story flows and is believable enough. The places visited are all interesting: the New Republic home world, the interstellar starship and Rochards world which is transformed by the Festival.
Highlights for me were the antics of the accidentally released spy bots and the custard pie wielding mimes.
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by clashing different cultures together. The cultures of the different planets are recognisable as exaggerations of cultures we know from history and present day trends.In this book, our heroes are hanging out in a authoritarian Luddite society (the New Republic) that is about to declare war on a post human information society (The Festival).
The plot focuses on two people from earth who are caught up in the confrontation, attempting to save the New Republicans from themselves. There are side stories following various characters who play a part in events.
I found I didn't connect with the characters too much. Rachel's character is pretty interesting but the others just seem to drift along, pulled by the story without doing much of interest. The story has a kind of inevitable momentum because of the obvious outcome due to the Festival's godlike power. The interest lies in how the characters respond and as I already mentioned, their response is pretty boring - they just get carried along.
Having said that, there are a lot of entertaining moments and fun bits and pieces. The story flows and is believable enough. The places visited are all interesting: the New Republic home world, the interstellar starship and Rochards world which is transformed by the Festival.
Highlights for me were the antics of the accidentally released spy bots and the custard pie wielding mimes.
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LibraryThing member wyvernfriend
an interesting book that took a while to get into. What would happen in a world where knowledge is repressed when a more technologically advanced civilizaton offers them unlimited knowledge, provided they entertain them? Chaos ensues and when the planet in charge decides to try to intervene the UN
Not exactly to my taste but Mac is going to try it, he's more of the space opera fan.
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inspector finds herself fighting sexism and attitude. Everyone has an agenda and everything is going to change.Not exactly to my taste but Mac is going to try it, he's more of the space opera fan.
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LibraryThing member baltazargabka
Enjoyed this complex cultural and political SciFi thriller very much. Stross has put a lot of effort into the (para)scientific descriptions of the alternative space travel technologies. All of this super-science is offset against the antiquated, 19th cenutry-like, reality of the planet where the
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action takes place. The concept of Festival, the enigmatic and anarchistic entity behind the plot line is just amazing. Stross's flavour for social justice and disdain for the distopia of his own creation are a rare gift among today's SciFi writers. Show Less
LibraryThing member stevencudahy
A rollercoaster ride through a brilliantly imagined post-singularity future. Stross writes with a tongue-in-cheek style, loose and quick-witted, and although he's far from a ground-breaking stylist, the prose is decent enough to draw you through the adventures.
Although the narrative is inventive,
Although the narrative is inventive,
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action-packed, and in places laugh-out-loud funny, the characters feel a little flat throughout. But this is more a novel of ideas than a story about real people, and Stross handles his theme - the effects on a rigid, primitive society of sudden contact with and alien species and access to anything people could want - well enough. There's nothing startlingly original here, and the swathes of technobabble may distance some readers, but as a first novel goes this was a credible effort, and shows promise for future works from a man who seems to be publishing a new novel every few weeks. Show Less
LibraryThing member reannon
It's been a long time since I read hard science fiction, and keeping up with the science and technology was quite hard. But Stross's vision is as interesting in political theory as scientific. It juxtaposes two cultures, one more advanced that is making no government work (the anarchist's dream),
The man characters are appealing. It is a real brain-stretcher of a book.
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and one that has reverted to almost a feudal society. Everything changes by contact with the Festival, not a society at all but an information-gathering colossus with amazing technology they share in return for stories.The man characters are appealing. It is a real brain-stretcher of a book.
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LibraryThing member Caragen87
The future in this story is a taut, almost understandable form, and in the next instant. . .alien. This page turner has a sardonic humor to it that will keep the reader's mind pausing with intense attempts to viscerally imagine what you've just read.
LibraryThing member dgphilli
I liked the book, and I very much like the post-singularity world scenarios in which scarcity is a thing of the past -- how do we as humans react to our environment. Understandably some people , like the New Republic society in this novel, are hesitant to adapt to cornucopia technology.
A god-like
In short, a showdown between UN inspector Rachel Mansour and an engineer, Martin Springfield need to sabotage the New Republic's plans for a causality violation against the info gathering Festival group who have sabotaged their outpost, Rochard's world
The book dragged during the flight to Rochard's world and not enough time was spent on the Eschaton, or the Critics, or the Mimes, etc, etc. I wanted to know more about these characters and their travails. A good book on post-singularity, but not great
Read this and compare it to the more quirky Cory Doctorow's `Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom.' I think you'll find, as I did, that Cory Doctorow's book was more successful in post-singularity society
A god-like
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creature known as the Eschaton divides Earth society up and carves out an interstellar society with one main rule - no causality violations (don't travel into the past and screw up the existing present.)In short, a showdown between UN inspector Rachel Mansour and an engineer, Martin Springfield need to sabotage the New Republic's plans for a causality violation against the info gathering Festival group who have sabotaged their outpost, Rochard's world
The book dragged during the flight to Rochard's world and not enough time was spent on the Eschaton, or the Critics, or the Mimes, etc, etc. I wanted to know more about these characters and their travails. A good book on post-singularity, but not great
Read this and compare it to the more quirky Cory Doctorow's `Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom.' I think you'll find, as I did, that Cory Doctorow's book was more successful in post-singularity society
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LibraryThing member etimme
Too heavily scifi for me.
Singularity Sky takes place in the wake of a technological singularity that leaves mankind strewn across the galaxy by an artificial intelligence. As ever, Stross seeds his novel with thought provoking concepts backed by a firm foundation of cause-and-effect (you'll find
Singularity Sky takes place in the wake of a technological singularity that leaves mankind strewn across the galaxy by an artificial intelligence. As ever, Stross seeds his novel with thought provoking concepts backed by a firm foundation of cause-and-effect (you'll find
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very little real "magic" in his books) that keep the reader interested, but I think he sacrificed the characters in his book at the altar of technology. His characters felt like cardboard cutouts needed only to advance the plot to the multi-page, technology heavy descriptions of space battles. The author has a tendency to use dialogue in a heavy handed way to advance the plot and flesh out concepts in a way I found jarring. Also, as with Halting State, I found his use of multiple viewpoints ineffective. He has firm roots as a short story writer, and it feels as though he starts with a great novella and transforms it into a full length novel by adding another viewpoint in a very inorganic way. Show Less
LibraryThing member ShellyS
Perhaps I'm just too old for this, but I couldn't make heads of tails of it. Too much theory, too many big ideas, not enough character and emotion for me.
LibraryThing member NickCato
Stross' dazzling space epic works on so many levels---his latent humor is a great break from the (at times) mind-numbing technobabble. Aside from its underlying NWO agenda (!!!), this is a great ride.
LibraryThing member AsYouKnow_Bob
Terrific stuff. Owes a bit to Banks and MacLeod, but madly inventive: sensawonder space battles with post singularity AIs, Ruritarian conservatives, soviet revolutionaries... a wonderful debut.
LibraryThing member kevinashley
An entertaining and easy read, and some really interesting themes that aren't typical of what sometimes seemed an excessive hard-science approach. I found the endless descriptions of battles in space just that - endless, and not useful in themselves or in moving the plot along. But that's the only
Others have commented that there are almost too many ideas in here crowding for space, and in retrospect that seems a fair comment. One in particular struck me at the time of reading - the Festival is a magnificent, humorous and completely original concept that allows him to explore some interesting philosophical ideas almost effortlessly. Definitely worth a read and I will seek out some of his other stuff, but not quite up to the hyperbole of some of the cover notes. (Since I wrote this I've read quite a bit of Stross's other novels and I am more and more impressed as I go on. Still, this is not the best of them for me.)
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real flaw in what was otherwise an entertaining read, and for many it won't even be a flaw. Others have commented that there are almost too many ideas in here crowding for space, and in retrospect that seems a fair comment. One in particular struck me at the time of reading - the Festival is a magnificent, humorous and completely original concept that allows him to explore some interesting philosophical ideas almost effortlessly. Definitely worth a read and I will seek out some of his other stuff, but not quite up to the hyperbole of some of the cover notes. (Since I wrote this I've read quite a bit of Stross's other novels and I am more and more impressed as I go on. Still, this is not the best of them for me.)
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LibraryThing member clong
This is a strong first novel with lots of good things going for it. If features writing that feels effortless, a fast pace that keeps you turning pages, good and often quite original ideas, and occasional moments of surprise and humor. Indeed this book reminded me a bit of something you might read
Having said all that, the thing that, for me, kept this from being a really great novel was the characters. Martin and Rachel are likable enough, but neither is particularly deep and neither seemed to grow much in the face of some fairly astonishing experiences. Characters like Vasily and Burya and for that matter all of the citizens of the New Republic felt more like caricatures than real people. The book would have been much more powerful if I had really cared about what happened to these two in particular. The few denizens of the Festival that we meet seemed to offer lots of potential for intriguing development, but never got much. Since I never really connected well to any of the characters, I never really rooted for them or cared that much about which side won (not that Stross ever gave of any reason to doubt the final outcome).
Beyond that, I’d say that as a society, the New Republic felt a lot too simplistic, and what happens after the climactic battle came as a bit of a let down.
Still, I’ll definitely plan to read more from this author.
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from Iain M. Banks, although Stross neither uses as broad a canvass nor seems as comfortable with ambiguity.Having said all that, the thing that, for me, kept this from being a really great novel was the characters. Martin and Rachel are likable enough, but neither is particularly deep and neither seemed to grow much in the face of some fairly astonishing experiences. Characters like Vasily and Burya and for that matter all of the citizens of the New Republic felt more like caricatures than real people. The book would have been much more powerful if I had really cared about what happened to these two in particular. The few denizens of the Festival that we meet seemed to offer lots of potential for intriguing development, but never got much. Since I never really connected well to any of the characters, I never really rooted for them or cared that much about which side won (not that Stross ever gave of any reason to doubt the final outcome).
Beyond that, I’d say that as a society, the New Republic felt a lot too simplistic, and what happens after the climactic battle came as a bit of a let down.
Still, I’ll definitely plan to read more from this author.
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LibraryThing member PortiaLong
Mr. Stross has a number of really good and clever ideas and an engaging style. However this book felt "crowded" as though he was trying to put all of his good ideas into one novel and didn't have the space to fully develop them. In Heinlein's For Us the Living (his first novel, published
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posthumously) - you can see all of the ideas that Heinlein later filled out in his dozens of later works. I get that same feeling reading this book - I would like to see what Mr. Stross does when he takes ONE of these balls and rolls with it, rather than trying to keep them all in the air. Show Less
LibraryThing member baswood
A science fiction novel with much hard science. Only some of it worked for me and I struggled to read it in parts.
LibraryThing member felius
This is an enjoyable read, with a fast pace and some great characters. It has some very funny moments, with humour which at times verges on Pythonesque - however it's no comedy, and offers some interesting observations on how people (and economies, and political institutions) might react when
At times I felt the humour was out of place, and at others I wanted more of it. Sometimes I wanted more political intrigue, and sometimes I just wanted more on the space-based warfare. I didn't really know what I wanted from this book, and the author seemed determined to give me a bit of everything.
While the style is all over the place, the result is satisfying. There's a story to be told and we do get there in the end.
This was the first book I've read by this author, and I'll definitely be coming back for more.
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suddenly exposed to technology which renders almost every aspect of their society obsolete.At times I felt the humour was out of place, and at others I wanted more of it. Sometimes I wanted more political intrigue, and sometimes I just wanted more on the space-based warfare. I didn't really know what I wanted from this book, and the author seemed determined to give me a bit of everything.
While the style is all over the place, the result is satisfying. There's a story to be told and we do get there in the end.
This was the first book I've read by this author, and I'll definitely be coming back for more.
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LibraryThing member chayla
Sci fi which was somewhat hard to follow, and tried to be philosophical, but nevertheless, was funny and inventive. Imagine an invading force called the Festival which bombards the world with working telephones.
LibraryThing member ennui2342
I have a love/hate relationship with Stross. He often is at the forefront of new ideas, but I can find the narritive often descending into farce breaking the suspension of disbelief.
This book had a certain anticlimax to it which contributed to finishing with an overall sense of pointlessness.
This book had a certain anticlimax to it which contributed to finishing with an overall sense of pointlessness.
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However, maybe this reflects its nature as the first of a series. Show Less
LibraryThing member thisisstephenbetts
An unusual foray into Sci-fi for me. I enjoyed this, and certainly found it readable enough. I was a little let-down by the scope of its ambition. The topics it's based around are huge - in particular the concept of cornucopia machines and time-travel via faster-than-light. Unfortunately, though,
Stross actually manages to work his limited exploration into the plot - the first by largely dealing with a society that has banned cornucopia machines (along with nanotechnology and other exciting plot twists); and the second by positing a mysterious god-like entity called The Eschaton that will obliterate you if you attempt any causality-violating time travel (the only interesting kind). While these are interesting devices, I kinda felt that they were obscuring even more interesting possibilities. A bit more exploration of The Eschaton would have helped, but maybe that's for later books.
There were quite a few stabs at relating to genuine science, which worked, and the plot did have some nice touches. It kept my interest, but I hoped for something a little more ambitious.
Overall I was reminded of The Diamond Age, but while that book's scope was smaller, its ambition was still larger.
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these aren't really explored to their full extent (although, to be fair, I guess time travel is a pretty well-worn trope by now).Stross actually manages to work his limited exploration into the plot - the first by largely dealing with a society that has banned cornucopia machines (along with nanotechnology and other exciting plot twists); and the second by positing a mysterious god-like entity called The Eschaton that will obliterate you if you attempt any causality-violating time travel (the only interesting kind). While these are interesting devices, I kinda felt that they were obscuring even more interesting possibilities. A bit more exploration of The Eschaton would have helped, but maybe that's for later books.
There were quite a few stabs at relating to genuine science, which worked, and the plot did have some nice touches. It kept my interest, but I hoped for something a little more ambitious.
Overall I was reminded of The Diamond Age, but while that book's scope was smaller, its ambition was still larger.
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LibraryThing member paulmorriss
This is the first Charles Stross book that I have read, though I've been reading his blog for a while. It has a fantastical and compelling start, but I worried that we'd be missing out on some likeable characters. However after a few chapters they appeared and the story really got going. Because I
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liked it so much I'd like to pick a small hole in the pacing of the second half where there's a lot of detail on the battle situation. However it doesn't drag and the story comes to a very good ending. Show Less
LibraryThing member voodoochilli
Well maybe it's just me but I got bored of this book about 3/4 of the way in. I thought maybe I should just keep reading till the end, but I just couldn't do it. There's some great ideas here, but the story seemed a bit confused and I found it difficult to remember all of the characters, let alone
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relate to them. I read this book after someone said it was like Vernor Vinge's Fire Upon the Deep. I disagree. Also I would say if you want to read a Stross novel, check out Glasshouse which is awesome. Show Less
Subjects
Awards
Hugo Award (Nominee — Novel — 2004)
Locus Recommended Reading (2003)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2003-08
Physical description
320 p.; 6.46 inches
ISBN
0441010725 / 9780441010721