Status
Available
Call number
Series
Publication
Ace Books (New York, 2004). 1st edition, 1st printing. 368 pages. $23.95.
Description
Not only is Charles Stross�?? Iron Sunrise a �??hard-science fiction masterpiece�?� (Library Journal), it�??s also �??a Hollywood thriller with a cyberpunk heart�?� (Entertainment Weekly). PlanetMoscow is vaporized by an unnatural star explosion, prompting those who escaped to counterattack the likely culprit�??planet New Dresden of the neighboring system. But New Dresden wasn�??t to blame, and as worlds go to war, an unseen enemy labors to dest
User reviews
LibraryThing member djfoobarmatt
Having read a few Ken MacLeod books, it follows that I should get into fellow brit Charles Stross. I started with Iron Sunrise (I know i'm supposed to have read Singularity Sky but I got mixed up at the bookstore so read this first)
The basic story focuses on Wednesday who lives on a space station
The story is full of lots of cool things like dynamic makeup and clothing for our heroin, computer implants with interfaces through rings and finger movements, guns that shoot around corners (pretty standard but always fun) and intelligent cyborg dogs (also pretty standard i guess).
The actual plot kept me guessing and involved. The characters have some humanity but probably aren't that realistic - they had good history and reactions to things but not much variety of world view. When comparing with Ken Macleod, whose characters have contrasting views on things even when they are on the same 'side'.
There wasn't much philosphical value either - it was just the story with not much attempt at asking any moral questions. There is a moral dillemna at the end of the book which Wednesday must face but it's a bit of a cliche. I think there was room to more fully explore the warblogger's conflict of interest between getting a good story and helping out. The same with many of the other characters who seem to do what they do without much thought.
The basic story focuses on Wednesday who lives on a space station
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in the future until her home planet is destroyed in a mysterious and unexpected supernova. She happens to have been drawn into the mystery of the cause of this supernova which turns out to be dangerous to her life. As a refugee she meets (amongst others) a burnt out warblogger, a pair of interplanetary spooks, a godlike singularity intelligence, some unlikely assasins and a bunch of high-tech neofacists.The story is full of lots of cool things like dynamic makeup and clothing for our heroin, computer implants with interfaces through rings and finger movements, guns that shoot around corners (pretty standard but always fun) and intelligent cyborg dogs (also pretty standard i guess).
The actual plot kept me guessing and involved. The characters have some humanity but probably aren't that realistic - they had good history and reactions to things but not much variety of world view. When comparing with Ken Macleod, whose characters have contrasting views on things even when they are on the same 'side'.
There wasn't much philosphical value either - it was just the story with not much attempt at asking any moral questions. There is a moral dillemna at the end of the book which Wednesday must face but it's a bit of a cliche. I think there was room to more fully explore the warblogger's conflict of interest between getting a good story and helping out. The same with many of the other characters who seem to do what they do without much thought.
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LibraryThing member rivkat
After the Singularity scattered humanity across thousands of worlds, one of them has its sun blown up. Only scattered survivors are left, including a young girl whose imaginary friend knows a lot more than he should, and may be connected with the Singularity’s continued interest in humans. The
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victim world’s automated defense systems send retaliatory gunships at sublight speed, and only the surviving ambassadors can stop them—but someone is killing the ambassadors. And there’s an autocracy rising based on erasing humans and turning them into puppets, though even in the autocracy there are factions. Stross is much more willing to include sexual coercion in his sf than in the Laundry Files, which I find abstractly interesting but is worth pointing out in case that’s not what you want to read. Show Less
LibraryThing member johnemersonsfoot
Far slower to get to an enjoyable point than singularity sky. Same universe, same characters, but the method of writing has taken a far different turn. For whatever reason I found myself looking at the book as a chore until I reached about halfway through, at which point it became immensly
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enjoyable. It's no singularity sky, but it's a lot of fun once the lengthy intro is over. Show Less
LibraryThing member baltazargabka
Pretty average. Continuation of the 'Singularity Sky' universe (distopia) with some of the same characters. The plot is pretty slow and heavy, and annoyingly disjointed. 'Singularity Sky' was much better.
LibraryThing member DaveFragments
The Iron SUnrise is a supernova, a collapse of a star. This is a novel of political intrigue.
LibraryThing member dberryfan
Stross is an excellent writer of very complicated worlds. Despite his general fascination with sexual culture that doesn't really seem to advance the plot, the man writes a darn good singularity.
LibraryThing member AsYouKnow_Bob
Nice combination of the genres of 'space opera' and 'secret agent'.
LibraryThing member kevinashley
A well-written and well-paced tale of planetary genocide, interstellar plots and cults seen through the eyes of a few key players, from a disaffected teenager with voices in her head to some scary totalitarian plotters. Although enjoyable, I didn't find this book as much of a revelation as Stross's
But I would have liked to know more - or less - about the ReMastered and quite why they act as they do. Their presence is a given and there are some aspects of the plot which turn on their behaviour which don't quite ring true. We're given to believe that their 'puppets' are key to their plots for planetary takeover. Yet the only one directly described in the text clearly behaves like a B-movie zombie that would convince no one.
But, that nagging problem aside, this is a good read which will satisfy anyone who's enjoyed Stross's other work or that of Ken Macleod (and I include myself in their number.)
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debut novel, Singularity Sky. It doesn't contain an idea which is as novel, and as much fun, as The Festival. But it is set in the same overall world of causal channels and the god-like presence of the Eschaton, and humans who want to outwit them. The characters are good and varied and the settings well-imagined, and the plot has enough twists to satisfy those who like such things. But I would have liked to know more - or less - about the ReMastered and quite why they act as they do. Their presence is a given and there are some aspects of the plot which turn on their behaviour which don't quite ring true. We're given to believe that their 'puppets' are key to their plots for planetary takeover. Yet the only one directly described in the text clearly behaves like a B-movie zombie that would convince no one.
But, that nagging problem aside, this is a good read which will satisfy anyone who's enjoyed Stross's other work or that of Ken Macleod (and I include myself in their number.)
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LibraryThing member topps
I don't remember much about this one but I know i've read it.
LibraryThing member grizzly.anderson
Stross loves a good conspiracy, and if there is a way to throw in possession and a little righteous anger from the minion of the good guys all the better. Sometimes the pacing of his stories doesn't work so well for me, but this one had me hooked almost immediately. Rachel is a black-ops WMD
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disarmament specialist for the UN. Wednesday is a goth kid whose whole planet is destroyed by forces unknown, while she manages to hide some critical piece of evidence and escape, only to have her family killed by a faction of the ubermensh race of the ReMastered. Of course, they all end up on a space luxury liner run by the White Star Line, along with a preeminent assassin and a war correspondent. Subtle is not a tool that Stross used while writing Iron Sunrise, but it is an engaging, rollicking space-opera. Enjoy. Show Less
LibraryThing member cmc
Good old-fashioned space opera, with the addition of a singularity for more fun.
LibraryThing member bianca.sayan
Things I like:
- Stross's version of the singularity. I love the idea of it disappearing and monitoring humanity from afar
- The singularity was also a convenient way of mixing three disparate human societies, isolating them for a couple hundred years, and seeing what you get. What you get is all
- the ReMastered. Great military strategy, creepy belief system including a weird kind of real immortality. what's not to like?
- I need more characters like Rachel in Scifi, basically women who do good because they can't imagine doing anything else
Things I didn't like:
- not crazy about Stross's voice for 14 year old girls. Just... meh.
- Stross's writing style in general is a little glib and his characters don't compare to his ideas...
- Stross's version of the singularity. I love the idea of it disappearing and monitoring humanity from afar
- The singularity was also a convenient way of mixing three disparate human societies, isolating them for a couple hundred years, and seeing what you get. What you get is all
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kinds of little new-ish cultures. neat.- the ReMastered. Great military strategy, creepy belief system including a weird kind of real immortality. what's not to like?
- I need more characters like Rachel in Scifi, basically women who do good because they can't imagine doing anything else
Things I didn't like:
- not crazy about Stross's voice for 14 year old girls. Just... meh.
- Stross's writing style in general is a little glib and his characters don't compare to his ideas...
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LibraryThing member nwhyte
Sequel to last year's nominee, Singularity Sky, a 24th century space opera combined with spy story; perhaps a bit reminiscent of the more successful of Bujold's early work. The "Iron Sunrise" of the title is an artificially (though possibly accidentally) triggered supernova that wipes out an entire
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solar system. Features nassty neo-Nazis in space, tough teenage girl protagonist, explosively brilliant prose, plot twisting up and down (though I did think the final twist was a bit too similar to the end of one of his other recent stories). Show Less
LibraryThing member quondame
Good modern space opera with imperiled worlds, dark agents, fascist baddies, spunky girl, newsman with a past, all moving top speed with a few flashbacks. Interesting, somewhat twisty, a bit explosive (oh did the cover give that away!)
LibraryThing member thegreatape
Entertaining, but pretty far from Stross's best.
LibraryThing member Paul_S
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
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to 11. There's marginally more 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 expect them to act in a modern society so I guess singularity won't be as transforming as people imagine today (paying with credit/reputation instead of money? how otherworldly, I simply cannot relate). I'm done with the series. Show Less
LibraryThing member Fledgist
This is a science fiction thriller set in a future in which there is a nearly godlike power, the Eschaton, which is policing the human-settled worlds (indeed, which has settled much of the galaxy for its own reasons). Not everyone is happy about this, and one group of people, the ReMastered, wants
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to replace the Eschaton with their own god-from-the-machine. It is a rather interesting, and less-than-altogether-pleasant future. The Singularity does not mean that we all transcend. Not-god's name is Herman... Show Less
LibraryThing member endolith
Pretty cool. Fun adventure story
Subjects
Awards
Hugo Award (Nominee — Novel — 2005)
Locus Award (Finalist — Science Fiction Novel — 2005)
Locus Recommended Reading (2004)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2004-07
ISBN
0441011594 / 9780441011599
UPC
072742023951