Just finished Singularity Sky by Charles Stross

[valen]

Nifty read with kind of a ho-hum ending. Seemed like the book just sort of petered out after the New Republic Fleet battle. Anybody else think the New Republic was parody of space feudalism of classic Sci-Fi?

The glimpses of earth and Eschaton were fascinating. I'm looking forward to digging into Iron Sunrise for more of these.

[ShannonA]

I really liked both Singularity Sky and Iron Sunrise, though in retrospective they were mostly candy; they haven't stuck with me that much and I can't remember which is which any more.

Stross' two Cthulhu books, The Atrocity Archive and The Jennifer Morgue were, I think, even better, perhaps because they stood out so much more from the field.

[valen]

Stross' two Cthulhu books, The Atrocity Archive and The Jennifer Morgue were, I think, even better, perhaps because they stood out so much more from the field.

I'm not sure he is good enough of an author to get me to read a subject I'm not really into (i.e. Cthulhu).

[ShannonA]

I'm not sure he is good enough of an author to get me to read a subject I'm not really into (i.e. Cthulhu).

They're modern-day supernatural espionage with implicit, not overt, reference to Lovecraft's Cthulhu myths. They're well-written in and of themselves, but a lot of the joy I get out of them is seeing pulpy Cthulhu-ish stories that are actually well-written, so without that interest you'd probably get somewhat less out of them.

[Pilgrim]

Anybody else think the New Republic was parody of space feudalism of classic Sci-Fi?

Actually, IIRC Stross himself has said it was a piss take on the space battleships genre. Though I suspect he took a few swipes at monarchy in space there as well.

As to The Atrocity Archives, well, do you laugh at Dilbert? Imagine that sort of humor in a spook agency, one that has a lot to do with preventing outbreaks of unnameable evil.

[Old Scratch]

I thought Singularity Sky started off quite strong and then withered. It was a bit of a disappointment. it's been about a year since I read it, so I can't go into as much detail as I like, and I found the characters quite forgettable.

I've also been reading Atrocity Archives for over a year now and I've been a bit disappointed as well. The story telling isn't very fluid, I'm not convinced by the characters, and as a parody of the genre, it's oddly enough, a bit too glib. I suppose that's my problem with the writing, there never seems to be a single human moment in the books, the characters are on stage performing but it never feels like anything more than empty characters saying lines and carrying out actions that never seem to have any real resonance.

Or maybe I'm being too hard on the guy...

[Leif]

Actually, IIRC Stross himself has said it was a piss take on the space battleships genre. Though I suspect he took a few swipes at monarchy in space there as well.


The whole thing was set up so as to allow a space opera re-enactment of the Imperial Russian Navy's "Voyage of the Damned", anyway.

[valen]

The whole thing was set up so as to allow a space opera re-enactment of the Imperial Russian Navy's "Voyage of the Damned", anyway.

I don't know why I didn't think of this before. Your exactly right, its the lead up to the Battle of Tsushima, except with out the battle.