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"Halting State" by Charles Stross was the last book on my 2008 Hugo Nominees List. While I still think "Brasyl" by Ian McDonald should have won instead of "The Yiddish Policemen's Union" by Michael Chabon, I do think this comes in a very, very close second.
I was pleasantly surprised by "Halting State". I read "Accelerando" by the same author last year and absolutely loathed it. "Halting State" really grabbed me and I read huge chunks at a time. I was amazed at how Stoss managed to maintain a sec ...more
I was pleasantly surprised by "Halting State". I read "Accelerando" by the same author last year and absolutely loathed it. "Halting State" really grabbed me and I read huge chunks at a time. I was amazed at how Stoss managed to maintain a sec ...more
Interesting science fiction speculative story with game play, mystery, cops and robbers and espionage all taking place in Scotland and Europe. The book starts out with a bang but about midway through I thought the author labored a little for about 20 pages as the story went in too many directions at once. Finally, I thought the ending was just not convincing, but all in all a fun read.
This finished stronger than it started, and I appreciate that more than the reverse situation, to be sure. I enjoyed the speculative, near-future technologies, particularly the utility-style "cop space" and the casual handling of driverless cars, and shared bandwidth mobile-based servers. Truly neat. But when it got down to brass tacks, exposition was handled in big, relief-inducing, confusion eliminating, lumps rather than with subtlety. I'll re-read it someday and see if I just missed all the
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This book is tailor-made for a gamer geek. It uses phrases like ARG, pwn3d, and LARP effectively and maturely! The storyline can be a bit convoluted, with its three narrators. The second-person narration is a little off-putting at first as well, but soon enough it becomes second nature. I don't think that Sue's narration (the cop) was necessary - Elaine and Jack had far more interesting things to say.
What is most intriguing about Halting State is the setting and world that it paints. One around ...more
What is most intriguing about Halting State is the setting and world that it paints. One around ...more
Jun 24, 2012
Snail in Danger (Sid) Nicolaides
rated it
liked it
Shelves:
science-fiction,
games-and-gaming
The second person narration felt like an annoying gimmick after a while. Still a decently interesting read to past the time, with some minor but surprising twists at the end that I didn't see coming.
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An interesting near future story about terrorism through the use of the internet and game players.
Classic cyberpunk. Except written only two years ago. Great fun.
Dec 27, 2008
Stephen
marked it as to-read
Dec 18, 2009
Ben de Groot
marked it as to-read
Mar 27, 2012
Tipper
marked it as to-read
Apr 10, 2013
Derek
marked it as to-read
Jan 13, 2014
Angela Randall
marked it as to-read
