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Singularity Sky (Paperback)

by Charles Stross (Author) "May I ask what I'm charged with?" asked Martin ..." (more)
3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
List Price: CDN$ 10.99
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Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

In his first novel, British author Stross, one of the hottest short-story writers in the field, serves up an energetic and sometimes satiric mix of cutting-edge nanotechnology, old-fashioned space opera and leftist political commentary reminiscent of Ken MacLeod. Spaceship engineer Martin Springfield and U.N. diplomat Rachel Mansour hail from an Earth that has gone through the Singularity, an accelerated technological and social evolution far beyond anything we can imagine. The Singularity was triggered by the Eschaton, a super-powerful being descended from humanity that can travel in time and that essentially rules the universe. Springfield and Mansour meet on the home world of the New Republic, a repressive, backwater society that has outlawed virtually all advanced technology other than that necessary for interstellar warfare. When one of the New Republic's colonial worlds is besieged by the Festival, an enigmatic alien intelligence, the Republic counterattacks, using time travel in an attempt to put its warships in position to catch the Festival by surprise. Springfield and Mansour, working for different masters, have both been assigned the task of either diffusing the crisis or sabotaging the New Republic's warfleet, no matter what the cost. As a newcomer to long fiction, Stross has some problems with pacing, but the book still generates plenty of excitement.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.


From Booklist

In the twenty-fifth century, human society has depended for several hundred years on faster-than-light travel and an artificial intelligence called the Eschaton. Interstellar colonies are scattered all over, and one, the New Republic, has become a classic refuge for antitechnological holdouts. But the New Republic is suddenly under attack, literally, by the technology it has tried to suppress, which now appears under the name the Festival. An Earth battle fleet is on the way, but is it coming to help, to ride to power on the coattails of the Festival, or to fulfill some entirely separate agenda, possibly set by the Eschaton, which has achieved consciousness, sentience, and probably a lust for power? If no element of Stross' novel is very original, all of them are formidably well-executed, especially the meticulous and imaginative portrayal of the New Republic and its Victorian technology. In addition, the book possesses the rare virtue of neither requiring nor precluding a sequel. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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"May I ask what I'm charged with?" asked Martin. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews

22 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
3.3 out of 5 stars (22 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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2.0 out of 5 stars Stop worrying and love the Singularity, Mar 15 2005
By Peter Tupper (Vancouver, BC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Stross' book has a great opening: cellphones rain from the sky as an advanced post-human civilization called the Festival comes to a backwards, Luddite planet. A poor boy picks up a cellphone and entertains it in exchange for feeding his familly.

The problem is, we never see the boy again. Instead, we're dragged off to a very long plot arc that describes the Luddite society despatching a space opera fleet that we are told will be wiped out as soon as it meets the Festival. Two humans from a more advanced society are along for the ride, trying to manipulate the situation to their own agendas.

Stross spends a lot of time beating the drum on the stupidity and venality of the technologically and socially backwards New Republic, and how they should just stop worrying and love the Singularity. The two nominal heroes, Martin and Rachel, have one-sided arguments with a dim-witted secret police agent that belong in an old Heinlein novel. If the Singularity means seeing your family get turned into killer zombie mimes, can you blame some people for suppressing it?

At the end, everything seems to have come to naught. The revolution is stillborn, the New Republic fleet is wiped out as expected, the Singularity tech seems to have vanished as suddenly as it arrived, the Festival packs up and moves on and various plot threads just fizzle out. Neither of the nominal heroes have signicantly influenced the course of events.

Stross has great ideas, and how the Festival and its various sub-types and camp-followers function is well drawn. His storytelling and characterization are what's lacking.

According to one interview, the North American version was a different length from the UK. I hope that the original UK version was better than this, with more on the impact of the Festival instead of pages after page of military detail.

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3.0 out of 5 stars Good, but might have been better as a short story., Jul 11 2004
By "davidp-c" (Cincinnati, OH USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Singularity Sky (Hardcover)
This book felt rather like a short story padded out (mostly with irrelevant space opera scenes) to novel-length. I found parts of it quite thought-provoking, though, particularly the question of what happens to a society in which everyone is suddenly given everything they ask for.

I love the way the prologue is written--it grabs you with its clever ideas and high speed--made me wish the whole story was written that way instead of bogging down in tiresome military drama, clunky romance scenes, etc...

Not really a book to buy--I'd recommend getting this one from the library and reading it quickly, skimming through the filler.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent example of a blend of high tech and space opera!, Jul 4 2004
By Kevin (Ohio) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Singularity Sky (Hardcover)
In my opinion, this book has it all, because it takes place hundreds of years in our future where technology has allowed humanity to travel faster-than-light in order to scatter himself amongst the stars, but it is also great sci-fi space opera and belongs with: "Foundation", "Ringworld", "Starship Troopers", "Rendezvous with Rama", "Childhood's End", "2001", 2010", "Advent of the Corps", and many others. Great read!
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 		 Most recent customer reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Poor
Amazon censored my first review. Let's hope it doesn't happen again.

The gist of that review, and this one, is simple: This book was a poor read with lousy characters, an... Read more

Published on Jun 15 2004 by Steve Thulen

2.0 out of 5 stars This got a Hugo nomination?
Sorry to say it but please add my name to the list of readers who found this book boring,poorly written and wildly overrated. Read more
Published on Jun 12 2004 by John Morse

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, but amateurish
Charles Stross needs to learn one of the oldest and most fundamental rules in SF writing: ideas are easy, stories are hard. Read more
Published on Jun 9 2004 by Jonathan A. Turner

2.0 out of 5 stars Singularly Boring
The novel is set far in the future after a forced Diaspora of humans across the universe by an artificial intelligence run amok, the Eschaton. Read more
Published on May 27 2004 by C. Baker

4.0 out of 5 stars Slightly Overrated
Which means it deserves a 3.5, but I'm feeling merciful...Began well (great opening line) but pretty quickly lost momentum and novelty. Read more
Published on May 6 2004 by Emperor Norton

3.0 out of 5 stars A decent journeyman effort
Enjoyable overall, but recommended only with reservations. As noted by others, the continual anachronistic references to life in the late 20th /early 21st centuries is grating... Read more
Published on Dec 23 2003 by Mithradates

3.0 out of 5 stars An author from my own generation
I was amazed and excited by "Toast: And Other Rusted Futures" Stross' collection of short stories. (I highly recommend this book). Read more
Published on Dec 16 2003

2.0 out of 5 stars Not My Cup of Tea
First, let me say that I've read very little from Mr. Stross prior to picking up this novel. Second, I'm the type of reader who enjoys character driven stories rather than plot... Read more
Published on Dec 1 2003 by B. Merritt

4.0 out of 5 stars Space Opera Meets The Singularity
About 250 light years from Earth a planet called Rochard's World is being 'attacked' by an entity going by the name of "The Festival", which gives the inhabitants of Rochard's... Read more
Published on Nov 20 2003 by Kevin Spoering

4.0 out of 5 stars wild ride!
Charlie Stross was clearly having fun, and when an author has fun writing a book the reader can't help buf follow through (although I did find myself wishing that Imperial Russia... Read more
Published on Nov 4 2003 by Alma Alexander

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