false 222472 5 In the year 2018, Sergeant Sue Smith of the Edinburgh constabulary is called in on a special case. A daring bank robbery has taken place at Hayek Associates, a dot-com startup company that's just been floated on the London stock exchange. The suspects are a band of marauding orcs, with a dragon in tow for fire support, and the bank is located within the virtual reality land of Avalon Four. For Smith, the investigation seems pointless. But she soon realizes that the virtual world may have a devastating effect in the real one-and that someone is about to launch an attack upon both... 930563 2 10 2007 Halting State total:775|5:154|4:352|3:203|2:47|1:19| 775 2900 1228 196 4 4 false false Mon Sep 15 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Jun 04 18:21:59 -0700 2008 Sat Aug 02 15:58:47 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 3 false false Wed Oct 22 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Sep 05 18:17:57 -0700 2008 Wed Oct 22 17:22:21 -0700 2008
...more...]]> 3 3 false false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Sun Dec 30 09:53:13 -0800 2007 Sun Dec 30 09:59:39 -0800 2007
As many others have noted, Stross has a fondness for enormous chunks of exposition, but I guess it doesn't bother me as much. I like learning about stuff, as long a...more...]]> 4 3 false false Mon May 26 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon Apr 21 12:10:09 -0700 2008 Mon May 26 14:38:13 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 2 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Thu Oct 04 16:45:14 -0700 2007 Tue Oct 16 03:44:36 -0700 2007 Pat Cadigan's Synners, about hackers and suits working together to handle a threat to technology society has evolved to assume. Like Synners it throws you into the world head-first without explaining n...more...]]> 2 2 false false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Mon Dec 31 14:44:11 -0800 2007 Mon Dec 31 14:58:29 -0800 2007 Ender's Game for one, and lots of movies from the 1980's). The main characters appealing, but undeveloped. ...more...]]> 5 1 false false Mon Jul 27 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 31 11:49:18 -0700 2009 Mon Aug 17 00:24:33 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 1 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Jan 15 16:04:39 -0800 2008 Tue Jan 15 16:47:30 -0800 2008
It's no secret that I'm a big fan of science-fiction (or SF), and that one of the writers of the newest genera...more...]]> 3 1 false false Mon Mar 10 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Sep 12 11:11:17 -0700 2007 Thu Jul 24 11:02:53 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 1 false false Mon Dec 08 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Dec 10 16:49:05 -0800 2008 Wed Dec 10 16:52:44 -0800 2008
The layered plot is also well formed with convincing characterisation and a fast pace that keeps you reading. A good solid light read,...more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Jan 28 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Jan 28 23:07:11 -0800 2009 Wed Jan 28 23:22:16 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Jan 08 06:27:58 -0800 2009 Thu Jan 08 06:32:19 -0800 2009
Halting State is a fun near-future detective novel that focuses on a large robbery. The twist is that the rob...more...]]> 0 0 false false Tue Jan 06 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Jan 07 01:34:58 -0800 2009 Wed Jan 07 09:47:29 -0800 2009 Halting State hasn't won a Hugo, but it says "Hugo Award-winning author of" on the front, so it probably count for half points.
...more...]]> 4 0 true false Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Apr 05 06:23:14 -0700 2009 Sun Apr 05 06:33:13 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Feb 04 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 03 21:46:51 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 05 17:33:17 -0800 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Apr 23 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 22 10:44:34 -0700 2009 Thu Apr 23 14:46:24 -0700 2009 I was not impresed. The techno bable was bad even for a sci-fi-nerd-gamer type like me.
Course i bought this book because while looking at Lora Innes books i stumbled arcoss:
'Washington's Crossing (Pivotal Moments in American History) by David Ha...more...]]> 3 1 false false Thu Apr 16 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Apr 14 23:19:46 -0700 2009 Fri Apr 17 11:01:09 -0700 2009
Halting State was, like most of the limited sci fi I've read, a book about Ideas. I got the feeling that Stross's plot was there mostly as a curtain rod on which to hang his Ideas about the role of virtual reality and the dangers...more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Oct 22 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Mar 27 10:35:12 -0700 2009 Fri Mar 27 10:35:12 -0700 2009 more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Dec 31 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Dec 30 06:27:52 -0800 2008 Fri Jan 02 15:24:50 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Apr 28 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Apr 23 20:12:54 -0700 2009 Tue Apr 28 16:20:06 -0700 2009
You were a really good book. You dealt with a lot of interesting near future issues--privacy, crime and economy in virtual worlds, etc. You had a strange POV, 2nd person, which is not often seen in literature. It took me about 20 pages to warm up to such an odd pers...more...]]>