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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/222472.Halting_State?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="Halting State" border="0" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51q6jiLzxbL._SL160_.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/222472.Halting_State?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">Halting State</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8794.Charles_Stross">Charles Stross</a> 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6102771?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
 rating: 3 of 5 stars The first buzzwords I heard about this book were along the lines of "bank heist", "MMOs", and "marauding band of orcs." Aha, I thought, here's an interesting premise: "Programmers of a World of Warcraft-like MMO soup-up the AI on a bunch of NPC orcs to make them more of a challenge for their players. But they make the orcs too smart: Using unwitting agents in real-life (aka 'meatspace'), the orcs perpetrate a bank heist in our world, planning to use their loot to buy up in-game currency, items and power." Alas, this is not the plot of Halting State. The marauding orcs are in fact avatars of real-life people, the bank heist occurs in the MMO's virtualspace, and the AI on the NPC beasties is still crap.
 
 But Halting State reads like what I've come to expect from Stross. First, the technology--from 5-10 years down the line, rather than the techno-magic of <a href="/search/search?q= Glasshouse&t=title"> Glasshouse</a> and the last two-thirds of <a href="/search/search?q= Accelerando&t=title"> Accelerando</a>—is smoothly integrated into the characters' lives. Second, the plot moves along nicely, but without much crescendo, until it seems to end more or less because Stross ran out of things to say. And finally, there's some sort of experimental literary technique: In this case, the use of 2nd-person narrative.
 
 I have to admit I was quite put off for about 20 pages by the gimmicky use of "you". I felt like I was reading a Choose-Your-Own Adventure. (You pick up Halting State and begin to read. If you decide that you can get used to it, turn to page 67. If you choose to play World of Warcraft instead, turn to page 14.) But after a while it didn't bother me. I even began to appreciate the heavy-handed prediction he's making via the use of "you": that in the future much of our entertainment will be characterized by buzzwords like "user-driven", "interactive", "massively multiplayer", etc. (The still-new career path, "reality tv scenario builder", will come into its own, and the poor screen and television writers will weep and wail.)
 
 To sum up: If you like to keep up with the latest trends in gadgets, or if you've liked Stross' past books, or if you think there's something sociologically significant about MMOs, then it might be worth your while to pick up this book.
 
 
 <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/355811?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Daniel's review
rating:
recommended for: nerds, Charles Stross fans, players of MMOGs

The first buzzwords I heard about this book were along the lines of "bank heist", "MMOs", and "marauding band of orcs." Aha, I thought, here's an interesting premise: "Programmers of a World of Warcraft-like MMO soup-up the AI on a bunch of NPC orcs to make them more of a challenge for their players. But they make the orcs too smart: Using unwitting agents in real-life (aka 'meatspace'), the orcs perpetrate a bank heist in our world, planning to use their loot to buy up in-game currency, items and power." Alas, this is not the plot of Halting State. The marauding orcs are in fact avatars of real-life people, the bank heist occurs in the MMO's virtualspace, and the AI on the NPC beasties is still crap.

But Halting State reads like what I've come to expect from Stross. First, the technology--from 5-10 years down the line, rather than the techno-magic of Glasshouse and the last two-thirds of ...more The first buzzwords I heard about this book were along the lines of "bank heist", "MMOs", and "marauding band of orcs." Aha, I thought, here's an interesting premise: "Programmers of a World of Warcraft-like MMO soup-up the AI on a bunch of NPC orcs to make them more of a challenge for their players. But they make the orcs too smart: Using unwitting agents in real-life (aka 'meatspace'), the orcs perpetrate a bank heist in our world, planning to use their loot to buy up in-game currency, items and power." Alas, this is not the plot of Halting State. The marauding orcs are in fact avatars of real-life people, the bank heist occurs in the MMO's virtualspace, and the AI on the NPC beasties is still crap.

But Halting State reads like what I've come to expect from Stross. First, the technology--from 5-10 years down the line, rather than the techno-magic of Glasshouse and the last two-thirds of Accelerando—is smoothly integrated into the characters' lives. Second, the plot moves along nicely, but without much crescendo, until it seems to end more or less because Stross ran out of things to say. And finally, there's some sort of experimental literary technique: In this case, the use of 2nd-person narrative.

I have to admit I was quite put off for about 20 pages by the gimmicky use of "you". I felt like I was reading a Choose-Your-Own Adventure. (You pick up Halting State and begin to read. If you decide that you can get used to it, turn to page 67. If you choose to play World of Warcraft instead, turn to page 14.) But after a while it didn't bother me. I even began to appreciate the heavy-handed prediction he's making via the use of "you": that in the future much of our entertainment will be characterized by buzzwords like "user-driven", "interactive", "massively multiplayer", etc. (The still-new career path, "reality tv scenario builder", will come into its own, and the poor screen and television writers will weep and wail.)

To sum up: If you like to keep up with the latest trends in gadgets, or if you've liked Stross' past books, or if you think there's something sociologically significant about MMOs, then it might be worth your while to pick up this book.

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