Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7753 in Books
• Published on: 2005-08-04
• Binding: Paperback
• 496 pages

Synopsis
When the planet of New Moscow was brutally destroyed, its few survivors launched a counter-attack against the most likely culprit: the neighbouring system of trade rival New Dresden. But New Dresden wasn't responsible, and as the deadly missiles approach their target, Rachel Mansour, agent for the interests of Old Earth, is assigned to find out who was. The one person who does know is a disaffected teenager who calls herself Wednesday Shadowmist. But Wednesday has no idea where she might be hiding this significant information. Time is limited and if Rachel can't resolve this mystery it will mean annihilation of an entire world.

Customer Reviews

An author finding his voice
Wednesday is evacuated from an orbital station in the path of an exploding star. UN weapons inspector is called from a grisly bomb disposal to prevent retaliatory weapons launched in response to the star's destruction from targeting an inhabited world. Frank is a hard nosed journalist with a past which includes being imprisoned by a totalitarian planet invading regime.

This is a solid hard SF novel, with plenty of entertaining ideas, sufficient plot twists to keep things interesting, endearing characters, and a real sense of fun.

I felt Singularity Sky was rather lacking a narrative drive, but this is a much stronger novel.

While, on the evidence of this, Stross is not a Banks or a Reynolds, he is certainly ahead of Morgan or Ascherson.

Recommended, if a bit convoluted at times.

Excellent, engrossing read
This is the first Charles Stross book that I've read, and I'm going to find the others as it was funny, fast paced and enthralling. The science is carefully thought out, the story doesn't insult the intelligence and I cared what happened to the characters. Amazon had recommended it to me before, but I'd ignored it - possibly because the title put me off - but I really enjoyed it.

Poorly written, chaotic, and difficult to read.
I found strange that many readers liked this book. Actually I bought it based on those reviews, and so I really wanted to like this.

Unfortunately, the descriptions used in this book are very weird and it seems that everything is explained through very strange metaphors and characterizations that make me think that the author had stomachace at the time of writing (a lot of things have visceral smells).

The metaphors themselves are so disconnected from what they are portraying that the book is difficult to follow, not to mention that one metaphor brings forth another, and another...and soon you will find yourself wondering what is going on, just to realize that you spent reading 10 pages about the smell of an alley or something equally unimportant.

Underneath this entanglement perhaps lays a good story , but life is too short to spend my time trying to follow it, so after about 1/3 I had to stop reading and put it in my "will not read" bookshelf, and believe, I am an avid reader and there aren't many books there.