Singularity Sky
by Charles Stross
review by Byron Merritt

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 or technologically driven stories. So this is probably why I didn't enjoy this book. That and I hate to read futuristic stories with modern clichés in them. And this book was LOADED with them.

The crux of the story focuses around Martin Springfield (an engineer) and Rachel Mansour (a U.N. diplomat) as they travel aboard a spaceship toward Rochald's World, which has been overrun by technology and fancy by the arrival of something called 'The Festival'. The Festival are information gatherers and, in return for information, they give back...well...whatever your heart desires (youth, health, intelligence, an impenetrable home, etc.). For a world that is stuck in the post-industrial age, this is disastrous. And the military dispatches a fleet to deal with this 'Festival' and bring Rochald's World back in line.

Of course, all does not go as planned. Everyone has a different agenda as to how to deal with this threat and the future of the planet.

And that's about it. Really. Oh sure, you can go on about how great the author developed the post-industrial society, the time travel technology, the corruption of governments in order to keep themselves in power. But lost amongst this...this...this mess, were the characters! Mr. Stross seems to enjoy telling us about every switch that gets set, and every lever that gets pulled. He often loses us when he goes on and on and on about how certain technologies work. This pulls us away from the characters for so long that we lose site of the story itself (at least it did for me!).

Example: 'The gamma-ray traces lit up on the main screen, labeled icons indicating their position and vector relative to the system ahead. One-point-three gees wasn't particularly fast, but it was enough to send cold shudders up Mirsky's spine: it meant serious high-delta-vee propulsion systems, fusion or antimatter or quantum gravity induction, not the feeble ion drive of a robot tug...'

If you're a bit perplexed by this, don't be too concerned. I don't consider myself a genius, but nor am I a 'dope' either. I read a lot of material every year and even if I don't enjoy a book, I usually don't feel completely lost. In Singularity Sky, I felt as though I were adrift in Mr. Stross' universe, but with reference points that only he (the author) felt comfortable with. I just couldn't make it from point-A to point-B.

All that said, I'd be willing to bet that there are some incredibly techno-savvy folks out there who would absolutely love this book. But not me. The characters have to come first for me.

Date: 12/03