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Halting State

by Charles Stross
Halting State

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  • Synopses & Reviews
  • Award Excerpt

ISBN13: 9780441016075
ISBN10: 0441016073
Condition: Standard


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Awards

2008 Hugo Award nominee — Best Novel
2008 Locus Award nominee

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments

Now in paperback — from the author of Saturn's Children.

In the year 2018, a daring bank robbery has taken place at Hayek Associates. 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. But Sergeant Sue Smith discovers that this virtual world robbery may be linked to some real world devastation.

Review

"This is his tightest-plotted novel to date, a detective story with a million perfectly meshed moving parts, and a hundred magnificent surprises that had me gasping and shouting YES (to the general alarm of the guy in the next seat on my airplane)....[A] book that will change the way you see the way the world works." Cory Doctorow, BoingBoing

Review

"Stross again displays his genius for envisioning a complex future society that appears all-too-inevitable." Booklist

Review

"[A]nother winner for Charles Stross, a writer who has more than ably grabbed the high-tech baton from last century's forebears...and is still running laps with it, without any sign of tiring." SFReviews.net

Synopsis

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...

Synopsis

"Halting State is] a near-future story that is at once over-the-top and compellingly believable." - Vernor Vinge, author of Rainbows End

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 start-up company that's just floated onto the London stock exchange. But this crime may be a bit beyond Smith's expertise.

The prime suspects are a band of marauding orcs with a dragon in tow for fire support. The bank is located within the virtual reality land of Avalon Four, and the robbery was supposed to be impossible. When word gets out, Hayek Associates and all its virtual "economies" are going to crash hard.

For Smith, the investigation seems pointless. But the deeper she digs, the bigger the case gets. There are powerful players--both real and pixelated--who are watching her every move. Because there is far more at stake than just some game-head's fantasy financial security...


About the Author

Charles Stross is a full-time writer who was born in Leeds, England in 1964. He studied in London and Bradford, gaining degrees in pharmacy and computer science, and has worked in a variety of jobs, including pharmacist, technical author, software engineer, and freelance journalist.

5 1

What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating 5 (1 comments)

`
Yonathan , April 29, 2009 (view all comments by Yonathan)
I encountered to this book in the course of an hour-long hunt through cross-references ("people who bought this book also bought..."), best-seller lists, etc. looking for something new and good in the vein of William Gibson, Neal Stephenson, etc. - a work by an author who really gets how the present works and the near future is likely to work, and can be truly, literarily creative with it. I ordered it expecting something decent, and found that I had received a real gem. Not only is the tech background super-solid (it helps if you're a sysadmin, but if not, no worries), but the writing is great - the dialog and internal monologues are as sardonic and humorous as, say, Elmore Leonard, Carl Hiaason, or John Sandford. Finally, dear God, it's set in Scotland and reads like Ian Rankin tartan noir. What's not to like?

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Product Details

ISBN:
9780441016075
Binding:
Mass Market
Publication date:
07/01/2008
Publisher:
Ace Books
Series info:
Ace Science Fiction
Language:
English
Pages:
336
Height:
.90IN
Width:
4.18IN
Thickness:
1.00
Series:
Ace Science Fiction
Series Number:
1
Age Range:
18 and up
Grade Range:
13 and up
Number of Units:
1
Copyright Year:
2008
Author:
Charles Stross
Author:
Charles Stross
Subject:
Edinburgh (scotland)
Subject:
Science fiction
Subject:
Computer games
Subject:
Science Fiction and Fantasy-High Tech

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List Price:$7.99
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