I liked most of this series, but was disappointed by this one. Feels like he's just taken an arbitrary slice of a very long novel. There are various events going on, and the plotlines do advance a bit, but there aren't really any resolutions or conclusions. The trick of writing a series is to have at least some sub-plots established and resolved within a single volume, but Stross doesn't seem to manage it.

Also, there does seem to be some redundancy: the nominal protagonist spends most of her time parked on long train rides to give other plot elements time to advance: would have been better to cut that down or just omit it entirely. I think Stross' phenomenal workrate is making him a bit sloppy. He's also reusing elements somewhat: the atom bomb bit from The Atrocity Archives is virtually pasted in.

On the plus side, there are a couple of nice touches. The medieval/modern weapon battles are quite well handled, and there's a promising new world introduced.

Overall, the series is worth pursuing, but this isn't anything to rush out and buy: best to hold on for the paperback; maybe even wait for the next volume.

Theatre
Went to see The Arsonists at the Royal Court Theatre. Revival of an absurdist-influenced Fifties play by Max Frisch. It's about a businessman in a town plagued by fires, who finds two strangers intimidating him into letting them into his home, then lives in an escalating state of denial that they are arsonists. Has a kind of Greek chorus of firemen who comment on the action and strut ineffectually around the stage.

Liked it a lot. Lots of black humour. Excellent performances, especially from Michael Begley as the desperate householder. Even a nice set, with stark white modernist furniture. Didn't think it went too overboard with the message stuff, especially since the basic theme is react more rather than react less. Overall, one of the best serious plays I've seen lately. See it if you get the chance, before the grim hand of Panto clamps itself around the throat of theatre

Review, review.

Web
YouTube. Reginald Perrin. Tech bubble song.

Huge word association game (solution, but don't click unless you want all the answers auto-populated).

Spoof rent-a-wife ad banned in Belgium.

Search. Pi. Amazon filler items (i.e. by price to reach free shipping threshold, UK)