Halting State - Charles Stross

Fun and Games

Here's a book that's great fun. It's not one of the great books, but I can't picture a science fiction fan that won't enjoy it.

Like several of Stross' books it blends technology, expanded into the future, and economics. In this case it is computer gaming on a mega scale, tied into a rather classic genre mystery novel. Quite simply, a theft takes place in a game, and the heroes set out to find out who-done-it. There is a pleasant recognition that this society may be the way the world's heading.

Stross often seems to try to set himself a literary task in his writing, and this time it's telling the story from the second person point of view of three different individuals whose lives become linked by the crime. What happens is predictable but the nerd in us will love the way he intertwines the story with technical aspects of on-line gaming (and other computer technology) carried out to the ultimate degree. Moreover, each of three main characters is likable so that we root for them right from the beginning. By rotating between the points of view of these characters the author is able to hold to hold back critical information for a little while, and then, again and again, give us the burst of pleasure that comes from recognizing what's going on.

Along the way Stross gets to satirize many aspects of society from the way policepersons think to the long term consequences of a united (and divided) Europe. At the same time, we recognize that many aspects of human behavior, like organizational politics, never seem to change.

Have some fun. Read "Halting State".

Remarkable, possibly prophetic

As a fan and sometime inhabitant of Second Life, my first reaction to this book was a solid "Whoa!" The basic premise is that a robbery has taken place in a virtual setting. How did the criminals get in? Of what value is the stolen treasure? Amazingly, millions of dollars are at risk. This book has an interesting structure as it flashes viewpoints from a police sergeant (Sue), an accounting auditor, a programmer, as folks try to figure out the who, what, where, when, and if (was it a crime?)of this crime. The ramifications for both finance, national borders, future warfare, etc are enormous. And, amazingly, it is all plausible! I recommend this book to anyone who loves science fiction, virtual reality, and doesn't mind an interesting narrative style. good job, Mr. Stross!

You repeatedly find yourself wondering if you should bother finishing the book.

Like so much of Stross' work, HALTING STATE alternates between excitingly imaginative and annoyingly ... well, just plain annoying.

As everyone else has noted, HALTING STATE is a sort of crime/suspense novel in which our three heroes must somehow solve a mystery that initially seems silly and trivial yet becomes deeper and more serious with every chapter ... or every fifth chapter, anyway.

The story unfolds through alternation between three protagonists -- Jack the hacker, Elaine the forensic accountant, and Sue the cop. This is done through chapters written in the second person (e.g., "You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike"), which, at least formally, places the reader in each of the characters' roles, as if the book itself were a type of role-playing game (RPG), like the RPG in which the focal crime takes place.

The most innovative and enjoyable aspect of the novel is the notion that, in the near future, life will become like a chaotic collision of multiple RPGs, each with its own version of reality. Elaine the accountant shuttles between virtual meetings with her co-workers and "facials" (face-to-face meetings) but she also dips into the SPIES RPG and other alternate realities, often moving from one to the other with little boundary between. It's not that "life is a but a game" is a new idea, but it's never been done before (to my knowledge) with MMORPGs in as a model.

What's annoying about the novel are the second person storytelling, which makes the storytelling awkward without adding anything, the relatively slow plot development that results from the frequent switches in point-of-view (it's all second-person, but the persons differ), the jokey hacker references (which include the "twisty little passages" bit above, referring to the original text "Adventure" game that many of us played in the 1970s and 1980s), Sue's thick Scottish dialect (which Ian MacLeod has handled much better in some of his novels), and the cutesy awkwardness with which he handles most of his female characters. The ridiculousness of the (don't ask) spy subplot (not the computer security issues, but the politics) isn't really annoying, even if it is disappointing.

I didn't get hooked until about halfway through the book. I DID get hooked, however, and I DO recommend finishing the book even if you have difficulty slogging through the first ten or so chapters. Stuff does happen, the mystery becomes more interesting, and while I can't say whether or not the nerd gets the (sort of) babe, the romantic byplay adds some spice to the mix.

You probably want something more consistently entertaining for a vacation read, but if you're a Stross fan or a SCI-FI-y MMORPG fan, HALTING STATE is worth kicking around the house for a week or so.

Good start, but disappointing overall

The starting premise is enough to carry the story through the first half of the book, but it disintegrates from there. The last quarter of the book is rushed and stumbles along into an unsatisfying ending. The book is worth reading, but it won't wind up on your shelf for a later second reading. I recommend getting a used copy of the paperback.

Function lost in form

I was so angry about the time and money that I had wasted on this book that I broke a personal precedent to write this, my first book review. I normally read science fiction purely for pleasure and relaxation, and have never tried to play "English Major" with my selections.

I struggled through 150pp of Mr. Stross' book before I finally put it down in disgust. It was taking an extraordinary amount of time to read, and I could not remember from session to session who the characters were, and what the story was about.

The author's silly literary device of describing each character's activities in the second person was driving me crazy. (From the start of each of the first three chapters - each from the viewpoint of a different character: "You're four hours into your shift..."; " You are sitting...in an armchair"; "...so it's off to work you go"). If I broke in the middle of a chapter, and returned later, I would have no idea whose viewpoint I was now reading.

Such an affected approach - devoid of objective context or reference - is distracting enough, but the author further muddies the mess by over-using another literary card trick: long single-sentence rambles through dozens of loosely-connected thoughts. After 10 or 15 lines, and at least that many phrases, I would find myself with no clear idea of what point the writer just made. It reminded me of some of the more tedious legal documents that I encountered in my business career.

If you enjoy structure over content, and your intellect is tickled by unusual approaches to telling stories, then perhaps you may find enjoyment here. Personally, I like to flow with a book, caught up in its cadence, action, and characters. Reading this was like trying to flow down a river full of rocky rapids. "Halting State" is a good description of the book itself.