Accellerando

[nonionay]

I finally finished Accelerando, and it kind of blew me away. There is so much stuff in there that I don't understand (Stross is big on economics, whereas I can't get much past supply and demand.) He may well be crazy, but I can't tell. His book gives you future shock, as I think it's supposed to. He's saying that someday we'll be living in a world that right now, we couldn't even begin to comprehend. But the characters keep you grounded. They always manage to stay relatable, even when they're spawning ghosts of themselves and in general, doing stuff we can only barely imagine what it would be like.

The only stuff that bugged me was some either strange copy-editing, or unnecessarily artsy language on Stross' part, lots of his written dialects, and the ending, which was abrupt and confusing. But when you're barreling along like he does, I suppose some stumbling at the landing is inevitable.

Comments

[bolddeciever.livejournal.com]

I'm most of the way through the first chapter/story of part three, and I have to say I'm riveted. From someone with at least some econ experience, it's radical, but at the core a plausible extrapolation. And the idea of sentient, self-aware corporations is at the same time fascinating and wonderfully macabre.

Thanks for pointing this one out, I started reading it after seeing this post, and I just couldn't wait till I was done to say thank you :P

And yes, what makes this piece is that while it is as much a work of futurism as of fiction for fiction's sake, it's done with enough attention to character and plot that it works much better than most futurism (I'd go out on a limb and say better than the majority of H.G. Wells's work, and head and shoulders over other more recent futurists I've read).

[criada.livejournal.com]

Glad I could spread the joy! Keffy teases me for talking about it all the time. :-(

[bolddeciever.livejournal.com]

Haha, I've been subjecting everyone to the same.