Near-future Procedural With Surprising Twist

I thought Halting State was brilliant so I had pretty high expectations on Rule 34. What I found was a good and entertaining read.

This time Detective Inspector Liz Kavanaugh of the Edinburgh Police stumbles on a murder case that connects to the world of internet spam. This is some five years after the events in Halting State and her involvement there benched her career. She now leads the Rule 34 squad (Rule 34 of the Internet, a meme stating that “If it exists, there is porn of it. No exceptions”). The fetishist murder connects to similar murders bringing in Euro-cop Kemal Aslan (Halting State) with more details. Liz life is complicated further when an old lover shows up.

The story reads like a police procedural with science fiction parts but there is a great surprise waiting behind the scenes. Stross does a good job in peeling the onion and keeping up the suspense.

There are multiple point of view characters beside Liz just like in the previous novel. They are all presenting their piece of the puzzle. The way he presents the characters in constant second person present tense made it hard for me to really connect to them. This is not so much about characterization as it is about ideas and technology though. Stross has his own take on the future of internet banking and crime.

There is some nifty world building here with an independent Scotland, auto-fabbers, pervasive government surveillance and complicated search engine based laws that sound oh so plausible.

Rule 34 is a standalone sequel to Halting State. I liked Halting State better because it talked to me as an IT professional and former gamer. If you were disappointed with that in Halting State you will find Rule 34 much more accessible.

The ending is fairly conclusive but with an opening for another sequel I would love to read.

Book Information

Rule 34 (Halting State book 2) by Charles Stross (Ace 2011) – Amazon US | UK

DI Liz Kavanaugh: You realise policing internet porn is your life and your career went down the pan five years ago. But when a fetishist dies on your watch, the Rule 34 Squad moves from low priority to worryingly high profile.

Anwar: As an ex-con, you’d like to think your identity fraud days are over. Especially as you’ve landed a legit job (through a shady mate). Although now that you’re Consul for a shiny new Eastern European Republic, you’ve no idea what comes next.

The Toymaker: Your meds are wearing off and people are stalking you through Edinburgh’s undergrowth. But that’s ok, because as a distraction, you’re project manager of a sophisticated criminal operation. But who’s killing off potential recruits?

So how do bizarre domestic fatalities, dodgy downloads and a European spamming network fit together? The more DI Kavanaugh learns, the less she wants to find out.

 

The Black Geary story continues Beyond the Frontier …

We know and love Jack Campbell from The Lost Fleet series and now he are starting at least one new series this year; Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier is first out in April with Dreadnaught that continues the story about Black Jack Geary and the fight against the alien threat; This will be some fun reading. I have been wondering about those aliens for the whole previous series.

He is also under contract for a second series set in the same universe called Phoenix Stars that have not been scheduled yet. It is set in a formerly Syndic star system as the people there struggles to cope with the ongoing collapse.

I have read the whole series but only written about the two last books Relentless and Victorious.

Title: Dreadnaught
Series: Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier book 1
Author: Jack Campbell (John G. Hemry)
Genre: Military Science Fiction
Hardcover: 368 pages
Publisher: ACE (April 2011)
Order from Amazon US | UK

The New York Times bestselling series that delivers “edge-of- your-seat combat” (Elizabeth Moon, author of the Vatta’s War series).

The Alliance woke Captain John “Black Jack” Geary from cryogenic sleep to take command of the fleet in the century-long conflict against the Syndicate Worlds. Now Fleet Admiral Geary’s victory has earned him the adoration of the people-and the enmity of politicians convinced that a living hero can be a very inconvenient thing.

Geary knows that members of the military high command and the government question his loyalty to the Alliance and fear his staging a coup-so he can’t help but wonder if the newly christened First Fleet is being deliberately sent to the far side of space on a suicide mission.

 


I prefer female protagonists and this series of posts is homage to some of the most formidable female main characters in science fiction novels or series. This weeks formidable females contains some new favorites like Mearana, Briar, Caitlin and some old.

  1. Mearana - The Harper (Michael Flynn)
  2. Sparta – Venus Prime (Paul Preuss)
  3. Briar Wilkes – Persistent Mother (Cherie Priest)
  4. Caitlin Decter – Best Friend of the Web (Robert J. Sawyer)
  5. Ilia Volyova – Triumvir Ultra (Alastair Reynolds)

Mearana - The Harper

Books: The January Dancer (2008), Up John River (2010)
Series: The January Dancer
Universe: Firestar
Author: Michael Flynn
Genre: Gaelic Space Opera
Publisher: Tor | Tantor Media

My reviews: The January Dancer | Up Jim River

In the beginning of the January Dancer a beautiful redheaded Harper walks into a bar in search for histories to sing. She approach the Scarred man that tells her the story of The January Dancer. In Up Jim River she and the scarred man goes looking for her disappeared mother. It reads like an epic gaelic saga with beautiful prose. I can recommend the audio version of The January Dancer it is just awesome, it blew my mind.

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Sparta – Venus Prime

Books: Breaking Strain (1987), Maelstrom (1988), Hide & Seek (1989), The Medusa Encounter (1990), The Diamond Moon (1990), The Shining Ones (1991)
Series: Arthur’s C. Clark’s Venus Prime
Author: Paul Preuss
Genre: YA | Science Fiction
Publisher: Avon | Pan | iBooks

I remember these books from my youth. Sparta is a beautiful and mysterious woman with advanced abilities due to her bioengineering. But she don’t remember the last three years and tries to recover her past and save her future. Beautiful description and adventures on the planets of the solar system based on short stories by Aurthur C. Clark.

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Briar Wilkes – Persistent Mother

Books: Boneshaker (2009)
Series: Clockwork Century
Author: Cherie Priest
Genre: Steampunk
Publisher: Tor

Briar Wilkes name used to be Briar Blue before her husband poisoned downtown Seattle with a gas that turned humans into Zombies with his infernal digging machine – The Boneshaker. Now her son is lost inside the walls erected to keep the gas out and she would do anything to save him. Much steampunk fun with airships and zombies.

A second book, Dreadnought in the same universe will be out in September 2010, but it has a different protagonist.

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Caitlin Decter – Best Friend of the Web

Title: Wake (2009), Watch (2010), Wonder (2011)
Series: WWW
Author: Robert J. Sawyer
Genre: Science Fiction | First Contact | Emerging AI
Publisher: ACE | Gollancz

My reviews: Wake, Watch

Caitlin Decter is a feisty young blind girl that is quite ordinary besides being a mathematical genius and after an experimental treatment to make her see again she starts to see the world wide web. Out there in the web she encounters an emerging intelligence and befriends it.

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Ilia Volyova – Triumvir Ultra

Books: Revelation Space (2000), Redemption Ark (2002)
Universe: Revalation Space
Author: Alastair Reynolds
Genre: Space Opera
Publisher: Gollancz | ACE | Tantor Media

Triumvir Ilia Volyova of Nostalgia for Infinity is an implant-free Ultra, and a major character in both Revelation Space and Redemption Ark. At the beginning of Revelation Space, Volyova is the keeper of the Cache Weapons. It is during her search for a means to control these weapons that she enlists Ana Khouri (who was planted in the role by the Mademoiselle), thus setting off a chain of events that continues throughout the novels. She maintains a long friendship with Captain Brannigan, a man melded with with his ship. When I am reading this I realize I have read these books a long time ago, it makes me want to go back and reread them.

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Read part 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 56 | 789 | 1011 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | index | afterword

 

Lets have a look at April for New Science Fiction books  of interest. There are some great books coming out, the fourth Safehold novel by David Weber, The last book in Lost Fleet, the second book in Humanity’s Fire and the Nebula Award Showcase 2010 among others.

New this month is the publishing house link, where you can buy the book. If you want to check out the publishing houses yourself and maybe create your own list, please use my Links page it has direct links to upcoming releases by the publishers I like.

Books On Order

A Mighty Fortress
Safehold 3
by David Weber
Published by Tor Books

This is one of the books of 2010 that I am most eager to read, I am a big fan of David Weber and you have seen the snippet spam I have been doing here on the site.

Young Cayleb Ahrmahk has accomplished things few people could even dream of. Not yet even thirty years old, he’s won the most crushing naval victories in human history. He’s smashed a hostile alliance of no less than five princedoms and won the hand of the beautiful young Queen Sharleyan of Chisholm. Cayleb and Sharleyan have created the Charisian Empire, the greatest naval power in the history of Safehold, and they’ve turned Charis into a place of refuge for all who treasure freedom.

Their success may prove short-lived. The Church of God Awaiting, which controls most of Safehold, has decreed their destruction. Mother Church’s entire purpose is to prevent the very things to which Charis is committed. Since the first attempt to crush the heretics failed, the Church has no choice but to adopt some of the hated Charisian innovations for themselves. Soon a mighty fleet will sail against Cayleb, destroying everything in its path.

But there are still matters about which the Church knows nothing, including Cayleb and Sharleyan’s adviser, friend, and guardian— the mystic warrior-monk named Merlin Athrawes. Merlin knows all about battles against impossible odds, because he is in fact the cybernetic avatar of a young woman named Nimue Alban, who died a thousand years before. As Nimue, Merlin saw the entire Terran Federation go down in fire and slaughter at the hands of a foe it could not defeat. He knows that Safehold is the last human planet in existence, and that the stasis the Church was created to enforce will be the human race’s death sentence if it is allowed to stand.

The juggernaut is rumbling down on Charis, but Merlin Athrawes and a handful of extraordinary human beings stand in its path. The Church is about to discover just how potent the power of human freedom truly is.

The Orphaned Worlds
Humanity’s Fire 2
by Michael Cobley
Published by Orbit UK

I really liked the first book in the series so I am looking forward to read this one.

Darien is no longer a lost outpost of humanity, but the prize in an intergalactic power struggle. Hegemony forces have a stranglehold over the planet and crack troops patrol its hotspots while Earth watches, passive, rendered impotent by galactic politics. But its Darien ambassador will soon become a player in a greater conflict. There is more at stake than a turf war on a newly discovered world.

An ancient Uvovo temple hides access to a hyperspace prison, housing the greatest threat sentient life has ever known. Millennia ago, malignant intelligences were caged there following an apocalyptic war. And their servants work on their release.

However, Darien’s guardians have not been idle, gathering resistance on the planet’s forest moon. Knowledge has been lost since great races battled in eons past, and now time is short. The galaxy will depend on the Uvovo reclaiming their past – and humanity must look to its future. For a new war is coming.

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