325 pages
English language
Published Sept. 5, 2013
After being stalked across the galaxy by an assassin, post-human Krina Alzon-114 journeys to the water-world Shin-Tethys in search of her sister.
I love a good space opera, i loved the idea of a space opera unravelling a scam. I’m less of a fan of story where all the threads are quickly realigned so perfectly, so completely and so easily.
I find Charles Stross' works to either be very good, enjoyable and thoughtful (Eschaton #1, the Laundry series, etc), or very much not my thing (Accelerando.) This work falls, fortunately, into the former category. Stross spins up a believable, well-fleshed out post-human world ruled by a very believable form of future capitalism run amok, and takes the reader on a journey that contains some genuinely enjoyable twists and turns. All in all, a very enjoyable read.
If you like to see the potential ramifications of an interstellar civilization on banking and finance, all wrapped up in a cool treasure hunt, then this book is for you!
I like the ‘Space Gothic’ parts. I have always had a weakness for horror/gothic set in a vast decaying starship/space-ship (see movies: Pandorum, that one Hellraiser movie, Event Horizon, Sunshine even). The book opens with a quote from Graeber's academic work Debt: The First 5,000 Years, which I have been reading just a week before starting the book. The scope is vast, and I hope the other Stross books I haven’t read have this characteristic as well. The characterizations are good, great. Interesting technological reveals. Social and economic and political explorations. Neptune’s Brood has just given me more motivation to finish Graeber’s book.
An excellent Sci-Fi space opera. Not exactly what I was in the mood for, but an excellent story.
In Neptune's Brood, Stross takes us further into the future of post humanity.
In our world, where humans haven't gone beyond earth orbit since the early 1970s's, it is interesting to see the financial system Stross builds to enable interstellar colonization.
However, as opposed to [b:Saturn's Children|2278387|Saturn's Children|Charles Stross|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1348429796s/2278387.jpg|2284499], our protagonist is not a sex robot but a financial historian.
Like [b:Halting State|222472|Halting State|Charles Stross|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1232769480s/222472.jpg|930563] and [b:Rule 34|8853299|Rule 34|Charles Stross|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1306168574s/8853299.jpg|13728393], Neptune's Brood deals with financial fraud.
While the stakes are high, they are in terms of huge amounts of money so huge that they are hard to fathom, and there lies the problem with Neptune's Brood.
It is less personal, less gritty to abstract.
In Saturn's Children the references to biological humans are a part of Freya's nature and the conflict at hand. In Neptune's Brood they feel contrived.
In Neptune's Brood the effects of the Robot's original purpose and …
In Neptune's Brood, Stross takes us further into the future of post humanity.
In our world, where humans haven't gone beyond earth orbit since the early 1970s's, it is interesting to see the financial system Stross builds to enable interstellar colonization.
However, as opposed to [b:Saturn's Children|2278387|Saturn's Children|Charles Stross|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1348429796s/2278387.jpg|2284499], our protagonist is not a sex robot but a financial historian.
Like [b:Halting State|222472|Halting State|Charles Stross|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1232769480s/222472.jpg|930563] and [b:Rule 34|8853299|Rule 34|Charles Stross|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1306168574s/8853299.jpg|13728393], Neptune's Brood deals with financial fraud.
While the stakes are high, they are in terms of huge amounts of money so huge that they are hard to fathom, and there lies the problem with Neptune's Brood.
It is less personal, less gritty to abstract.
In Saturn's Children the references to biological humans are a part of Freya's nature and the conflict at hand. In Neptune's Brood they feel contrived.
In Neptune's Brood the effects of the Robot's original purpose and their reaction to biological humans are practically none existent. Something that drove so much of the plot in Saturn's Children is just gone. I know many years have gone by and the further the Robots were from earth the less indoctrination they were given. But our protagonist is practically human herself, physically and mentally. If I wasn't constantly told she is a robot, her emotions and physical reflexes could have fooled me into thinking she was a biological human.
