Eoghann Mill Irving reviewed Accelerando by Charles Stross
Review of 'Accelerando' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
This is an unusually structured book for the simple reason that it is made up of 9 short stories, published over a period of about 3 years. But those stories are intended to tell an ongoing story.
And a fascinating story it is. Following generations of one particular family as they first approach and then survive through the Singularity. Something which turns out to be not nearly as gloriously wonderful for humans as is often projected.
I have to admit I preferred the earlier pre-Singularity stories. For the simple reason that they were much easier to relate to. Not only were their motives more obviously human but so were their surroundings.
That's not to dismiss the later stories which are playing with some fascinating concepts, but given their short story origins, there's not a lot of time to build the world and flesh out the characters and have something happen. …
This is an unusually structured book for the simple reason that it is made up of 9 short stories, published over a period of about 3 years. But those stories are intended to tell an ongoing story.
And a fascinating story it is. Following generations of one particular family as they first approach and then survive through the Singularity. Something which turns out to be not nearly as gloriously wonderful for humans as is often projected.
I have to admit I preferred the earlier pre-Singularity stories. For the simple reason that they were much easier to relate to. Not only were their motives more obviously human but so were their surroundings.
That's not to dismiss the later stories which are playing with some fascinating concepts, but given their short story origins, there's not a lot of time to build the world and flesh out the characters and have something happen.
While there are a handful of repeating characters who build up to be fully fleshed, most of the supporting cast don't fair so well. There just isn't enough space to give them depth.
A fascinating read certainly, but the lack of a stronger through plot and more fleshed out characterization does hurt it.
