Nice combination of the genres of 'space opera' and 'secret agent'. ( )

After reading Saturn's Children recently, and thinking it was his weakest novel, I was wrong. It is certainly Iron Sunrise, so the former needs correcting.

This story of Eschaton agent trying to stop a planet or lots going Kabloeey is perfectly serviceable, and I definitely don't regret the time spent reading it. Certainly not as good as the first of this pair.

In fact, I'd call this one a 3.25, which is pretty much my garden variety average novel rating over the lot of them.

It quite possibly suffers in comparison to all his other work, and the copious amounts of brilliant inventiveness on display in those books. Iron Sunrise is a fairly standard-Omnisomething Eschaton monitors aside-sf adventure. People that prefer that sort of story to something like Lobsters or Accelerando might actually want to choose this one as their introduction to his work, perhaps, to get a little of the flavour, if not the full hit.

(call it 3.25)
3 out of 5

http://notfreesf.blogspot.com/2008/09...
( )

Good space opera with some cyberpunk traits. Not as original as its prequel but at least it doesn't have all the technical gibberish the former had. I would have liked to hear more about the "festival" but instead we get new bad guys, some kind of neo-nazis of the future. All in all It is quite a page-turner, but without the awe-effect "Singularity Sky" could provide. 17/03/2008 ( )

Iron Sunrise is an exciting space opera thriller, filled with wonders of the post-singularity world and furnished with a clever plot with plenty of twists. It's fast and fun; that is, great entertainment for science fiction fans.

A planet called New Moscow is destroyed in a rather brutal manner. The surviving Muscovites aim their doomsday weapons to New Dresden, a neighbouring planet with which New Moscow had a trade conflict. Too bad the Dresdeners are actually innocent.

An angsty teenage Muscovite survivor called Wednesday happens to have some information about what really happened. An experienced warblogger Frank is looking into the matters. The diplomatic black osp forces from Earth are getting involved, and of course, there's the god-like artifical intelligence Eschaton, who doesn't like trouble in it's light-cone.

No wonder the things get interesting. The diplomat from Earth is, of course, Rachel Mansour, already familiar from Singularity Sky, set in the same world. The books share common background and Iron Sunrise refers to the events in Singularity Sky, but the books are essentially independent.

For the fans of high-tech science fiction and exciting techno thrillers, this is a fun ride. (Review of Iron Sunrise in Mikko reads) ( )

Stross is an excellent writer of very complicated worlds. Despite his general fascination with sexual culture that doesn't really seem to advance the plot, the man writes a darn good singularity. ( )

http://yet.org/2008/01/aube_dacier.ht... ( )

When this book was published, Charles Stross was science fiction’s most recent sensation. After years of relative anonymity, he’d been shortlisted for SF awards for his novels (both SF and fantasy) and novellas. Iron Sunrise, which garnered the best novel nomination for the 2005 Hugo Awards, is a follow-up to Singularity Sky, which was shortlisted for the 2004 Hugo for best novel.

Like its predecessor, Iron Sunrise is 21st century space opera. For those unfamiliar with the term, space opera is SF writ large, i.e., conflict on an interstellar or intergalactic scale. A subgenre that dates back to the earliest days of SF, more recent purveyors have managed to shed the pulp image with which such stories were saddled. Stross does so with heavy doses of cyberpunk, 24th century James Bond, hard SF – and even a little detective story.

There is a common back story to both books. The Eschaton is an artificial intelligence that borders on godlike. While expressly disavowing any deity-like status, the AI exists in humanity's future and imposes harsh measures on anyone who seeks to use technology to violate causality and, hence, threaten the AI’s existence. To hinder the possibility, in the 21st century the Eschaton relocates most of humanity from Earth to far-distant planets, leaving only the essentials for humans to carve out a new society and existence. Thanks to wrinkles in the space-time continuum, each light year in distance also meant going back a year in time. Thus, some three centuries later, mankind has blossomed throughout the universe, bringing with it inventions such as faster-than-light travel, something which can directly threaten causality.

While most of this unfolded in Singularity Sky, knowledge of that story is not a prerequisite to Iron Sunrise. Moreover, despite the grand scale of the back story, it truly is a back story. The Eschaton and the relocation of humanity is a foundation of this story. Yet it never becomes the forefront or focus of the tale.

What is in the forefront here are the human characters, all brought into play by an almost quintessential space opera moment. Someone or something exploded the sun around which the planet Moscow orbited, annihilating it and its 200 million inhabitants. In a leading role in this opera is Wednesday, a 24th century adolescent cyberpunk who lives on a space station some 3.6 light years from Moscow's sun. In the process of evacuating the station, she unknowingly discovers the secret to the destruction. Also in starring roles are husband and wife Martin and Rachel, both also prominent in Singularity Sky. Rachel works for the UN and is "Black Chamber" agent charged with, among other things, trying to prevent causality violations. She is asked to investigate who’s been assassinating the remaining members of Moscow’s diplomatic corps, individuals who hold the key to a potential long-term retaliatory strike automatically launched upon Moscow's destruction. Then there’s Frank, a "warblogger" for the London Times looking into the destruction of Moscow and the political forces at play. Finally, there is a cadre of the ReMastered, humans whose ideology centers around destroying the Eschaton and replacing it with "the unborn god."

Although initially spread across several planets and systems, Stross ultimately brings all these characters together on a faster-than-light space liner that serves as a focal point of and staging ground for the ultimate resolution of the tale. That is, perhaps, the most glaring weakness of Iron Sunrise. While the whole story is based on a reader accepting the Eschaton and the exploding sun, for some reason it is a bit tough to believe the key characters from several different planets in a story unfolding across light years find themselves together on the SF equivalent of a cruise ship. Similarly, the penultimate denouement is reminiscent of a murder mystery where all the players are brought together in the dining room as the detective announces his resolution of the mystery. Here, one of the bad guys brings everybody together and ties up a variety of loose ends in one scene. Both approaches feel like a quick way out after Stross spent so much time setting the stage and shaping the characters.

Finally, some might complain because the close of the book leaves the doors wide open for another sequel with Rachel and Martin. Stross does not, however, leave any loose ends in this story itself. More important, he has not come close to fully exploring the Eschaton or the universe it has created for humanity. His willingness and ability to explore such paths have brought him where he is today.

Originally posted at http://prairieprogressive.com/2005/06...

Far slower to get to an enjoyable point than singularity sky. Same universe, same characters, but the method of writing has taken a far different turn. For whatever reason I found myself looking at the book as a chore until I reached about halfway through, at which point it became immensly enjoyable. It's no singularity sky, but it's a lot of fun once the lengthy intro is over. ( )

Cover blurb: When the planet of New Moscow was brutally destroyed, its few survivors launched a counter-attack against the most likely culprit: the neighbouring system of trade rival, New Dresden. But New Dresden wasn't responsible and, as the deadly missiles approach their target, Rachel Mansour, agent for the interests of Old Earth, is assigned to find out who was.

The one person who does know is a disaffected teenager who calls herself Wednesday Shadowmist. But Wednesday has no idea where she might be hiding this significant information. Time is limited and if Rachel can't resolve this mystery it will mean the annihilation of an entire world...

Good old-fashioned space opera, with the addition of a singularity for more fun. ( )

The Iron SUnrise is a supernova, a collapse of a star. This is a novel of political intrigue. ( )

Pretty average. Continuation of the 'Singularity Sky' universe (distopia) with some of the same characters. The plot is pretty slow and heavy, and annoyingly disjointed. 'Singularity Sky' was much better. ( )

http://www.leftfield.org/~rawdon/book... ( )

Having read a few Ken MacLeod books, it follows that I should get into fellow brit Charles Stross. I started with Iron Sunrise (I know i'm supposed to have read Singularity Sky but I got mixed up at the bookstore so read this first)

The basic story focuses on Wednesday who lives on a space station in the future until her home planet is destroyed in a mysterious and unexpected supernova. She happens to have been drawn into the mystery of the cause of this supernova which turns out to be dangerous to her life. As a refugee she meets (amongst others) a burnt out warblogger, a pair of interplanetary spooks, a godlike singularity intelligence, some unlikely assasins and a bunch of high-tech neofacists.

The story is full of lots of cool things like dynamic makeup and clothing for our heroin, computer implants with interfaces through rings and finger movements, guns that shoot around corners (pretty standard but always fun) and intelligent cyborg dogs (also pretty standard i guess).

The actual plot kept me guessing and involved. The characters have some humanity but probably aren't that realistic - they had good history and reactions to things but not much variety of world view. When comparing with Ken Macleod, whose characters have contrasting views on things even when they are on the same 'side'.

There wasn't much philosphical value either - it was just the story with not much attempt at asking any moral questions. There is a moral dillemna at the end of the book which Wednesday must face but it's a bit of a cliche. I think there was room to more fully explore the warblogger's conflict of interest between getting a good story and helping out. The same with many of the other characters who seem to do what they do without much thought. ( )

http://latentcontent.net/entries/537/... ( )

Sequel to last year's nominee, Singularity Sky, a 24th century space opera combined with spy story; perhaps a bit reminiscent of the more successful of Bujold's early work. The "Iron Sunrise" of the title is an artificially (though possibly accidentally) triggered supernova that wipes out an entire solar system. Features nassty neo-Nazis in space, tough teenage girl protagonist, explosively brilliant prose, plot twisting up and down (though I did think the final twist was a bit too similar to the end of one of his other recent stories). ( )