Accelerando

Rating:	★★★★
Category:	Books
Genre:	Science Fiction & Fantasy
Author:	Charles Stross

It's not often that I know the exact date when a book will be published in paperback, but with Accelerando, I had a good excuse. I'd bought it already. And had it SNATCHED FROM ME at Geneva AIRPORT, after I'd spent an entertaining hour on a plane, chortling over how good the first three chapters were.

So when I finally got my hands on another copy, it had a lot to live up to. This is Charles Stross' third novel; Singularity Sky was a fantastic debut, with one of the most entertaining and novel descriptions of space warfare ever (as well as all sorts of other weirdness). Iron Sunrise, his second, was spoiled a little for me because it seemed to threaten to become a cheesy series. But this is Accelerando, and it's fantastic, just amazingly brilliant. It pushed pretty much all my buttons - it had bafflingly incomprehensible aliens, barely comprehensible technology, dialogue snappier than the West Wing on speed, and a sarcastic cat. What more could anyone want?

Stross' ambition only becomes clear as the story unfolds - nothing less than a family saga and history of humanity, a bastard lovechild of Catherine Cookson and Brian Aldiss. Part of that little group of exciting Scottish sf writers, whose ranks include Iain Banks and Ken McLeod, Stross' style is sharp and snappy, and I absolutely adore his descriptions of technology going far too fast for people to follow.

I do think his characters would benefit from a bit more depth, though - perhaps some of the inexplicability applied to the aliens and the AI might have been better applied to the people - and to be honest I found the ending something of an anti-climax; it's hard to chronicle such a vast span and still end on something more dramatic, without it becoming a cliffhanger. So I forgive him for ending with a lack of 'bang'. But there's plenty of 'gosh-wow' moments here, and I can heartily recommend it for anyone who likes to lose themselves in a fast-moving, fast-talking vision of a World Gone Mad.