SF Signal: REVIEW: Iron Sunrise by Charles Stross

REVIEW: Iron Sunrise by Charles Stross

Iron Sunrise

REVIEW SUMMARY: A good read that was deftly plotted, contained a few surprises, had likable, well-written characters and moved quickly
MY RATING:

BRIEF SYNOPSIS: UN Secret operatives, a streetwise teenager and a galactic newsblogger uncover a plan to destroy the planet of New Dresden amidst assassination attempts, weapons of mass destruction and a seriously lethal faction known as the ReMastered.

MY REVIEW:
PROS: Good characterizations; smart plotting; memorable action sequences.
CONS: A bit too much politics and economics for my taste; the memorable action sequences were too short.
BOTTOM LINE: I'm glad I read this.

I was hesitant to read Iron Sunrise after having a mediocre experience with Singularity Sky, Stross' first novel which is also set in the same universe. But I read a recommendation somewhere that even readers who were not overly-enamored with it would find Iron Sunrise a much more enjoyable book. And it was.

The book starts with a bang. A huge one, it turns out, as the sun of the Moscow system explodes. (I hate when that happens.) Wednesday is a streetwise, goth-loving teenager who lives a scant few light-years away from the exploding star at Old Newfoundland. Before she evacuates, she discovers a murdered corpse and a set of very incriminating documents; a discovery made by following the direction of Herman, a manifestation of the Eschaton, the super-powerful beings of artificial intelligence who act as caretakers of the human race. Wednesday eventually hooks up with Frank, a roaming, galactic newsblogger who Wednesday enlists (at the request of Herman) for protection.

Meanwhile, UN agent Rachel Mansour and Martin Springfield (both characters from Singularity Sky) are called upon to solve a serial murder case involving the ambassadors of the now-dead Moscow system. Suspicions fall on the planet of New Dresden since they were in a trade dispute with Moscow. New Dresden is the target of a cache weapons of mass destruction, the form of Moscow's last-minute (and misplaced) retaliation. Rachel must solve the murder of the ambassadors, find those responsible for destroying the star and stop the WMDs from killing the 800 million plus people on New Dresden. Eventually, Rachel and company track the murders to a ship that has visited all of the crime scenes. On that ship, she meets up with Wednesday and Frank and the lethal super-race faction of the ReMastered.

Iron Sunrise has a quick moving and smartly-constructed plot, even though, for me, it was mired down a bit by some politics and economics. These are topics I'd rather not see in my SF unless they are done in a way so as to make them more interesting to me. In this story, anything beyond the mention of a trade dispute is just filler to me.

But the story still works. Where most SF authors will take a scientific idea and extrapolate it to the future, Stross is of the new breed of writers (along with Cory Doctorow) who do the same with pop references. That is, they take an idea, to be sure a technical one, like blogging or email, and they depict what it could be like in the future. It's a flavor of SF that feels cutting edge, but at the same time makes me somehow pine for some classic SF.

Stross does have an interesting writing style. The dialogue is very conversational, pauses and all. This slows reading somewhat but does add to the realism of the characters, which were already well portrayed. Wednesday was your average angst-ridden teen with your above-average training in evasion tactics, which is a good thing since she spends most of the story being chased. Rachel is the typical good-cop who's not afraid to get her hands dirty. (If you read the story, you'll be treated to an early, graphic scene in which she disarms one psychopath in a unique manner. Let's just say she had the job well in hand, if you get my drift.) Martin Springfield, a main character in Singularity Sky, mostly plays a secondary role here. Frank is a news blogger who goes wherever the story takes him. A chapter describing his early career, and his first encounter with the ReMastered, was particularly well done.

You can tell that Stross is having fun with the writing. For instance, the murderer(s), who are suspected of being killer clowns, leave humorous calling cards on his victims (happy face stickers, a whoopee cushion). While this aspect of the story was unwelcome in Singularity Sky, it was more acceptable in Iron Sunrise because it was more low-key. And one funny pop reference I can't overlook is the chapter titled "Set Us up the Bomb".

The action sequences were memorable, mostly because they were so graphic. My only gripe there would be that they were too short. Still, the story kept moving along right up to the last page, which sets the stage for some more (hopefully) satisfying adventures.

All in all, I'm glad I read this. It was deftly plotted, contained a few surprises, had likable, well-written characters and moved quickly.