Play Audiobook Sample
Halting State Audiobook
Play Audiobook Sample
(3.00) - 4,926 listener ratings
Quick Stats About this Audiobook
Total Audiobook Chapters:
Longest Chapter Length:
Shortest Chapter Length:
Average Chapter Length:
Audiobooks by this Author:
Publisher Description
In a starred review, Publishers Weekly calls Hugo winner Charles Stross' novel Halting State a "brilliantly conceived techno-crime thriller." The year is 2012, and China, India, and the United States are waging an infowar for economic domination. With innocent gamers mere pawns in the hands of electronic intelligence agencies, programmer Jack Reed is tasked with ferreting out the plot of those who would gladly trade global turmoil for personal gain. "The act of creation seems to come easily to Charles Stross . [He] is peerless at dreaming up devices that could conceivably exist in 6, 60, or 600 years."-New York Times
Download and start listening now!
"This is the fourth book I've read this year set in part in the gaming universe (the others are Reamde, Ready Player One, and Daemon, in case you're wondering). This one certainly dove deep into technobabble, which was sometimes a bit hard to follow, but only if you were really trying. There isn't really a need to understand it all - just let it wash over you. I also enjoyed the various Scottish colloquialisms. The story moves along at a pretty brisk clip. It is sometimes hard to figure out who is who and what their game is, but again this is not strictly necessary. You can just let it wash over you and you'll have a fun ride."
— Tad (4 out of 5 stars)
Quotes
-
“He displays a knack for turning outrageously improbable speculation into certainty in this fast-paced, skillfully constructed computational mirror-maze.”
— Kirkus Reviews -
“Stross’s fast-paced sci-fi techno-thriller shows promise as a series opener.”
— Library Journal -
“This brilliantly conceived techno-crime thriller spreads a black humor frosting over the grim prospect of the year 2012…Stross creates a deeply immersive story, writing all three perspectives in the authoritative second-person style of video game instructions and gleefully spiking the intrigue with virtual Orcs, dragons and swordplay. The effortless transformation of today's technological frustrations into tomorrow's nightmare realities is all too real for comfort.”
— Publishers Weekly -
“As keenly observant of our emergent society as it is our emergent technologies, Halting State is one extremely smart species of fun.”
— William Gibson, New York TImes bestselling author -
“A clever, compelling, and masterful piece of near-future science fiction from one of the genre’s hottest writers, Stross’ extrapolation of current trends into future realities is fascinating, and astute readers will delight in figuring out how he jumps from point A to point B.”
— RT Book Reviews (4 stars)
Awards
-
Finalist for the 2008 Hugo Award for Best Novel
-
Nominated for the 2008 Locus Award
Halting State Listener Reviews
-
" Brilliant Book! Stross has now been added to my top 5 authors. Set in Scotland, great accents. "
— Travis, 1/24/2014 -
" An excellent, plausible tale about the future of ARGs, augmented reality and MMORPGs. Very readable. "
— Levi, 1/14/2014 -
" This was the longest book written in second person that I have ever read. It switches between the point of view of three different intertwined characters, while looking at the possible future of the integration of computer worlds and real life in a realistic context, while combining all of that into a bank heist and spy novel that actually works. "
— Josh, 12/4/2013 -
" A fun read - got it to pass the time in Union Sq. this weekend. Its about a virtual bank robbery in an online RPG. "
— Clem, 11/9/2013 -
" Charles Stross once again shows why he is he sci-fi voice of modern technological pop culture. This story about a robbery of a virtual bank inside a huge MMORPG is as exciting a read as it is hilarious a concept. "
— Philip, 10/30/2013 -
" Easy to read, funny and flows well "
— Alice, 10/28/2013 -
" Best Stross novel I've read to date. Cyber crime with a taste of international intrigue, although the plot did get convoluted in places for me. A warning about over-reliance on technological advances seems to be implied by the text, which I found interesting. "
— Mike, 8/13/2013 -
" Loved it! Truly successful second-person narration. Lots of twists and turns and interesting characters (though the baddies aren't fleshed out much, probably because of the second-person narration) and I just loved it. "
— Thorn, 2/28/2013 -
" its a good read if you like the whole cyberpunk school and its quite an interesting take on the whole near future sci-fi thing "
— Michael, 9/22/2012 -
" People have been telling me forever how great an SF writer Charlie Stross is. So I picked up this book to try him out... Maybe I should have started with something different. "
— Roger, 2/17/2012 -
" This is my favorite book by Stross. Can't wait for the sequel. "
— Marcus, 1/29/2012 -
" funny and fast paced :) well worth a read "
— Jamie, 6/15/2011 -
" I liked this! I always wonder what it would be like to be constantly connected to the internet. In this world, everyone is. It seems like its so far away, but it really isn't. Soon we'll all be walking around typing on virtual keyboards. "
— Wendy, 6/12/2011 -
" A near future crime thriller that shifts far from what I usually associate with Stross i.e. far in the future based sci-fi. I enjoyed the premise of the story and could see this easily being an attempt on his part to vie for a movie adaptation. "
— Brian, 5/17/2011 -
" A cute, light story, but the second person narration nearly killed me. "
— N., 5/17/2011 -
" This is my favorite book by Stross. Can't wait for the sequel. "
— Marcus, 5/10/2011 -
" The book offers a lot of fun speculation about technology in the near future. And there are plenty of nerd-appropriate references, if you like that sort of thing.<br/><br/>But the characters are pretty flat, and the plot is a bit predictable. "
— Chris, 4/9/2011 -
" funny and fast paced :) well worth a read "
— Jamie, 3/10/2011
About Charles Stross
Charles Stross is the author of the bestselling Merchant Princes series, the Laundry series, and several stand-alone novels, including Glasshouse, Accelerando, and Saturn’s Children. Born in Leeds, England, in 1964, Stross studied in London and Bradford, earning degrees in pharmacy and computer science. Over the next decade and a half he worked as a pharmacist, a technical writer, a software engineer, and eventually as a prolific journalist covering the IT industry. His short fiction began attracting wide attention in the late 1990s; his first novel, Singularity Sky, appeared in 2003. He has subsequently won the Hugo Award twice. He lives with his wife in Edinburgh, Scotland, in a flat that is slightly older than the state of Texas.
About Robert Ian Mackenzie
Robert Ian Mackenzie, Earphones Award–winning narrator, became an actor after holding a wide variety of other jobs, including everything from London policeman to water ski instructor in Greece. Since then, his acting career has encompassed straight theater, musicals, opera, films, television, voice-overs, commercials, and recorded books.