One of the things I most like about Stross' SF novels is that they usually are about something: some idea or three that he uses the novel to explore in rich detail. This books is about the somewhat recondite subject of interstellar banking: how do you conduct financial transactions across interstellar distances when you are limited by the speed of light. This might not seem like promising grounds for a novel, but Stross carries it off. This novel is also set in the same literary universe as [b:Saturn's Children|2278387|Saturn's Children|Charles Stross|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1348429796s/2278387.jpg|2284499]. In this series, biological humanity has been long-since replaced by robots of our creation. But the robots' minds are very similar to ours (for reasons Stross explains quickly, but doesn't get lost in), so in most important respects they are "human" and behave as such. I find the implications of this (which are also one of the Subjects About Which This Novel Is) more intriguing than the banking storyline. Nonetheless, [b:Neptune's Brood|15985402|Neptune's Brood (Freyaverse #2)|Charles Stross|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1358215802s/15985402.jpg|21562011] is an enjoyable read, but not Stross' best. ( )

Good performance, an occasional flubbed word ("litch-ins?") and some artificial gruffness with low voices, but decent over all. Stross makes good stories out of bureaucracy, and the labyrinthine rules of finance and currency drive this story of debt, fraud, and interstellar adventure.

Love this line: "...which means I need to brief you on the politics of mermaids."

Borrowed from Hoopla. ( )

This book took me a very long time to get through. I found it a slog. It's an "ideas" book, and its plot takes a long time to get going, only finally picking up steam in the last act. And the writing style is really thick with strange words. Satisfying to understand, but it could just take a long time to get through each page because I'm trying to decipher the author's unusual syntax.

I liked the interstellar economic ideas, though. I just couldn't quite relate to the "post-human" characters - they're really androids made up of thousands of small independent cells, so they can remake their body shapes indefinitely. And the main character doesn't really have strong emotions. ( )

La storia si svolge nello stesso universo de *i figli di saturno*, anni dopo direi, e ne segue pari pari le dinamiche, caratteristiche, tipologie di avventure della protagonista, la stessa protagonista molto simile all'altra, simili pure i retroscena e gli intrighi, stavolta incentrati maggiormente su complesse truffe finanziarie/economiche. Romanzo godibile, scorrevole, originale ma un po' complicato da seguire nei citati complotti. ( )

I like the ‘Space Gothic’ parts. I have always had a weakness for horror/gothic set in a vast decaying starship/space-ship (see movies: Pandorum, that one Hellraiser movie, Event Horizon, Sunshine even). The book opens with a quote from Graeber's academic work Debt: The First 5,000 Years, which I have been reading just a week before starting the book. The scope is vast, and I hope the other Stross books I haven’t read have this characteristic as well. The characterizations are good, great. Interesting technological reveals. Social and economic and political explorations. Neptune’s Brood has just given me more motivation to finish Graeber’s book. ( )