Yet another installment of Mr. Stross's "Merchant Princes" cheese-fest! If I were being particularly nasty about it, I'd call it filler. Excessively generous, I'd classify it as an Empire Strikes Back. In practice, it just builds on the last two novels, which are really building the world up, to rearrange assumptions and change the game somewhat. It just feels a little like trying to steer a supertanker for some reason. I'm hoping it'll pay off in terms of fun plot later in the series.
Posted 2008-11-26.