![]() Stross makes a good point about interstellar colonization being similar to a Ponzi scheme, and that concept has a good resonance with how the main character, a pseudo-clone whose specialty is the history of banking frauds, had to spend the first decades of her life working as an indentured servant to pay off the costs of creating her. ![]() There's a lot of economics in the book, which I enjoyed - if you've ever read Paul Krugman's joke paper The Theory of Interstellar Trade, on the mechanics of interest rates when one of the parties is traveling at relativistic speeds, you will have a blast. I thought the main plot of the book, which involves identity theft, interstellar fraud, and bitcoins, was enjoyable overall. It's impossible to dislike a book whose first sentence is "'I can get you a cheaper ticket if you let me amputate your legs: I can even take your thighs as a deposit,' said the travel agent." The world Stross created here is just as fun as that opening sentence, if somewhat reminiscent of Dan Simmons' Hyperion. ![]()
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