ext_7991 ([identity profile] keristor.livejournal.com) wrote in [personal profile] rolanni 2010-01-14 09:38 pm (UTC)

Just finished "Halting State" by Charlie Stross. Most unusual in that it is written in present tense second person, and multiperson at that (each cahper is from a different person, but all addressed as 'you'). It's a combination I haven't seen before, and took me a while to get used to it -- present tense (which I normally dislike, it's difficult to do well), second person (which I've only seen before in computer games, of the sort "you are in a maze of twisty corridors, all looking exactly alike"; once again difficult to carry off outside that context), and multiperson (usually either 3rd person PoV or 1st person 'diary' style).

As well as being a good story, though, he actually managed to make that unusual style readable. That's a rare feat, and kudos to him for even attempting it, more for succeeding, and lots for making me like it. There's a rumoured sequel in the works and I rather look forward to it.

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