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Invisible Sun is not perfect, but it's perfect for me.

The Empire Games trilogy comes to a very satisfying conclusion in this doorstopper of a sci-fi thriller, as multiple plots on multiple timelines collide in a Last Plan Standing kind of situation. The paranoid police state of divergent USA and the fledgling democracy of the NAC have set their schemes in motion and Invisible Sun is all about resolution and payoff. It's competence porn with an incredibly high level of detail, but I cared about the characters and I cared about the big picture and as a result the incredibly tense story worked like gangbusters.

Some will object to the infodumps (I don't), and there is a spattering of editorial carelessness, but this may still be my favourite Charles Stross book of all time.

This is probably someone's favourite book of the year. It's not mine - it's pretty far from the kind of stuff I usually love - and I was still really impressed and moved.

A love story with a backdrop of a paradimensional war, with the focus on beautiful writing and all the worldbuilding strictly as an afterthought. This is a novel that knows exactly what it wants to be and succeeds in that admirably. There's nothing superfluous here, only beautiful prose and a story that cannot but end tragically. Maybe.

Gunny Kerr is still the most awesome being ever.

Usually I prefer my superheroics to take place in a recognisable world, and see all actual worldbuilding as needless extra effort. See These Bones wouldn't work without the post-apocalyptic worldbuilding, however, and it's all the better for having it. Likeable yet very flawed characters, bad thingss happening to good people consistently but still somehow not unfairly, and superpowered action that feels crunchy and dangerous. Very much my kind of book.

Only three stars, but ... seriously, this was a lot of fun. If the idea of a professional company of twenty dwarfs who clean up dangerous dungeons methodically and efficiently appeals to you, you will probably have a good time. I definitely did