Invisible Sun
- Downloads：6868
- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2021-08-19 10:16:21
- Update Date：2025-09-23
- Status：finish
- Author：Charles Stross
- ISBN：B07Y8NWZRJ
- Environment：PC/Android/iPhone/iPad/Kindle
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Summary
nvisible Sun concludes Charles Stross’s Empire Games trilogy， where two versions of America are locked in a cold war。 This is a chillingly resonant dystopian vision。
Two twinned worlds are waiting for war 。 。 。
America is caught in a deadly arms race with the USA， its high-tech， parallel world。 Yet it might just self-combust first。 For its president-equivalent has died， leaving a crippling power vacuum。 Without the First Man’s support， Miriam Bernstein faces a paranoid government opponent。 He suspects her of scheming to resurrect the American monarchy。 And Miriam is indeed helping the exiled American princess。 This is only to prevent her being used against them， but her rivals will twist anything to ruin her。
However， all factions will face a disaster bigger than anything they could imagine。 In their drive to explore other timelines， hi-tech America has awakened an alien threat。 This force destroyed humanity on one version of earth – and if they don’t take action， it will do the same to both of their timelines。
Invisible Sun follows Empire Games and Dark State。 This trilogy is set in the same vividly imagined world as Charles Stross’s Merchant Princes sequence。
Two twinned worlds are waiting for war 。 。 。
America is caught in a deadly arms race with the USA， its high-tech， parallel world。 Yet it might just self-combust first。 For its president-equivalent has died， leaving a crippling power vacuum。 Without the First Man’s support， Miriam Bernstein faces a paranoid government opponent。 He suspects her of scheming to resurrect the American monarchy。 And Miriam is indeed helping the exiled American princess。 This is only to prevent her being used against them， but her rivals will twist anything to ruin her。
However， all factions will face a disaster bigger than anything they could imagine。 In their drive to explore other timelines， hi-tech America has awakened an alien threat。 This force destroyed humanity on one version of earth – and if they don’t take action， it will do the same to both of their timelines。
Invisible Sun follows Empire Games and Dark State。 This trilogy is set in the same vividly imagined world as Charles Stross’s Merchant Princes sequence。
Reviews
Bradley
，
The good and the bad。First of all， ya'll should know I'm a big Stross fanboy -- and have been ever since Accelerando and hardly anything he's ever written since then has come off as anything less than extremely interesting。 I didn't even have a problem with the Eschaton's get out of jail free card。 However。。。 this book， with some admittedly awesome ideas interspersed throughout， didn't land the way it should have。 Even Charlie called it in the apology at the end of the novel。 It was plagued by 2 The good and the bad。First of all， ya'll should know I'm a big Stross fanboy -- and have been ever since Accelerando and hardly anything he's ever written since then has come off as anything less than extremely interesting。 I didn't even have a problem with the Eschaton's get out of jail free card。 However。。。 this book， with some admittedly awesome ideas interspersed throughout， didn't land the way it should have。 Even Charlie called it in the apology at the end of the novel。 It was plagued by 2020 and the tragic death of his editor and probably a bit of burnout on a massive multiple-timeline alternate history geopolitical nightmare of a tale that was originally planned to be TWO more books rather than this rushed， smaller， single capstone。 Don't get me wrong here。 I loved these spin-offs of the Merchant Princes with its Cold War sensibilities and escalations between whole earth timelines where history came out VERY different。 The idea behind it and the execution has been pretty awesome。 Better than the Merchant Princes originals， even。 Machiavellian politics and hardliner misunderstandings about what a NUKE happens to be is a very precious thing to me。 Think Renaissance Italy coming up against American Politics with a whole bunch of cold war spies hopping between timelines and you've got a good picture。So what happened？This one felt rushed。 When we're heading up to not just 2， but alt worlds 3， 4， and 5， with a world blasted to hell in one， and we're dealing with joint ventures to MARS， when there are succession issues in some and all-out military coups in another and things get very， very hairy indeed， I found myself feeling a bit short-changed on the character front。 The basic plots were great， the tech and the drill-down of the complications are FANTASTIC and even mind-blowing， in perfect Stross style -- but I gradually found out， much to my chagrin， that I wanted to savor it。 I would have been much happier with spending a lot more time with the characters， being reintroduced in a more fluid way， let them find new loves， obsessions， etc， before throwing them into the soup。 In other words， I think I would have preferred two books instead of one short capstone。 I think Stross's normally excellent quality got strangled by a time deadline and/or the desire to just FINISH it and move on。 I can't blame him， but I can feel pity for the series。 This is NOT a bad book， mind you。 I'm being harsh because I've loved the others and just wanted to see it put to bed with all the accolades it should have deserved。 I mean， seriously， this is some funky-cool s**t going on。 I just wanted more for it。 。。。more
Aidan
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I can’t blame Charles Stross for thinking Invisible Sun must be cursed。 The capper to a series originating almost twenty years ago， it’s been serially delayed by family tragedies， the loss of a longtime editor， burnout， and COVID。 It'd have been understandable if it’d never been finished。 Unfortunately， reading Invisible Sun is a bit like opening the FedEx™ Tom Hanks delivers at the end of Cast Away; I’m grateful it’s arrived， and honoured by the herculean effort behind this small parcel。 But th I can’t blame Charles Stross for thinking Invisible Sun must be cursed。 The capper to a series originating almost twenty years ago， it’s been serially delayed by family tragedies， the loss of a longtime editor， burnout， and COVID。 It'd have been understandable if it’d never been finished。 Unfortunately， reading Invisible Sun is a bit like opening the FedEx™ Tom Hanks delivers at the end of Cast Away; I’m grateful it’s arrived， and honoured by the herculean effort behind this small parcel。 But the contents are past their best-by， banged up by the journey， and a bit small next to the saga of their arrival。 2。5 stars， rounded up because it'd be churlish not to。—————To be clear， Invisible Sun isn’t a ~bad~ novel: it understands its genre， stays reasonably true to its characters， and delivers at least two spectacular para-time set pieces on the way to wrapping up a sprawling series plot。 But much is sacrificed to resolve plot threads。 Baroque-but-interesting frills like Mormon-Adventist rivalry in US intel services or the view from Imperial France are sidelined ruthlessly， and a War-of-the-Worlds-esque omniscient narrator has to intrude regularly with info-dumps。 Prominent issues from past books — Rita’s ultimate loyalties， Elizabeth’s willingness to actually defect， the Americans’ choice between paranoid fanaticism and realpolitik pragmatism — are mentioned briefly and collapsed quickly。This’d be fine if the novel was as propulsive as its lovingly-described bombers and subs and spacecraft， but it’s a bumpy， occasionally baggy ride。 The book starts with inevitable reminders about the characters， their relationship to each other， last book’s plot， etc。 etc。， but Stross feels the need to jog our memory almost Every。 Single。 Time。 we shift perspective right to the bitter end。 So yes， by page 400 I’m definitely solid on the fact Miriam is Rita’s birth mother and Juggernaut is a copy of Project ORION， I’ve got it， no need to awkwardly wedge that info into expository dialogue once more， but it’ll happen at least twice again before the book is over。 Which is， uh， some time yet。The foreshadowing can be as frustrating as the recaps。 A few times we’re given a triumphant swell of plot music as the Wolf Orchestra decisively swings into action and fine details of Elizabeth’s phone determine her future destiny， except they…don’t？ The book feels littered with these little leftovers from earlier drafts， emotional dead links that don’t click through。 And yet our omniscient narrator also lays out how the baddies can be beaten in such a way any experienced reader can immediately and comprehensively guess the end。 Yes， Chehov’s nukes over the fireplace are totally going off in the third act， we might guess how， but I’d rather not be *told* in advance。There are plenty of other gripes to be had， from a frankly clichéd choice of baddies （whose motivations to Kill All Humans is at odds with a civilizational MO that seemingly doesn’t care about terrestrial planets？ At all？ Shouldn’t they be terrorising Jupiter instead？ Asking for a friend？）， to timeline numbering glitches to a character whose hair changes from blue to green to blue over three scenes without comment。All these nitpicks sap momentum， but Invisible Sun is hampered even more by its curious untimeliness。 Some of this is plain bad luck; in 2017 you could still get mileage out of fears of a hyper-competent paranoid infosec state， but Trump and Brexit happened and those nightmares just don’t land the way they used to。 Yet at its heart this is really a novel about the Cold War， with evocations of grand para-time strategy， nuclear everything， and （many， many） comparisons to the Eastern Bloc。 Which is fine， you can write about the Cold War and the Bush years， but don’t be surprised if it doesn’t always feel relevant。 While our parcel was struggling to be delivered， the world moved on。 。。。more
Reference
google book https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=Invisible Sun
hathitrust digital library https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/ls?q1=Invisible Sun&field1=ocr&a=srchls&ft=ft&lmt=ft
The British Library https://bll01.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Invisible Sun&tab=LibraryCatalog&search_scope=Not_BL_Suppress&vid=44BL_INST:BLL01&lang=en&offset=0