Singularity Sky by Charles Stross
Fifteen people showed up for the discussion of Stross’s first novel published in book form (a previous novel was serialized). Two people had not read the book and five had not finished.
Comments ranged from “The best book we’ve ever read,” to “I’m surprised it made the Hugo [nomination] list.” We found this post-cyberpunk space opera surprisingly complex for its length. The conflict begins when an artificial intelligence called The Festival drops telephones on a repressed pseudo-Russian