''Rule 34'' is a near-future science fiction novel by

Charles Stross Charles David George "Charlie" Stross (born 18 October 1964) is a British writer of science fiction and fantasy. Stross specialises in hard science fiction and space opera. Between 1994 and 2004, he was also an active writer for the magazine '' ...

."Rule 34 – Charlie's Diary"
''Antipope''. Retrieved 4 June 2011. It is a loose sequel to '' Halting State'' and was published on 5 July 2011 in the US and 7 July 2011 in the UK."Apropos Nothing ... – Charlie's Diary"
''Antipope''. Retrieved 4 June 2011. The title is a reference to the Internet meme

Rule 34 Rule 34 is an Internet meme which claims that Internet pornography exists concerning every conceivable topic. The concept is commonly depicted as fan art of normally non-erotic subjects engaging in sexual behavior. It can also include writing ...

, which states that "If it exists, there is porn of it. No exceptions." ''Rule 34'' was nominated for the 2012

Arthur C. Clarke Award The Arthur C. Clarke Award is a British award given for the best science fiction novel first published in the United Kingdom during the previous year. It is named after British author Arthur C. Clarke, who gave a grant to establish the award i ...

and the 2012

Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel The Locus Award for Best Science Fiction Novel is one of the annual Locus Awards presented by the science fiction and fantasy magazine ''Locus''. Awards presented in a given year are for works published in the previous calendar year. The award f ...

Plot summary

The novel is told in

second-person narrative Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to convey a story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deliver information to the ...

but primarily from three points of view. Inspector Kavanaugh of the

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

police investigates

spammer Spamming is the use of messaging systems to send multiple unsolicited messages (spam) to large numbers of recipients for the purpose of commercial advertising, for the purpose of non-commercial proselytizing, for any prohibited purpose (especial ...

s murdered in gruesome and inventive ways, and learns about similar cases in other parts of Europe. Anwar, a former identity thief who becomes Scottish honorary consul for a fictional state in central Asia, and "The Toymaker", an enforcer and organizer for the criminal "Operation". Their interactions and conflicts drive the story.

Critical reception

Reviews have been favorable, with

Cory Doctorow Cory Efram Doctorow (; born July 17, 1971) is a Canadian-British blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who served as co-editor of the blog ''Boing Boing''. He is an activist in favour of liberalising copyright laws and a proponent of ...

calling the novel, "savvy, funny, viciously inventive". ''

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

'' gives it a star, saying, "Dazzling, chilling and brilliant". ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...

'' calls "the whole more than the sum of its parts". There was a generally positive review in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''.

Sequel cancellation

Following the revelations by Edward Snowden, Stross announced that there would be no third book in the planned trilogy. "''Halting State'' wasn't intended to be predictive when I started writing it in 2006. Trouble is, about the only parts that haven't happened yet are

Scottish Independence Scottish independence ( gd, Neo-eisimeileachd na h-Alba; sco, Scots unthirldom) is the idea of Scotland as a sovereign state, independent from the United Kingdom, and refers to the political movement that is campaigning to bring it about. S ...

and the use of actual

quantum computers Quantum computing is a type of computation whose operations can harness the phenomena of quantum mechanics, such as superposition, interference, and entanglement. Devices that perform quantum computations are known as quantum computers. Though ...

for cracking public key encryption (and there's a big fat question mark over the latter—what else are the

NSA The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collecti ...

up to?)."

References

Novels by Charles Stross 2011 British novels British science fiction novels Ace Books books Augmented reality in fiction Novels about the Internet Novels about mass surveillance Novels set in Scotland Novels set in Edinburgh Novels set in fictional countries {{2010s-sf-novel-stub