Glasshouse
by Charles Stross
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 312)
Read in October, 2007
It was really hard to get into at first. For some reason Stross insists on using a different timescale even though their bear a slight linguistic resemblance to terms we use today. It was frustrating and unnecessary. Although it got off to a slow start, it did pick up after the first few chapters (basically when the main character joins the experiment).
I had some of the same problems with this book that I have with similar books where a person's consciousness is treated as though it were b...more
I had some of the same problems with this book that I have with similar books where a person's consciousness is treated as though it were b...more
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Read in November, 2007
(My full review of this book is larger than GoodReads' word-count limitations. Find it at the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com:].)
As I've mentioned here before, although as an adult I try to maintain as varied a reading list as possible, I do naturally gravitate regularly towards the science-fiction (or SF) genre on which I was raised, as well as the "weird-lit" novels of our contemporary times that have been influenced by the genre. And indeed, if you...more
As I've mentioned here before, although as an adult I try to maintain as varied a reading list as possible, I do naturally gravitate regularly towards the science-fiction (or SF) genre on which I was raised, as well as the "weird-lit" novels of our contemporary times that have been influenced by the genre. And indeed, if you...more
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Read in December, 2007
The one where Robin wakes up after having a full memory wipe -- which, for obvious reasons, he doesn't remember -- and comes to believe someone from his past is trying to kill him, and volunteers for an experiment re-creating twentieth-century life.
OMG, so boring. I gave it my usual fifty pages, and sometimes I'd look at the page number and I'd still be on the same page.
Robin isn't really a character, and of course there's a good reason for this -- he's had his memory wiped. But ...more
OMG, so boring. I gave it my usual fifty pages, and sometimes I'd look at the page number and I'd still be on the same page.
Robin isn't really a character, and of course there's a good reason for this -- he's had his memory wiped. But ...more
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recommended to Jess by:
the internet
recommends it for: People who like sci-fi, mysteries, and sociological experiements
recommends it for: People who like sci-fi, mysteries, and sociological experiements
The first chapter of Glasshouse gave me an extreme case of time-shock. At its basic level, the beginning of the book is boy meets girl with a duel to the death thrown in for a little action. Except that this is the 27th century, so things are a bit more complicated if you are not familiar with the rampant body-swapping, the robotic killer wasp-viruses, the persona back-ups, and the memory-erasing that is fairly commonplace in the future.
Robin and Kay decide to take part in an experimental so...more
Robin and Kay decide to take part in an experimental so...more
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Read in June, 2008
My first cyberpunk book in many years... and a great one too!
"Glasshouse" deals with a character who isn't really sure who he is, thanks to memory surgery, gets involved with an experiment, and changes genders... all while trying to remember who he/she was, whether or not someone's trying to kill him/her, and many other crucial identity questions.
The book is set a few hundred years in the future where space travel doesn't exist... a network of controlled wormholes connects the ...more
"Glasshouse" deals with a character who isn't really sure who he is, thanks to memory surgery, gets involved with an experiment, and changes genders... all while trying to remember who he/she was, whether or not someone's trying to kill him/her, and many other crucial identity questions.
The book is set a few hundred years in the future where space travel doesn't exist... a network of controlled wormholes connects the ...more
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Read in August, 2008
recommends it for:
fans of Neal Stephenson and Iain Banks
Stross has always been adjacent to the books I'm already reading, forever showing up on recommended lists. So, I figured I'd give him a try.
I enjoyed the book, though it is clearly not for everyone. Stross writes push-the-envelope science fiction. The best way to describe it is as a cross between Neal Stephenson and Iain Banks.
In Stross's future, the galaxy is really...more
I enjoyed the book, though it is clearly not for everyone. Stross writes push-the-envelope science fiction. The best way to describe it is as a cross between Neal Stephenson and Iain Banks.
In Stross's future, the galaxy is really...more
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Read in August, 2007
Hot stuff. A terrific work of post-cyberpunk, whatever that means. I was trying to articulate it to my brother, and failed, but this is a work of style and substance. It's deliciously Anti-Microsoft, without being stupid like Doctorow often is. It's emotionally resonant on a lot of levels, dealing as it does with deep questions of identity and love and life. The narration is a little chaotic, but enjoyable so, and not unreadably so. The characters are vivid and dynamic.
Stross plays easily wi...more
Stross plays easily wi...more
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Read in June, 2007
In the future, a group of people volunteer for a scientific experiment in which they agree to immerse themselves in a community mimicking long-gone 20th Century life. The protagonist, Robin, signs up to escape people who are trying to kill her. I mean, him. Technically Robin is a dude. But he spends most of the book trapped in a female body, and he mostly just reads as a woman—as an awesome, interesting heroine. It's kind of sad that one of the few ways we get male SF/F writers writing interes...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in May, 2008
Picture if you will... a man from the 27th century who's just had his memory erased in order to forget some very unpleasant things. Unfortunately, his previous self left a message informing said man that he's been targeted for assassination. In order to escape, he enrolls in a sociological experiment that places him in a closed community, meant to re-enact the "dark ages" of human history, circa 1950 - 2050, and in a woman's body. Glasshouse refers to the type of panopticon effect of c...more
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Recently awakened after having his memory wiped and fearing for his safety after a botched attempt on his life, the protagonist Robin agrees to take part in an experiment designed to study the behaviour of 20th century "dark age" humans. However, between the returning memories — which, if trustworthy, suggest he is at the heart of a vast political conspiracy — and a set of rules pushing his fellow participants to embrace the worst of 20th century morality, Robin realises that he is...more
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Read in January, 2008
recommends it for:
Fans of Vernor Vinge
This is now the second Charles Stross book I've read, both (accidentally) have been of the "Singularity" sub-genre that I used to think I liked. The problem with singularity novels are the same as problems with Superman, or the Foundation. Once you are immortal and indestructible, what else is there? Mr. Stross solves that problem in this book by thrusting his protagonist into a simulation of our time. The culture shock for the protagonist is at points harsh, but the proximal inten...more
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Read in August, 2006
This is a sequel, of sorts, to Accelerando, but having read Accelerando won't actually help you get this story. The plot, while not that complicated, is full of sci-fi singularity stuff that makes it hard to summarize, but I'll try. It's about 600 years in the future, and after having his memory wiped for reasons he isn't sure off, Robin is being hunted by an unknown power. In order to disappear into anonymity, Robin joins a sociological experiment to recreate the society of our cu...more
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Read in February, 2008
This Stross book is set in the same future universe as a few of his others, notably Singularity Sky and Accelerando, where digitalized humanity has to deal with worms of a software nature and other electronic issues. It was fun to read how the book's protagonist deals with computer backup copies of himself/herself/others, mind wipes, musical chair bodies and augmentations, and multiple lifetime memories, while participating in a long-term, "realistic" experiment set in our time, which...more
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Read in August, 2007
This is not Charles Stross' best book. That would be accelerando. This isn't his second-best. This isn't his best-anything. Don't take that the wrong way, though. At his best Charles Stross is a master of SF. The problem with this book is its setting, which dooms it to the realms of cornydom. It is set in a simulated late twentieth century(-ish) habitat, populated b...more
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Read in July, 2007
Shockingly, I like the first chapter. I expect things will devolve from here. That's the standard Stross formula.
Well, with the exception of having a good first chapter.
***
And as it turns out, I loved this book. I've read several of his novels before, all the Hugo-nominated ones, anyway, and this is by far the best. It's also the best of the nominees this year and should win the award.
Stross does an excellent job of keeping the focus of the novel not only on the main character,...more
Well, with the exception of having a good first chapter.
***
And as it turns out, I loved this book. I've read several of his novels before, all the Hugo-nominated ones, anyway, and this is by far the best. It's also the best of the nominees this year and should win the award.
Stross does an excellent job of keeping the focus of the novel not only on the main character,...more
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Read in November, 2007
Every time I begin a new Charles Stross novel, I feel the same excitement as when I first read William Gibson's Neuromancer in 1985: I'm reading a work of science fiction that is so unique, so bleeding-edge, that I can barely get my head around it.
And then the excitement fades as I continue reading.
This is Stross's best work to-date because it is his most human; his observations on groupthink, peer pressure, and the irrationality of modern life are insightful and funny. But it i...more
And then the excitement fades as I continue reading.
This is Stross's best work to-date because it is his most human; his observations on groupthink, peer pressure, and the irrationality of modern life are insightful and funny. But it i...more
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Read in August, 2007
recommends it for:
readers of both classic and "post-cyberpunk" sci-fi
This new offering by Stross was one of my better summer reads of 2007, never predictable and consistently engrossing. Probably one of the best things about it was the manner in which it pays homage to some of the great sci-fi writers of the 50's, 60's, and 70's while also maintaining the postcyberpunk edge that I think Stross is becoming known for.
I won't go into too much plot detail other than to say that Glasshouse is a heady brew of bloody wartime memoir, daring espionage story, cr...more
I won't go into too much plot detail other than to say that Glasshouse is a heady brew of bloody wartime memoir, daring espionage story, cr...more
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Read in July, 2006
recommends it for:
science fiction, singularity fans
This was an eerie and interesting book. It mixes far future abilities and sensibilities (like being able to back yourself up, free star travel, etc.) with a project that involves a detailed reenactment of the 50's. With attitude and exaggeration. It morphs into an examination of group dynamics and cultural beliefs, and like all Charles Stross books, it slips into a rant about 3/4 of the way through the book. But hey, I read his blog, so it...more
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An amnesiac signs on with a social experiment in order to escape from shadowy figures bent on killing him. Thus begins Glasshouse, where Stross paints yet another brilliantly realized vision of a possible future for (post) humanity. In this future, it is possible to digitize entire minds and transmit them as data around the universe the same way data is routed in today's Internet. In such a world, identity theft and the very concept of identity itself takes on whole new meanings. Stross also...more
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having read a sparse variety of sci-fi, i can say i have realized myself a sci-fi fan now, thanks in part to this paranoia tale by charles stross. a "gender bender" wrought with twisted pasts, identities hidden, that reminded me of the general plot line of the truman show. the main character's life slowly unfolds, amongst a truly not yet imagined world the author creates that is not really classifiable as a dystopia, just a future, far off, somewhere in time, where people have fought i...more
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